New allegations regarding doping by Bjarne Riis

Maybe someone will care if I highlight the following text from the article:

During the Tour de France 1996, which the Dane won, "Riis had a haematocrit of 64 at one time during the Tour," according to D'hondt, who further claimed that the now-CSC manager developed rheumatism because of his use of doping products.

His blood must have been the consistency of Karo syrup.I like this little nugget:"Quickstep Manager Patrick Lefevere also appeared on the program, and according to sportwereld, said angrily, "Just what do you want, anyway? Do you want every rider to get down on his knees and confess?" "If I was a clean ride that got beat by these snakes, I'd answer "yes".IMHO track should have hematocrit testing as well.

Ol Grumpus wrote:

Maybe someone will care if I highlight the following text from the article:

During the Tour de France 1996, which the Dane won, "Riis had a haematocrit of 64 at one time during the Tour," according to D'hondt, who further claimed that the now-CSC manager developed rheumatism because of his use of doping products.

Riis responds, also from cyclingnews.com. You will notice that he does not deny the allegations. The "I don't want to talk about the past" story is reminiscent of Mark McGwire.

Riis responds to doping allegations

Team CSC boss Bjarne Riis has brushed off allegations from former Team Telekom soigneur Jef D'hondt that he used EPO and other doping products to win the 1996 Tour de France. The allegations were made on Belgian TV program Panorama on Sunday evening and claimed, among other things, that "Riis had a hematocrit of 64 at one time during the Tour," caused by the use of EPO.

"I have never had a particularly close relation with Jef D'hondt and he has no validation for the allegations he is making," said Riis in a statement released on Monday evening. "There will always be someone out there trying to make money by talking about the past and in my opinion that is probably what he is trying to do here.

"This is probably not the first nor the last time these kinds of stories surface," he continued. "To me, it's all in the past and I do not wish to be held accountable every time someone finds it interesting to bring up some ten-year-old story. I truly believe the future is much more important than the past. I want to be judged on the work I'm doing with my team today, and the results we achieve - that is what's important to me."

Let me put it this way: If Riis was clean, he was the only clean winner of the Tour in the last 40 years. Probably not so likely, and that's why you don't hear him denying the allegations. He's just brushing them off, basically saying "So? What's your point?"

But at least he is doing his part to clean up the sport today. He fired Basso. Shameful that Bruyneel and Armstrong don't have the same ethics and went and gave him a job.

If Riis did dope to win the Tour (and his late-in-career rise to the top is very suspicious), then it is the rankest hypocrisy for him to claim that he is working to clean up the sport without coming clean about his own past.

What good would it do if he came clean? Seriously?

I actually think his approach that "past is past" does the sport a lot more good than throwing yet another confession on the heap. Nobody is really wondering if there was doping in cycling in the 90s. So should every professional rider necessarily get up and say "yeah I did it too"? Armstrong and Bruyneel included?

Let the second-string riders have their book deals. Jesper Skibby just came clean and the Danish media were interested for about 20 minutes, the Dutch for half that long. Did Skibby thereby do the future of cycling any good?

Riis may be the most respected person in cycling today (by the insiders) and he can either put that to good use for the sport or he can squander it in order to "come clean". He's not stupid, he knows that a confession would ruin his new career and his business, but I also respect him more for dismissing the allegations in this way rather than suing the newspaper who printed them.

More cycling denial and hypocrisy.

Great sport, one for our children then.

I heard all this from my east german running colleagues in the mid nineties. What's done is done etc, etc.

Appalling.

The only way for cycling to move forward is to clean up its past. That means Indurain, Armstrong, Roche, Kelly, Hinault, et al have to come clean. Just grant them amnesty or whatever and clean out the closet.

It is too hard for current cycling to see their success and accolades and not think that they can get a way with it also. Of course they will never happen which means that cycling will never be clean.

It may be the blue print for all sports. Announce an amnesty plan and put a real program together. The first thing you'd have to do is get rid of Dick Pound and make it more consensual.

This is a RUNNING site. Let the cyclists die in droves like that Dutch team whose members had blood turn to mud owing to some substance or other.

When the Mohammedans descend on your towns with Ak-47s and scimitars, it won't matter...what will matter is who shoots better.

You heard it here first.

hypnotoad wrote:

He fired Bass.

Basso was fired because he lied about ever having any contact with the Dr. named in Operacion Puerto, not because he was doping. Cyclist cannot be terminated unless they fail a test. Basso did not fail a test. Floyd failed a test and was fired.

Basso lied about ever having any contact with the Doctor, that was proven to be wrong and he was terminated for conduct detrimental to the team.

Of course, he doped. But that is not why he was fired from CSC.

Ronald Mexico, Esq.

And this has what exactly to do with running? Thanks for the update from your bunker.

whaaaat? wrote:

This is a RUNNING site. Let the cyclists die in droves like that Dutch team whose members had blood turn to mud owing to some substance or other.

When the Mohammedans descend on your towns with Ak-47s and scimitars, it won't matter...what will matter is who shoots better.

You heard it here first.