Bad Jan and the Blood bags
Besides sounding like a bad German Grindcore Band (as opposed to all the good ones), our topic this week is another chapter in the Puerto saga. After the investigation was dismissed by a Spanish judge, the public prosecutor’s office in Germany has had some blood fun and has found some Puerto bags matching Jan’s DNA. And if CSI – Maquoketa has taught us anything, it’s that DNA evidence it irrefutable – and it gets processed in like, 3 hours.
So, will Jan be facing time in a “pound me in the lederhosen” German prison? It looks like he could be charged with some medical law infringements, and since Germany doesn’t have any anti-doping legislation, they might try to bring fraud charges against Ullrich.
Is this what we come to? Have we gotten to the point where we’re willing to jail guys who cheat at bikes? I think it’s fair to kick them out of the sport they cheated at and in doing so, deny them any living through that sport. To throw them in jail seems a little harsh, but maybe that’s the only way they’ll learn.
Should The Kaiser go to the big house? Is jail time an appropriate punishment for cheating? Should Basso’s dog be lawyering up?
thursday sucks. bring back schmalz’s training journal!
i want some candy. right now.
The German prosecutors and as well as the German publich should drop the case now and close the chapter. Jan is already retired. Is no longer a moot point whether or not he will come back to racing. Even he didn’t dope, he is still a very talented rider as well as the first German to have ever won the Tour. His conspriacy defence is not necessary. It only implies that he isn’t getting necessary emotional support. I doubt that he would turn into another Patani since Jan is such a person with a strong will and power.
that’s awseome that NBC is covering the USopen. definitely watching that. saturday is looking like a pretty good day. a little racing in the morning, grab some brunch, then watch cycling on broadcast TV. hell yeah!
that’s awseome that NBC is covering the USopen. definitely watching that. saturday is looking like a pretty good day. a little racing in the morning, grab some brunch, then watch cycling on broadcast TV. hell yeah!
I heard my name.
Did someone say 60%?
And if so, what?
The NBC broadcast of the USOpen on Sat. will include coverage of the women’s race. The main teams in the race are Advil Chapstick and Targetraining. The race has a prize list of $10,000 but is not on the NRC calendar.
t-mobile is a bad example. it seems like they assembled that team very quickly with pr (vs talent) being a top consideration. btw, the t-mobile womens team is doing better without stapleton. compare it to disco where key signings were wooed over the course of several years. slipstream seems to be more thoughtfully put together so they should give us a better read.
t-mobile is a bad example. it seems like they assembled that team very quickly with pr (vs talent) being a top consideration. btw, the t-mobile womens team is doing better without stapleton. compare it to disco where key signings were wooed over the course of several years. slipstream seems to be more thoughtfully put together so they should give us a better read.
Well, there’s only a few teams having a good early season. Quick Step is out waaaay ahead, but CSC and Liquigas are doing well also – maybe even Disco. The season is early, let’s see what happens when the stage racing starts.
Yip and the E3 was a great race. Thanks, I forgot about that one. You would agree though that for the team with I think the highest budget, they’re not really doing all that well in the early season.
The real question is whether we should care if they dope. I can’t decide how I feel about it anymore. If baseball players can take greenies before every game, and football players take roids to avoid getting killed, why shouldn’t endurance athletes get to mess with their blood to go faster? Cheating is what we define it to be. Has our definition become unrealistic in the modern world?
Yip and the E3 was a great race. Thanks, I forgot about that one. You would agree though that for the team with I think the highest budget, they’re not really doing all that well in the early season.
As in the late 80’s after Greg Lemond’s Tour wins promoters in the US are attempting to bring major cycling races to the US after the triumphs of Lance Armstrong. This year, USACycling launched the US Pro Tour adding several new stage races to the Tour of calif and Tour de Ga. But already the Tour of Utah and Texas have been cancelled. This Saturday the inaugral USOpen in Va. is on national TV on NBC. But the total lack of interest, even among the cycling afficionados on nyvelocity makes the outlook for a thriving US Pro domestic scene look pretty bleak.
T-Mobile has a strong PR department. Once the Puerto thing broke, they had their plan immediately in action– and well publicized. It’s a business.
Marcus Burghardt (T-Mobile) has great ride for 3rd at the E3…
I believe Kloden placed at the Crit Intnl – Oh wait! He ditched over to Astana team! Ooops. Hmmmm. Wait a minute!
I personally see the whole Jan thing as just one more example of how sad it is that riders who are virtually "caught" will still deny doping with a straight face. At least the pattern now shows we can all put to bed the "I believe him, he’s such a good guy so why would he lie" line. I understand that he wouldn’t want to be villified when he knows that most of his top competition is likely on the same program, but I just don’t see how cycling will ever recover until some top names just come clean and admit it and become a voice for the sport to clean up. Its not enough for some small and secondary pro teams like Slipstream to set an example – they will just lose races and not make a difference, in my view. Slipstream riders getting picked up by Disco and CSC will surely be dragged into whatever doping programs those teams or key leaders on those teams run. Clearly legal considerations play a role, and Jan doesnt want to end up in jail or give up his money, so maybe it needs to be more mid-level guys who never really made real money so have less to lose by speaking? Not sure really about this since leadership comes from the top, but its just clear that nothing will change while top athletes dope, lie, and then retire quietly… Its really sad – everybody from the fans to the riders deserve to have a clean sport where at least every conceivable effort to prevent cheating is made. Of course cycling is far ahead of other pro sports in the process without all the union BS, but still not far enough…
Has T-Mobile had any results worth mentioning this season? Can’t think of any straight away.
Das McDrive in Karlsruhe ist sehr gefahrlich. Ich liebe die Frankfurter McDurchfahrt.
I do know that Patrick has settled on his own numbers, but to imply that I concur with his "90%" or "nearly all" numbers would imply that there’s some sort of gas leak near Patrick’s computer affecting both his memory and his ability to reason.
In addition to the Slipstream program, T-Mobile is also doing strenuous team testing. All riders had to agree or they wouldn’t be on the team. And some riders did leave suddenly…
is stealing my heart
Speak English you east german loving wanker!
Jan owes me $7.43 from the McDrive in Karlsruhe, plus he borrowed my Barry Manilow CDs and never gave them back.
…were we talking about again?
that a guy could want to win enough to dope, but he couldn’t be bothered to lose 10 pounds before the season started each year!
It’s not cheating. When his best friends on podium all agreed how cheating is clean, how you call it cheating? They look in mirror, say they is innocent with their blood bags. How many believe Lance cheated in 99? How much should Jan pay all those he cheated since he was a student sports champion in East Germany? Maybe Jan owes Bobby Julich some gentleman’s money. You’d best not dope test locals in New Jersey.
he agreed to it only after his legal recourse was exhausted…that is probably about the time he announced his retirement…not really that big of a mystery…
looks like I might have to make t-shirts for this guy as well…
Ahhh, the inevitable "they all dope" guy, a position just as gullible as the "no one dopes" position. If you had 2:30 on the over – you’re a winner!
60% of the time they dope 100% of the time
Given Jan’s checkered driving record, maybe the blood was being stored in case of a traffic accident.
does anyone remember why jan agreed to have a DNA sample a couple of months ago? if all this is true, he must have known that would come back to bite him.
They all dope. Accept it. I would actually like to see mandatory testing in our racing just to see who dopes at this level. You know there’d be a few positives. It would be funny.
I doped this morning and then went to work and wrote awesome report!
GOOOO ME!!
I wonder what Sevilla’s thinkin!
wow, tough crowd ’round here
Who cares..really!
In our hearts of hearts we all know that this is/was going on. It is sad though. It is not that bad to get dropped/not place in races at our level but we don’t earn our bread and butter with that shit. Might have changed our perception slightly. I do admit that I sometimes need to dope to cook the books.
Thanks for sharing your feelings.
Please keep us updated.
Yes, Lance was DEFINITELY clean.
Is Puja going to jail?
This will drag on forever. All that the DNA proves is that the blood is Jan’s, not that he used it to dope, or was planning to dope. Of course, it kills his credibility; nonetheless, it proves very little…
this is fairly damaging to jan, but like mentioned below all it proves is that he had some blood stored. i don’t feel any differently since this has come to light.
I just threw up in my blood bag.
and even than could not get close to Lance who was riding completely CLEAN. You got to love this BS.
if he cheated..it’s sporting fraud…he is responsible for ill gotten gains…did he cheat when he won his olympic gold medal? did he cheat when he won the tour riding with mr. 60%? the catchy phrase associated with doping lately is "what is the point?" i guess the point is when you are caught you may face jail time, civil penalties and be touted as a national fraud…No worries though…as it seems from the latest photos that Jan’s plan is to eat himself to death before his trial even starts.