Massive Belgian Drug Bust

If only we could see these sort of raids in all the big cycling countries.... *cough* spain *cough*

The article I read stated drugs were not found in Geert Omloop's house. But he was suspended by the team.... Interesting.
They evidently had some inside info. With the trial coming up in Belgian courts soon I imagine someone is running at the mouth.

Well why else would the police talk to his wife and dad..........makes you wonder!!!!!

Omloop is suspended (non-active) and dave bruylandts won't get a contract.....IF it's true!

wolfix said:

The article I read stated drugs were not found in Geert Omloop's house. But he was suspended by the team.... Interesting.
They evidently had some inside info. With the trial coming up in Belgian courts soon I imagine someone is running at the mouth.

MJtje said:

Omloop is suspended (non-active) and dave bruylandts won't get a contract.....IF it's true!

Gotta take Bruylandts out of my fantasy team for Vlaanders.

MJtje said:

Well why else would the police talk to his wife and dad..........makes you wonder!!!!!

Omloop is suspended (non-active) and dave bruylandts won't get a contract.....IF it's true!

That's why I found the story interesting. I didn't know that other family members were questioned. He probably kept his stash at his fathers then....Then it makes sense that his team suspended him.
The drug enforcement situation going on in cycling has a political undertone that I do not like...... Some countries seem to want to be tough on drugs, while other countries look the other way. I think the people in the sport that have been involved for many years have the outlook "Drugs are part of the sport, what are you going to do?" And they are and have been part of the sport for so many years. But now people are getting outraged like it is a new thing....Which leads to political witch hunting for certain riders. {Lets leave the French/ Lance thing out of this thread} I realize that drugs in sport fall into the criminal laws of nations, but strict enforcement of one countries riders and not of another nation is wrong.
What are the solutions??? Do we blame the riders for bad character? Do we blame the fans for "hero worship?" And as fans do we really care if the riders are drugged? We seem to care if it is a rider from a team that is not a favorite, but we want to believe our riders.....
I have solved the problem for myself. I simply do not care if the Professional riders are drugged,I just follow the races. I do not let professional riders endorsement of cycling products sway me, nor do I look upon them as "men greater then ourselves." I look at the races on the ProTour as great. To me, the race itself is the champion. I use my "cycling worship for men " for the local riders I know.
I could care less that Lance is a arrogant Texan.... His TDF results was what interested me in July. And the only problem I have with Jan eating too many pasrties in the off season is that he did not leave any for me. And I did not run out and buy Shimano equipment when Discovery/Shimano won the TDF 7x in a row. {But then why would anyone when Campagnolo is available?}
As an American I am enjoying this season more then any in the past few years. The reason is that I no longer have to hear about Lance and the doping. It got old, no matter what side of the fence you sat.
Drugs are as big a part of the professional ranks as the bikes themselves.

Here in the U.S. big story as two very respected journalists publish a book about Barry Bonds, baseball player, doping. Their book is not based on suspicion or innuendo but hard interviews, documented, many people saying they saw, knew, participated etc etc in the whole thing. Apparently that is what it actually takes, and still in the US it is a second or third line article. Not like France where it is headline news if someone publishes some scurrilous unfounded rumour about our fair haired boy.

At any rate, it seems that the Belgians are either the most dirty or have the least friends since everyone is getting narced on and busted.

As the famous Eddy Arnold once sang on my favorite TV show:
Green Acres...
"Clean livin is the life for me..."

hombredesubaru said:

Here in the U.S. big story as two very respected journalists publish a book about Barry Bonds, baseball player, doping. Their book is not based on suspicion or innuendo but hard interviews, documented, many people saying they saw, knew, participated etc etc in the whole thing. Apparently that is what it actually takes, and still in the US it is a second or third line article. Not like France where it is headline news if someone publishes some scurrilous unfounded rumour about our fair haired boy.

At any rate, it seems that the Belgians are either the most dirty or have the least friends since everyone is getting narced on and busted.

As the famous Eddy Arnold once sang on my favorite TV show:
Green Acres...
"Clean livin is the life for me..."

One has to wonder what you would say if the police raided LA's house last year. One might expect that you would accuse the police of trying to create headlines. Apparently, in your world, police raids in Belgium are evidence of doping, but positive tests for Hamilton and Armstrong never are.

FREE TYLER'S VANISHING TWIN.

hombredesubaru said:

Here in the U.S. big story as two very respected journalists publish a book about Barry Bonds, baseball player, doping. Their book is not based on suspicion or innuendo but hard interviews, documented, many people saying they saw, knew, participated etc etc in the whole thing. Apparently that is what it actually takes, and still in the US it is a second or third line article. Not like France where it is headline news if someone publishes some scurrilous unfounded rumour about our fair haired boy.

LA Confidential contained hard interviews with former team mates, former doctors, former team staff, former soigneurs, an ex-TDF champion, wife of an exteamate of Armstrong : Dates and times were specified for drug runs down to the Spanish border.
Hard evidence, as you like to call it.

Too bad hardly anyone read the book🙁 Still waiting for an english version!!!!!!

limerickman said:

LA Confidential contained hard interviews with former team mates, former doctors, former team staff, former soigneurs, an ex-TDF champion, wife of an exteamate of Armstrong : Dates and times were specified for drug runs down to the Spanish border.

Hard evidence, as you like to call it.

MJtje said:

Too bad hardly anyone read the book🙁 Still waiting for an english version!!!!!!

It will be published in anglais!

limerickman said:

LA Confidential contained hard interviews with former team mates, former doctors, former team staff, former soigneurs, an ex-TDF champion, wife of an exteamate of Armstrong : Dates and times were specified for drug runs down to the Spanish border.
Hard evidence, as you like to call it.

Why are you guys picking a fight.
I post an article about a Belgian drug bust, and you turn this into another lame assassination of Lance Armstrong, whom I never mentioned.

The Barry Bonds book is fact. It is bases on hundreds of interviews and articles published in mainstream newspapers, not crappy yeloow journalism 'sports' rags. The Bonds book is also based on grand jury testimony that has led to indictments, federal prosecutions, and congressional hearings, all done under the rule or real law. These journalists have had to face down their editors, the newspaper lawyers, and threats of many lawsuits and so far they are standing because they are backed up by truth and the law.

The slanderers/folks making accusations in LA Confidential have never been subjected to sworn testimony much less a grand jury in a federal prosecution wherein not telling the truth holds a fairly large penalty...just ask Scooter Libby. These guys are real journalists, not a bunch of liars, manipulators, and sh#tweasals (Oh can you help us, we are just honest french journalists trying to do a real honest story showing Lance had no medical certificates allowing him to take drugs in 1999, please help us disprove those mean peopel who doubt him would you, and please hand over his doping controls so that we can fix the results of some bogus tests some lab is running and then we can publish them as front page news and make millions of francs dishonestly , eh? wont you help us pleeeez) choking on the dust of a cycling drought wherein no Frenchman has won anything but small puny races in second tier venues.

As to the point of this thread, this Belgian bust is a real drug stroy, with riders caught red-handed with the stuff, not some bogus unverified blood tests with sketchy results. This is a real drug story by the biggets dopers in the peloton.
I still wonder how Hincapie feels now... knowing when Museeuw rode him off the wheel in Paris ROubaix when he was there at the head of the race in a small break with Museeuw that Johan was on EPO, HGH, insulin and everything else the VandenBroucke veterinarian could offer.

hombredesubaru said:

Why are you guys picking a fight.
I post an article about a Belgian drug bust, and you turn this into another lame assassination of Lance Armstrong, whom I never mentioned.

The Barry Bonds book is fact. It is bases on hundreds of interviews and articles published in mainstream newspapers, not crappy yeloow journalism 'sports' rags. The Bonds book is also based on grand jury testimony that has led to indictments, federal prosecutions, and congressional hearings, all done under the rule or real law. These journalists have had to face down their editors, the newspaper lawyers, and threats of many lawsuits and so far they are standing because they are backed up by truth and the law.

The slanderers/folks making accusations in LA Confidential have never been subjected to sworn testimony much less a grand jury in a federal prosecution wherein not telling the truth holds a fairly large penalty...just ask Scooter Libby. These guys are real journalists, not a bunch of liars, manipulators, and sh#tweasals (Oh can you help us, we are just honest french journalists trying to do a real honest story showing Lance had no medical certificates allowing him to take drugs in 1999, please help us disprove those mean peopel who doubt him would you, and please hand over his doping controls so that we can fix the results of some bogus tests some lab is running and then we can publish them as front page news and make millions of francs dishonestly , eh? wont you help us pleeeez) choking on the dust of a cycling drought wherein no Frenchman has won anything but small puny races in second tier venues.

As to the point of this thread, this Belgian bust is a real drug stroy, with riders caught red-handed with the stuff, not some bogus unverified blood tests with sketchy results. This is a real drug story by the biggets dopers in the peloton.
I still wonder how Hincapie feels now... knowing when Museeuw rode him off the wheel in Paris ROubaix when he was there at the head of the race in a small break with Museeuw that Johan was on EPO, HGH, insulin and everything else the VandenBroucke veterinarian could offer.

The police defenetly found something by SOME of the riders. Sven vantourenhaut was on the Tv news yesterday and said there was no police at all in his house, as some other riders have stated. The names came from only one newspaper. Vantourenhout will sue the newspaper (Gazet van Antwerpen). Yesterday evening it was also said that Dave Buylandt was questioned as a "witness". The state prosecuter also said they found stuff at SOME of the riders homes who where raided, not at all homes. They didn't want to talk about the names of the riders. I think we have to wait some more days, maybe weeks untill we really know what they found. There is a lot of speculation going on at the moment.

limerickman said:

It will be published in anglais!

Really? Great! when? 🙂

Bjørn P.Dal said:

Really? Great! when? 🙂

I'm reliably informed that David wants the case in France to procede - and that the people mentioned in the book are fully prepared to go to France and to state in open court what they stated in the book L.A. Confidentiel.

The libel trial was due to commence last November.
Armstrong's team weren't in a position to start the case then and it was put back to March 2006.

hombredesubaru said:

Why are you guys picking a fight.
I post an article about a Belgian drug bust, and you turn this into another lame assassination of Lance Armstrong, whom I never mentioned.

Not picking a fight - some of us here were just commenting on the selective approach that you took to the Belgian case and the approach that you took to the Armstrong case.

hombredesubaru said:

The Barry Bonds book is fact. It is bases on hundreds of interviews and articles published in mainstream newspapers, not crappy yeloow journalism 'sports' rags. The Bonds book is also based on grand jury testimony that has led to indictments, federal prosecutions, and congressional hearings, all done under the rule or real law. These journalists have had to face down their editors, the newspaper lawyers, and threats of many lawsuits and so far they are standing because they are backed up by truth and the law.

I am not familiar with the Bonds case - nor am I particualrly interested in another case about doping in baseball.
What I am interested in is the juxtaposition adopted by you.

We have a team of contributors to a book about Armstrong who are prepared to attend open court to swear on oath about what was published.
That is the law here in this side of the world.

The authors of this book have had to face down legal threats.
I can tell you that some of the contributors to the book have been on the receipt of threats too.
In the face of all this opposition the book was published.

hombredesubaru said:

The slanderers/folks making accusations in LA Confidential have never been subjected to sworn testimony much less a grand jury in a federal prosecution wherein not telling the truth holds a fairly large penalty...just ask Scooter Libby.

If there has been a slander, then why hasn't your man appeared in France, in a court of law and proven this to be the case?
When he issued his libel rebuttal - the defendants in the case did not back down.
The plaintiff couldn't proceed with the case last November.
The defendants await the plaintiffs action.

hombredesubaru said:

These guys are real journalists, not a bunch of liars, manipulators, and sh#tweasals .

David Walsh is a well respected journalist - the man is an award winning journalist.
As regards the rest of the people who contributed to the book - they're all prepared to testify in open court.

The only one who appears to be shifting is your man.

hombredesubaru said:

choking on the dust of a cycling drought wherein no Frenchman has won anything but small puny races in second tier venues.

Another inaccurate statement : puny races in second tier venues???????
What the hell is that about??????
Is the TDF a second tier venue?????
Let me explain it for you.
I didn't know that the KoM's and Points competition in the TDF were second tier.

You don't know what you're talking about.
As usual.

hombredesubaru said:

As to the point of this thread, this Belgian bust is a real drug stroy, with riders caught red-handed with the stuff, not some bogus unverified blood tests with sketchy results. This is a real drug story by the biggets dopers in the peloton.
I still wonder how Hincapie feels now... knowing when Museeuw rode him off the wheel in Paris ROubaix when he was there at the head of the race in a small break with Museeuw that Johan was on EPO, HGH, insulin and everything else the VandenBroucke veterinarian could offer.

Yep, it's not nice when someone who cheats wins - it's not fair.
Which brings us nicely back to why some of us don't apply double standards.
I wonder how Ullrich must feel knowing what we now know about the 1999 TDF winner?

The French Drought is real.

Going out on long escapades to soak up mountain points is now a silly adventure that everyone know has nothing to do with being the best climber...so yes Jalabert and Virenque dont do the maillot a pois jersey any credit and the competition is not that intersting, as opposed to best sprinter and best overall.

Besides that I cant think of any French winners of important one day or stage races recently...and yes the drought is connected to the French press treatment of Lance and others. They have to make some stroy up and since they cant seem to produce any cyclists of note they fill their pages with what sells.

BTW, no one ever asks the obvious question about Jan Ullrich, that he has never made it to the top step of the podium since his best performances that were in 1996 and 1997, pre-Festina, before the intensive doping controls etc, and he rode those two years under the tutelage of a man called Mr 60%.

Look at Jan's last ITT in the TdF 1996 where he killed everyone by minutes injcluding Bjarne Riis...he has never matched that level again. Nor has he matched his TdF climbing in 1997 when he dropped the 137 pound, doped to the gills pre-Festina Virenque on Arcalis. Think about it I mean really.

So that may be one reason Jan has been so quiet about Lance, the way I think virtually all other riders have been.

hombredesubaru said:

The French Drought is real.

Going out on long escapades to soak up mountain points is now a silly adventure that everyone know has nothing to do with being the best climber...so yes Jalabert and Virenque dont do the maillot a pois jersey any credit and the competition is not that intersting, as opposed to best sprinter and best overall.

KoM competition is competitve within the TDF - always has been.

Let's look at the point jersey competition - Jalabert won that in 1992 and 1995.
Is that puny too?
Or how about Jalabert winning the Vuelta? Is that also puny?

hombredesubaru said:

Besides that I cant think of any French winners of important one day or stage races recently...

ah, yes the qualification recently.

I know you and the likes of Musette's use of language, and thought process, is shaky at the best of times.
Recently. How recently??
Judging by your reference to puny - God only knows what you mean by recently.

hombredesubaru said:

...and yes the drought is connected to the French press treatment of Lance and others. They have to make some stroy up and since they cant seem to produce any cyclists of note they fill their pages with what sells.

Really?

So how come the French never made up a story when a guy from their closest neighbouring country copperfastened his hold on the TDF?

You've been belating on about a nationalist conspiracy - how come the nationalist conspiracy never targetted Indurain or Eddie Merckx for that matter???
Surely local rivalries burn brighter than an alleged rivalry with your country - that assuming that there is a rivalry on antional level (which there isn't).

hombredesubaru said:

BTW, no one ever asks the obvious question about Jan Ullrich, that he has never made it to the top step of the podium since his best performances that were in 1996 and 1997, pre-Festina, before the intensive doping controls etc, and he rode those two years under the tutelage of a man called Mr 60%.

Look at Jan's last ITT in the TdF 1996 where he killed everyone by minutes injcluding Bjarne Riis...he has never matched that level again. Nor has he matched his TdF climbing in 1997 when he dropped the 137 pound, doped to the gills pre-Festina Virenque on Arcalis. Think about it I mean really.

So that may be one reason Jan has been so quiet about Lance, the way I think virtually all other riders have been.

Now that you mention this - and I go way way back to the theory I expounded here in this very forum, several years back.

When you've a pedigree of winning races throughout your career - and you suddenly start finishing second to a guy with no form whatsoever in the major race in the sport - it can be only one of two things.

Either your performance level dropped or the guy who had no track record in the event is up to something.
Ullrich's progress ability as a stage race winner was identified from day one - he ability to win major races was never an issue.
Never.

Unlike your boy.
Good one day rider for sure.
Not the best one day rider either - at that time it has to be said.
But good nonetheless.
As a stager in the GT's - he wasn't even an also ran.
Indurain barely noticed him.

Like a lot of competitive cyclists - Ullrich has followed the party line.
He said nothing.
I heard Stephen Roche himself say that cycling didn't have a problem.
We all know it has a problem.

Armstrong's own words got him in to trouble. If he had gone about his business quietly, there wouldn't have been an issue.
Armstrong dug his own grave on this issue.

Well, I think you're off the point of this thread which has to do with Belgian drug raids.

But simply to respond, to your main points, yes everyone can see Ullrich was not at his previous level after 1996 ans 1997. He got his ass handed to him in 1998, missed 1999 due to injury, really sucked as usual all the first half of the 2000 race and rallied back, was good in 2001 but not back to his previous level, was banned for doping in 2002, was really good in 2003 then slid the following two years.

Lance was already transforming himself into a stage racer bit by bit before cancer. Won the Tour Dupont several times in the US, came very close in Paris Nice in mid nineties behind Jaja, etc.

So Lance stepped it up a noth and Ullrich slid a notch.
But nowhere does anyone else seem to grasp that Jan never reached that prior level of 96 and 97 or come up with the answer why.

KOM competition is now boring. Unless they change the rules again it will go to some dweeby guy who goes off the front and grabs points but can never stay with any of the real climbers when it gets fast.

Lance was ranked as the UCI number 1 rider in the world for a considerable period of time in his career, that refutes your lame assertion not the best one day rider. He was clearly one of the best when riding well.

Jaja was a great rider and winning the points and polka dots is something very few have done, Merckx and lord know who else.

The sport of cycling has a problem as do all sports.
But it seems that the Belgian mafia of riders never raise an eyebrow when they are found with buckets of stuff, whereas even the hint of supsicion raises all kinda [censored] toward certain other riders. You may draw your own conclusions.