Right to be cynical about Sky

fukawitribe wrote:andyp

fukawitribe wrote:

andyp wrote:

wow. If you think that’s clever, I advise you to spend the rest of your life in solitary confinement. Your mind might get blown apart by some other obvious facts.

OK – in simpler terms, you know what I was referring to when I said ‘the same’ – don’t be an ass. Fair enough ?

By the same measure do you think that the equation I’m making is equally precise. Don’t be an ass yourself. I’m saying that there are direct links between teams and in fact Sky have had US Postal employees in their mix. Effectively, its a big melting pot, but unless you remove all factors that led to doping your going to be competing in a doping sport and if your competing at the top end of this doping is pretty much on the cards. I don’t bash Sky, they’re all the same. But Sky are the ones rolling out the rhetoric which draws the criticism.

Having read all the comments
Having read all the comments there is one strong underlying theme, all the greats dope. So why is LA the only one to lose yellow jerseys, surely they should virtually all be taken away?

In fact reading most posts I think we should ban competitive cycling it is so corrupt! 8}

wow. If you think that’s
wow. If you think that’s clever, I advise you to spend the rest of your life in solitary confinement. Your mind might get blown apart by some other obvious facts.

‘a good friend of mine’s dad
‘a good friend of mine’s dad takes meds every day because his liver produces a female hormone’

Happens to us all, of course. All men produce, and need, ‘female hormones’. But to different degrees.

Colin Peyresourde wrote:Do

Colin Peyresourde wrote:

Do you think that Sky is different to US Postal?

You think they’re the same ?

Crosshouses wrote:I’m new to

Crosshouses wrote:

I’m new to following this sport so need some help.

As I understand it Dave Brailsford came into British Cycling in ’97, built up a support team that won many Olympic and World medals and in 2010 combined his BC responsibilities with running the Sky Pro Cycling using the same BC support team.

Does this mean that we need to be cynical about Hoy, Kenny, Pendleton et al, or are track riders clean while road are not? Then what about the likes of Thomas, Wiggins, Kennagh who competed in both disciplines? Or the BC riders who belong to pro road teams other than Sky?

Reading about Armstrong and USPS it’s clear that there were rumours and whistle blowers from their earliest days. Sky/BC must have disgruntled ex riders/staff or maybe just people who would like to make a bob or two selling their stories to the papers. So where are the Sky versions of Emma O’Reilly, Betsy Andreu or David Walsh? Why hasn’t, for example, Chris Hoy said anything when his reputation would be at stake?

Then Sky is a very wealthy corporation who has given its financial backing to a team that claims to be clean. I’d be astonished if the contracts of their employees involved in cycling did not include draconian penalties if the team is shown to be doping. Surely there is a huge risk of financial and reputational ruin to all employed by Sky Pro Cycling if there was any proof of team approved doping which outweighs or removes temptation.

I think you have made all the arguments they would like to make…..but I am afraid that they have very little weight in terms of what happens in sport.

Winners want to win, team sponsors want people to win. Do you think that Sky is different to US Postal? Or ONCE? Or Festina? Or Astana…..in fact you could draw a parallel with Astana with BC as they are state representatives. People hide behind these reputations and corporate walls…..riders are ‘left’ to dope, but given access to the means to do so.

You talk about Emma O’Reilly etc. But why isn’t there one for the Cofidis team? Or Polti or Carrera? The reason being that they are either still involved in the sport (most likely) and that there was no super a-hole pissing them off/pissing on them/pissing on their grave like LA. The point of Omertà is that when you end up trashing the reputation of others you must trash your own, and want to see a reason for doing so…..

I’m not going to trash the track cycling stars specifically, but there’s really no reason to believe that the success there is any different from the road. The main argument against there no being no dope is a) at least one other country in the world would dope (as the anti-dopers cannot catch the dopers) and you’d see one country dominate b) doping affects pretty much every sport (even golf, I sh!t you not).

Basically if you leave the keys to the cookie jar out, and you leave them there long enough, you’ll find no more cookies in the jar, no matter how much people tell you they are on a diet, how honest they are or why they have no reason to eat them (see LA 101 on denials).

Paul J wrote:Obree had a

Paul J wrote:

Obree had a significant aero advantage, saved him tens of Watts at least.

Not quite sure I’d place full confidence in Boardman having been clean, given he’s had at least two different problems that could be related to hormone abuse (indeed, one of his problems is staggeringly rare in fit young men, outside of hormone abuse).

Ooooooh you’ve opened a can of worms having a go at Boardman on here, he sits at Gods right hand according to some 😀

In all honesty though you do get freakish illnesses, a good friend of mine’s dad takes meds every day because his liver produces a female hormone, the consultant claims he’s a walking miracle, but i know what your on about.