Klöden considers retirement

Serafino said:

Klöden considers retirement

"I know it sounds fanciful," he said. "In cycling the UCI and ASO are fighting for the Tour. People are plotting things; everyone is wishing the worst for everyone else. A lot of money is at stake. What if some people are manipulating things, ruining things, in order to take control of what's left?"

Fanciful? How about INSANE?! Geez, do PEDs create paranoia? These riders live in a bubble as big as the one around Capitol Hill.

this should get some team to shell out more money to him next year.

Serafino said:

Even more ominously, he raised the possibility of riders' careers being sacrificed in the current dispute between Tour organizers ASO and the UCI.

"I know it sounds fanciful," he said. "In cycling the UCI and ASO are fighting for the Tour. People are plotting things; everyone is wishing the worst for everyone else. A lot of money is at stake. What if some people are manipulating things, ruining things, in order to take control of what's left?"

The best observation of cycling by a cyclist. This is the problem we are faced with in cycling. It's a bald faced lie when the talking heads say they want to clean up cycling. If the current power struggle was not going on, we would not have had any positives at the TDF. It's a war of attrition..and not between the riders in a race.
A clean TDF is not as media friendly as a "Superman Climbing the Mountains" race. The fans want dopers.
The sad thing is this...... I really do not believe any of the cycling organizations when they speak, the labs , nor the riders when the tests are coming back positive. The newspapers/journalists????
How can they be trusted when the doping scandals are healthy for buisness?
Lim spoke out first when he said the UCI was at fault. It maybe the first time I agreed with him, but I would even take it farther.....The ASO is just as guilty.

wolfix said:

The best observation of cycling by a cyclist. This is the problem we are faced with in cycling. It's a bald faced lie when the talking heads say they want to clean up cycling. If the current power struggle was not going on, we would not have had any positives at the TDF. It's a war of attrition..and not between the riders in a race.
A clean TDF is not as media friendly as a "Superman Climbing the Mountains" race. The fans want dopers.
The sad thing is this...... I really do not believe any of the cycling organizations when they speak, the labs , nor the riders when the tests are coming back positive. The newspapers/journalists????
How can they be trusted when the doping scandals are healthy for buisness?
Lim spoke out first when he said the UCI was at fault. It maybe the first time I agreed with him, but I would even take it farther.....The ASO is just as guilty.

You know, wolfix, you do not give enough credit to plain old incompetence.

nns1400 said:

You know, wolfix, you do not give enough credit to plain old incompetence.

Incompetence should be assumed. It was their jobs to continue the traditions, the hype, the mystery of the thing we call the TDF.

Now it is being shown to the general public of what it has always been.....

McSquid and Prudie did not keep the overall goal in perspective. This is nothing but a power struggle between corporate heads.

wolfix said:

. The fans want dopers.

This is the truth! And what I've said on here before and what my wife and I talked about last night. Nail on the head!

To draw what maybe a weak parallel, I think that North American fans were under no illusions about what was going on in your modified game of rounders🙂

Nevertheless, when Mr Potato Head Bonds was pretty well fingered as a doper it didn't seem to do much for his popularity outside of his own ballpark. I think that sports fans would simply rather not be exposed to the nasty truth. Much better to be a hypocrite than have our frail illusions shattered.

nns1400 said:

Fanciful? How about INSANE?! Geez, do PEDs create paranoia? These riders live in a bubble as big as the one around Capitol Hill.

Both Klodi and his best friend Ulli are a bit light in the mental department.

saluki said:

Both Klodi and his best friend Ulli are a bit light in the mental department.

I'm wondering if everyone really read Kloden's comments. He is basically saying that Vino and Kessler were framed. By either the ASO or UCI. Their denial has reached new heights, similar to Lance believers (no offense).

He also said if they criminalize the cheaters (where that is even coming from I don't know) he would have to quit riding. How about quit doping?

Where is Klodifan? I want some answers! :p

nns1400 said:

I'm wondering if everyone really read Kloden's comments. He is basically saying that Vino and Kessler were framed. By either the ASO or UCI. Their denial has reached new heights, similar to Lance believers (no offense).

He also said if they criminalize the cheaters (where that is even coming from I don't know) he would have to quit riding. How about quit doping?

Where is Klodifan? I want some answers! :p

No, what he is saying is that doping has always been allowed. That the UCI/ASO and whoever just ignored it and pushed some positives under the rug. Now he asking why is everyone acting as if it is something new and nasty.

He knows of team doping at TM , but why is the prosecutor going after JU? The riders are not the ones in this mess to promote it,,.....TM management is. [fill in the blank with your favorite team]

The fans love a doping TDF... The only people complaining on this board and along the road are the ones who's favorite gets caught.....

Klodi has this figured out and is speaking out against it.

Ask Eddy about th attempts by the Italians to frame him.

wolfix said:

No, what he is saying is that doping has always been allowed. That the UCI/ASO and whoever just ignored it and pushed some positives under the rug. Now he asking why is everyone acting as if it is something new and nasty.

He knows of team doping at TM , but why is the prosecutor going after JU? The riders are not the ones in this mess to promote it,,.....TM management is. [fill in the blank with your favorite team]

The fans love a doping TDF... The only people complaining on this board and along the road are the ones who's favorite gets caught.....

Klodi has this figured out and is speaking out against it.

Ask Eddy about th attempts by the Italians to frame him.

The Belgians framed Merkx too. Merckx got drug busted at Fleche Wallone in 1977. DQed for pemoline.

wolfix said:

No, what he is saying is that doping has always been allowed. That the UCI/ASO and whoever just ignored it and pushed some positives under the rug. Now he asking why is everyone acting as if it is something new and nasty.

He knows of team doping at TM , but why is the prosecutor going after JU? The riders are not the ones in this mess to promote it,,.....TM management is. [fill in the blank with your favorite team]

The fans love a doping TDF... The only people complaining on this board and along the road are the ones who's favorite gets caught.....

Klodi has this figured out and is speaking out against it.

Ask Eddy about th attempts by the Italians to frame him.

Read it again. He IS saying "they" are framing them. He goes on for a paragraph about how neither of those two would be "so stupid" as to do what they tested positive for, knowing they would be tested. Well, they all know they will be tested. Under that rationale, not a single rider would be stupid enough to dope. Do you think Vino has been framed? Do you really believe that he did not test positive for testosterone?

Ask Lance about the attempts by the French to frame him. Ask Floyd about the attempts to frame him. It's the dirty French, I tell you, the French!

Doctor.House said:

The Belgians framed Merkx too. Merckx got drug busted at Fleche Wallone in 1977. DQed for pemoline.

Know your history...... Eddy never claimed he was innocent in the two busts outside of Italy. His Italian bust he swore to the end he was innocent. Knowing history of the TDF/Giro he may have been innocent. Shortly after that no Italian riders entered the TDF for several years.There was a big split in cycling between italy and the rest of the racing.

wolfix said:

Know your history...... Eddy never claimed he was innocent in the two busts outside of Italy. His Italian bust he swore to the end he was innocent. Knowing history of the TDF/Giro he may have been innocent. Shortly after that no Italian riders entered the TDF for several years.There was a big split in cycling between italy and the rest of the racing.

Know your history boy.

Eddy Merckx was DQed for doping in Belgium too!

And Michele Ferrari had Axel Merckx on Prozac.

Doctor.House said:

Know your history boy.

Eddy Merckx was DQed for doping in Belgium too!.

Are you bi-polar?

wolfix said:

No, what he is saying is that doping has always been allowed. That the UCI/ASO and whoever just ignored it and pushed some positives under the rug. Now he asking why is everyone acting as if it is something new and nasty.
.

Also think about this --that is saying the UCI/ASO should just ignore it and push it under the rug.

But that isn't what Kloden said anyway. I stand by my earlier analysis.

nns1400 said:

I'm wondering if everyone really read Kloden's comments. He is basically saying that Vino and Kessler were framed. By either the ASO or UCI. Their denial has reached new heights, similar to Lance believers (no offense).

I with you... its such a funny sport...... With Heras the lab made some handling errors, with Landis the lab had a predetermined result and also made some handling errors, Ullrich never actually doped even thou he's blood was found at a notorious doping doctors practice, Rasmussen inadvertently missed four out of competition drug tests and although meticulous in every part of his training regime forgot about the very thing that would give him entry into the major goal of his sporting year, Vino has been framed by the French Lab and didn't actually blood dope, David Miller never took EPO and kept a vial of it just as reminder of what not to do, Tyler Hamilton didn't blood dope and was the victim of an error in a new test and has a twin brother who was never born, Ivan Basso never actually doped and was only planning to - give ET a break, Mancebo retired but then realised that he didn't dope and rejoined the peleton, Botero also retired then realised that he didn't dope and went back to Columbia to ride, Kessler didn't dope and was the victim of chinese medicine that somehow gave an 85:1 reading..... cyclist are so hard done by.... ASO, the UCI are so against them..... when are the riders going to enjoy some freedoms ?

Doctor.House said:

The Belgians framed Merkx too. Merckx got drug busted at Fleche Wallone in 1977. DQed for pemoline.

It appears that Axel Merckx is bipolar. So I say yes.

They all are.

Ask me about Thierry Claverolat, Marco Pantani, Luis Ocana, Graeme Obree or Jose Maria Jimenez. That's what being bipolar is all about.

well, this comes as no surprize to me as i mentioned the possibility a day or so ago to someone else on this form.

anyway, to marge: what i understand from his statement is that the riders are merely pawns in the power struggle within cycling. and to a degree, we can see this. as for riders being sent to jail, look at it from his persepctive. he has been a pro for years, is forced to sign the uci charter that really only holds riders accountable, not the players who really have the power in the sport to control doping. the penalties are stiff... against the riders! and look at moreni, he was taking away immediately after the stage in handcuffs! moreover, the uci has admitted to targeting a few select riders. why not target all equally? and more and more public statements regarding how all the older riders are dirty dopers, but our younger riders like linus are super clean. give me a break. considering all of this, do you really thing kloden is being paranoid?

as a fan, it is disappointing, albeit, understandable. i hope after things calm down he continues to race, but he has to take a stand and move away from astana. otherwise, he will continue to be seen as guilty, b/c we all know astana would rather sink with vino than move towards anti doping policies, even if merely for PR.