Author Topic: Boonen Out Of Tour!  (Read 11686 times)

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #50 on: 14 April, 2009, 10:23:02 pm »
Charge or not, it helped that all his rivals crashed at a particularly inopportune point.  :-\
It was no accident that Boonen missed all the crashes and consequent holdups. If you are at the front you don't get held up by a pile of crashed riders, you don't get brought off by fallen riders, and you've got a good sight of potholes and the right lines on corners.

So what you're saying is - if you stay at the front throughout the race, you'll win?!

If only lesser riders realised this...

But only the best can get to the front - hence the big attacks to get to the front before the worst pave sections, such as the Forest.

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #51 on: 14 April, 2009, 10:44:47 pm »
Shame about that last crash; I was looking forward to seeing a more closely contended finish.

Some of the spectators shouldn't be let anywhere near the course. As they've got no idea
whatsoever of the danger they pose to the riders.
I thought the one rider was going to pull up and go back to that one twat. The rider just made
do with a long hard Paddington stare over his shoulder instead.
Quote from: Marbeaux
Have given this a great deal of thought and decided not to contribute to any further Threads for the time being.
POTD. (decade) :thumbsup:

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #52 on: 09 May, 2009, 08:18:41 pm »
and now the daft sod has gone and done it again .....

www.cyclingnews.com - the world centre of cycling
"What a long, strange trip it's been", Truckin'

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #53 on: 09 May, 2009, 08:42:46 pm »
So... does he just have a coke habit, or what?
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
OpenStreetMap UK & IRL Streetmap & Topo: ravenfamily.org/andyg/maps updates weekly.

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #54 on: 09 May, 2009, 08:51:10 pm »
So... does he just have a coke habit, or what?

Looks like it - always dangerous doing psychological profiling from a distance but seems like he's either a daft laddie like Ullrich or a quite a bit unstable like Frank VDB
"What a long, strange trip it's been", Truckin'

Pancho

  • لَا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ
Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #55 on: 09 May, 2009, 09:04:25 pm »

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #56 on: 10 May, 2009, 12:55:45 am »
Coke is boring.

Says "MrCharly"



'Charlie says Tommy is not the only silly pussy'
Working my way up to inferior.

ChrisO

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #57 on: 10 May, 2009, 05:06:10 am »
Now he claims that he "might" have taken cocaine but only because he had so much to drink, although he was so pissed he can't remember.

Head case...

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #58 on: 10 May, 2009, 08:06:45 am »
Really?  Sounds like an average friday night out in London for young professionals.

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #59 on: 10 May, 2009, 09:57:11 am »
I may be the original conspiracy theorist, shoot me down if you think so.

But......

Belgian riders can use charges to get themselves going.  It has been happening for decades.  Controls are weak - well they used to be.  Common charge components are cocaine or amphetamines.

So he just uses recreationally does he?  A professional rider that is under a lot of pressure to perform, to produce the goods for his sponsors and actually much more than that - a whole nation.  I don't think so.  This 'just personal use' argument is hollow and a cover for drugs in sport.

rdaviesb

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #60 on: 10 May, 2009, 10:02:11 am »
If he will take drugs out of competition (even for recreational use) then he will eventually be tempted to "improve his performance" through non legal means (and will Cav's rise this might be sooner rather than later). He can't go to the Tour this year, or even next.

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #61 on: 10 May, 2009, 10:10:15 am »
Don't think so.... the problem is more likely to be the inverse, sports drug use leading to recreational use.  Maybe not so likely these days, when only a fool would use amphetamines in competition, but certainly was a problem up to the late 80's.  It is well documented that riders would get off their tits at team parties on 'pot belge', a mixture of all sorts of fun drugs.

I don't disbelieve Boonen.  He's a cycling rock star, this is part of that lifestyle. I think it is a completely seperate issue to sporting use.

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #62 on: 10 May, 2009, 10:22:16 am »
Good point about the lifestyle and the hero status that he has in certain parts of the world.  But, I also wonder how high the integrity in his country is when it comes to testing.  That young chap that died this year, a fellow Belgian.  I think drug use in Belgian is still okay and the crime is being caught.

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #63 on: 10 May, 2009, 10:26:19 am »


Maitre d': Just a leettle toot from off zis mirror. Just take a leetle line...  It iz only wafer theen.
Quote from: Marbeaux
Have given this a great deal of thought and decided not to contribute to any further Threads for the time being.
POTD. (decade) :thumbsup:

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #64 on: 10 May, 2009, 10:33:28 am »
That young chap that died this year, a fellow Belgian.  I think drug use in Belgian is still okay and the crime is being caught.

Were drugs the cause of death?

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #65 on: 10 May, 2009, 10:54:13 am »
I don't think we actually 'know' the cause of death.  That is why I am sceptical.

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #66 on: 10 May, 2009, 04:39:08 pm »
If he will take drugs out of competition (even for recreational use) then he will eventually be tempted to "improve his performance" through non legal means

That's pretty groundless and opinionated.  Care to back it up?
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
OpenStreetMap UK & IRL Streetmap & Topo: ravenfamily.org/andyg/maps updates weekly.

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #67 on: 10 May, 2009, 05:25:37 pm »
I'm not happy with this ban, just as I'm not happy at all with companies sacking employees who test positive for drugs. I'm not a drug user myself but will happily allow other people to do what they do in their spare time as long as it doesn't affect their performance at times when it shouldn't such as when driving a car or actually being at work.

Since the UCI has no beef with Boonen (   ::-)   ) let him ride his bike!

"Many, also, are the hills that lie between, and we must ascend, by a glorious stairway, from strength to strength."
- Petrarch, 'The Ascent of Mount Ventoux', 1336

ChrisO

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #68 on: 10 May, 2009, 06:18:25 pm »
Cocaine is a prohibited substance i.e. prohibited in the sporting sense of the word during competition. This wasn't a competition test but it doesn't exactly give you a licence to use it.

The other point is that the team will have clauses in his contract about bringing them into disrepute. I'd be surprised if the UCI didn't have some sort of catch-all covering it as well. Being hauled up on criminal charges for a second time in violation of your first sentence is a pretty good example of disrepute.

Apart from that who knows that it hasn't been affecting his performance.

Julian

  • samoture
Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #69 on: 10 May, 2009, 06:21:22 pm »
I've known a few people who take coke "recreationally."  It's very addictive, especially if a person's under high pressure.  If he was chucked out last year for it in a high profile ban, he could well have become dependent.  Whether that counts as using it for sports purposes or not I don't know.

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #70 on: 10 May, 2009, 09:18:46 pm »
Seems that this main problem now is the unwelcome attention from the Gendarmerie  (or Belgian equivalent) - he may well face criminal charges related to breaking the terms of his "suspended sentence" or whatever it was he got last time.

FWIW to me the valid comparison is with footballers/rich urban professionals rather than any conspiracy to deceive- he's just unlucky that the cycling regime is so strict, and I'm with Ibrahim on this, don't think  they should even be testing for drugs that are designated as non-performance-enhancing.
"What a long, strange trip it's been", Truckin'

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #71 on: 10 May, 2009, 09:21:30 pm »
I disagree that it is not performance enhancing.  It may not build muscle, it may not increase the red blood cell count and therefore increase your oxygen in the blood, but it does stimulate.  In all the cycling drug books I've read cocaine is one of the drugs they take.  Belgian mix contains it quite often.

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #72 on: 10 May, 2009, 09:29:27 pm »
I disagree that it is not performance enhancing.  It may not build muscle, it may not increase the red blood cell count and therefore increase your oxygen in the blood, but it does stimulate.  In all the cycling drug books I've read cocaine is one of the drugs they take.  Belgian mix contains it quite often.


You might think that and you may be correct, but the UCI doesn't agree - so testing positive for cocaine outside competition doesn't attract the attention of the folks who set the rules for organised competitive cycling.

Which, IMHO, begs the question of why they test for it in the first place!
"What a long, strange trip it's been", Truckin'

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #73 on: 10 May, 2009, 09:38:37 pm »
It is a stimulant.  It's benefits only occur if you take it during a race.  So it's not performance enhancing in an out of competition test.  Seems fairly straightforward to me...

Re: Boonen Out Of Tour!
« Reply #74 on: 10 May, 2009, 09:40:33 pm »
Yes, thank you for your directness  ;D
"What a long, strange trip it's been", Truckin'