Beloki

Yes. I can't see him getting back to top level riding with a pinned & plated hip!

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by patch70
Yes. I can't see him getting back to top level riding with a pinned & plated hip!

And his allergies seem to give him all kinds of problems!

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by luke1972
And his allergies seem to give him all kinds of problems!

Allergic to racing.

News from www.cyclingnews.com - he has left the La Boulangere team effective immediately. He is now a free man. No Tour, but he is trying to prepare for the Vuelta!

He's done ....... will be retired by next year probably.

People rarely come back from crashes like that and do well. No self-confidence, and health issues.

He's still having nightmares about it, it will take him a LONG time to get over it, and he'll never descend the same again.

Dear Daremo,

For all of us I sincerely hope that you are wrong! I would really like to see him battling it with the best at the Tour again!

This does certainly seem to be a strange year though, with top riders changing teams mid-year (remember Astarloa missing most of the classics season).

Hhhmmm.

What's the thing with his allergies and the meds? I seem to have missed something.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Powerful Pete
What's the thing with his allergies and the meds? I seem to have missed something.

He has bad allergies, and can't take his usual medicine for them because they contain stuff that is banned by the French cycling officials. So he is saying that he is getting his butt kicked this year partly because he cannot take his proper allergy medication and it is affecting his performance.

Two possibilities here:

1) He is using this as an excuse because he doesn't have the form, fitness, or confidence to race ........

2) He is doping to get back into shape and doesn't want to get caught and ruin his career .........

My guess is it is nymber one.

Now the question is, will Sainz take him back?

He has expressed the desire to return to a Spanish team...

Yeah, there's more going on there that we don't know about.

First of all, he has taken medicine for his allergies for his entire career, one source said it was Modafinil (Provigil) and another said Budesonide (Pulmicort). He had a standing allowance for this from UCI. The french team, who basically hired him so they could get the points to get into the TdF, refused to alow him to take the drug, and the doctor of the team was quoted as saying something to the effect that they didn't think he had allergies bad enough to warrant that drug, and that they really didn't even think he had that bad an allergy problem at all.

This is from your own team! Nice work atmosphere huh?

Then La Boulangerie said it was pulling out next year; since Beloki signed a 2 year deal this put him in some doubt about the future.

Finally when he quit, Bernaudeau, the director of the team said that contractually he either had to ride for them on the Tour, or he could not ride the tour at all. Then he said that Beloki left without hard feelings.

I find that REALLY hard to believe, specially since Beloki is Basque fer Gods' sake.

On top of all that is the real question about whether or not Beloki can or will get over this fall. Plenty of people in life have gotten over hideous accidents and gone on to excel, but it may take another year if it happens at all.

One thing I would bet, ain't nobody got the money or the cojones to sign him on now to do the Tour, probably even sign him on to ride at all for the rest of this season.

Well, Maybe one of the Basque teams might do it, just for S's and G's.

whit

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Whitney
Yeah, there's more going on there that we don't know about.

First of all, he has taken medicine for his allergies for his entire career, one source said it was Modafinil (Provigil) and another said Budesonide (Pulmicort). He had a standing allowance for this from UCI. The french team, who basically hired him so they could get the points to get into the TdF, refused to alow him to take the drug, and the doctor of the team was quoted as saying something to the effect that they didn't think he had allergies bad enough to warrant that drug, and that they really didn't even think he had that bad an allergy problem at all.

This is from your own team! Nice work atmosphere huh?

Yeah, you figure, that of all people to support a rider's doping, it would be his team.

If his own team says that it isn't bad enough to take a drug, then I really doubt he needs the drug. You think the team would be dumb enough to disallow him the med if the allergies were affecting his performance?

First of all, it's not his team, he barely made it a few months with them, and there's pretty good evidence that they all hated each other from the start.

Secondly, you think the UCI would have approved his use of the allergy medicine basically for the entirety of his career if they thought it was some type of perfornance enhancer?

Whit

Sorry leif_ericson, I second Whitney on this one. Beloki is a very important rider, who (until his crash) was considered to be someone capable of winning a Tour. Do you think that the UCI would have allowed him to take an allergy med lightly?

On the issue of good team atmosphere... well you are spot-on. It would appear that everyone loves one another there, and Beloki appears to have integrated well, LOL.

Hope someone does offer him another contract for the rest of the year and for 2005, when I hope to see him back in racing form.

😄