Quickstep dominated Qatar.

Eldrack said:

Won the team time trial, Boonen took four stages, and they took the overall. 5th in the stage they didn't win. Points competition, team competition.

Good start to the season for QS. TB seemed pretty competant at beating Petacchi but no doubt AP will improve as the season goes on.

You forgot to mention not leaving any room on the final podium for anyone else! :o Almost embarrasing.

Was there even another team at Qatar? I'm not too sure!

I don't quite understand the Tour of Qatar. Doesn't look to be a single cycling enthusiast in the country. The spectators look like they just are waiting for the race to go by so they can cross the street. They can't possibly hope to attract much tourism. Do these guys just have so much money they don't have anything else to spend it on? ASO must have pulled one hell of a coup.

Money, blood for Oil, and imagery.

That is what media-based sport is all about.

Marketing and imagery. Tom Boonen = Tom Brady

And no mention of Petrick Lefevere and Johan Museeuw's drug dealings.

Flyer's.Finale! said:

Money, blood for Oil, and imagery.

That is what media-based sport is all about.

Marketing and imagery. Tom Boonen = Tom Brady

And no mention of Petrick Lefevere and Johan Museeuw's drug dealings.

Clearly this guy got his HGH dose mixed up.

Tyler Hamilton's drug chart reads:

Post menopause hormones
testosterone
Growth Hormones
vasodilation
Salbutamol
Chinese EPO
plasma bags
Deca Durabolin (easily detectable unless you are endorsed)
steroid & blood transfusion advisory services
insulin, glucose

We suspect he bought his Prozac and Lithium elsewhere.

A double blood gassed Tyler Hamilton could climb Mt Diablo in 44.40 solo.

Flyer's.Finale! said:

Tyler Hamilton's drug chart reads:

Post menopause hormones
testosterone
Growth Hormones
vasodilation
Salbutamol
Chinese EPO
plasma bags
Deca Durabolin (easily detectable unless you are endorsed)
steroid & blood transfusion advisory services
insulin, glucose

We suspect he bought his Prozac and Lithium elsewhere.

A double blood gassed Tyler Hamilton could climb Mt Diablo in 44.40 solo.

Here's a prime expample of a thread that had absolutely no doping discussion and you hijacked it and tried to turn it into another doping debate. This is exactly the same problem I had with the original Flyer.

You said that the original Flyer took his discussions to the doping forum and that we dragged it back into the GT forum. That's complete [censored]! He did exactly what you're doing here. Took threads where cycling fans are trying to discuss cycling and tried to turn them into doping debates. STOP IT!

The doping and soapbox forums are still there. Do what the original Flyer didn't do and take it there. Use those forums for your endless doping propaganda!

meehs said:

Here's a prime expample of a thread that had absolutely no doping discussion and you hijacked it and tried to turn it into another doping debate. This is exactly the same problem I had with the original Flyer.

You said that the original Flyer took his discussions to the doping forum and that we dragged it back into the GT forum. That's complete [censored]! He did exactly what you're doing here. Took threads where cycling fans are trying to discuss cycling and tried to turn them into doping debates. STOP IT!

The doping and soapbox forums are still there. Do what the original Flyer didn't do and take it there. Use those forums for your endless doping propaganda!

Here is the perfect EXAMPLE of a doper apologist rant blaming Flyer.Finale for hyjacking a thread.

Not so. Read post #6. Diablo Scott raised the doping issue of hGH in the Tour of Quatar. I merely pointed out that hGH is but one of dozens of doping products used the the participants there.

Meehs---you really need to get a life or find another delusion!

Flyer's.Finale! said:

Here is the perfect EXAMPLE of a doper apologist rant blaming Flyer.Finale for hyjacking a thread.

Not so. Read post #6. Diablo Scott raised the doping issue of hGH in the Tour of Quatar. I merely pointed out that hGH is but one of dozens of doping products used the the participants there.

Meehs---you really need to get a life or find another delusion!

Well, as you bring this up it was you who first posted the word drug but to be honest I don't care who started it, the thread has been hijacked. Just because someone else hijacks a thread is not an excuse for you to continue hijacking it. Just ignore the drugs related post and KEEP IT ON TOPIC.

So anyway, moving on.

Clearly Tom Boonen is in very good early season form and Alessandro Petacchi is not. Do you think AP's form will improve in time to contend for the Milan San Remo? Boonen will definitely be looking good for the win there, though I guess we have to see some of the other contenders in action first.

Smilf said:

Was there even another team at Qatar? I'm not too sure!

I think you`re on to something!

DiabloScott said:

I don't quite understand the Tour of Qatar. Doesn't look to be a single cycling enthusiast in the country. The spectators look like they just are waiting for the race to go by so they can cross the street. They can't possibly hope to attract much tourism. Do these guys just have so much money they don't have anything else to spend it on? ASO must have pulled one hell of a coup.

The weather is better than in Europe.

Are you suggesting that Quick-Step is NOT using drugs in this race?

That is ludacrous!

POGATA said:

The weather is better than in Europe.

..and the money.

Flyer's.Finale! said:

Are you suggesting that Quick-Step is NOT using drugs in this race?

That is ludacrous!

The suggestion is that Quick Step was the best team at the race -- far and away compared to the other teams there. That is not to say that they doped or did not.

They came to the race, the took the health tests and the pee tests, and they beat everyone else. I am not gullible enough to think that the elite levels of the sport are even close to clean, but I still enjoy the races.

Many of us obviously still enjoy cycling enough to follow the reports out of Qatar, and to post our thoughts on a web forum. To many of us, Quick Step's performance is worth talking about.

Boonen, Petacchi, Klier, Hoste, Van Bon, and many of the other names that we will see in Milan San Remo, Flanders, Paris Roubaix, Fleche Wallone, etc... were all there. It may be a few flat rides in the sand, but it does give a good indication of early season form.

Flyer's.Finale! said:

Here is the perfect EXAMPLE of a doper apologist rant blaming Flyer.Finale for hyjacking a thread.

NOT! I'm hardly a doping apologist. Just read my other 1,600 posts if you need to verify this. I know you like to lump everyone that tires of your endless, repetetive doping rants into that category (similar to the original Flyer) because you think it substansiates your claims that that's what we all are. But anyone with half a brain can see through that thin veil. It's complete [censored].

Flyer's.Finale! said:

Not so. Read post #6. Diablo Scott raised the doping issue of hGH in the Tour of Quatar. I merely pointed out that hGH is but one of dozens of doping products used the the participants there.

Yes, so. Are you really that stupid? You're no match for the original Flyer. Did you see that picture that Diablo attached of the guy that he jokingly accuses of having the mixed-up HGH dose? I know DiabloScott pretty well as both he and I have been around this forum a lot longer than you have. I'm 99% sure that DiabloScott made the HGH comment to get a rise out of you after you first brought up drugs in post #5. Yes! You did hijack the thread. Go back and read post #5 to verify it.

Flyer's.Finale! said:

Meehs---you really need to get a life or find another delusion!

I'm the delusional one? I'm not the one trying to turn every thread to which I post into a doping discussion in order to justify my very existence. Again, all you have to do is read some of my other posts to verify this.

You want a clear example of delusion? Go back and reread every single one of your own posts. Not one of which isn't an obsessive diatribe on doping. Reading all of your posts in succession should give you an idea of what delusion really is.

Maybe you ought to pick on someone your own mental size. Helmut, you here? 😄

POGATA said:

The weather is better than in Europe.

whiteboytrash said:

..and the money.

I'm not wondering why the teams show up - I'm wondering why the Qatari put the race on.