From the USA Cycling website. Locally, Tardaguila placed second at the Univest Grand Prix and the Harlem Skyscraper Classic.
USADA sanctions Uruguayan rider
COLORADO SPRINGS (February 16, 2006)
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced today that Alvaro Tardaguila of Montevideo, Uruguay, an athlete in the sport of cycling, has accepted a two-year suspension after his sample tested positive for the prohibited substance recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO) and an anabolic agent.
As a synthetic hormone, EPO stimulates the body’s production of red blood cells, thereby increasing oxygen transport and aerobic power. Anabolic agents and EPO are prohibited under the rules of the Union Cycliste International (UCI) and USADA, both of which have adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Prohibited List.
Tardaguila’s two-year suspension begins on October 17, 2005, the day he received credit for serving a voluntary suspension. He is disqualified from the Downer Avenue Bike Race held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and all subsequent events. USADA handled this case of a Uruguayan athlete as directed under the UCI rules since Mr. Tardaguila tested positive at an event in the United States.
USADA is responsible for the testing and results management process for athletes in the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement. USADA is equally dedicated to preserving the integrity of sport through research initiatives and educational programs.
CONTACT:
Communications & Public Affairs
Phone: (719) 785-2009
E-mail: media@usantidoping.org
GOOD!
Positive is good right?
hooooray
My mamma always said if I wasnt good she would sell me to the Uruguayans and they would force me to take funny drugs and stuff…
and leaves a faintly stinky aroma around the Fraysee compound as well.
What did I tell you?
I don’t think it is good I think it is a shame. He is a very talented rider and for him to do this is quite upsetting, not only for him but for the whole UPMC team. I find it also a bit rough to know that a guy that we race against on a regular basis used EPO. It is a bit scary, whos next?
Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying I agree with what he did or wish he didn’t get caught because that is not the case at all.
Talented rider? What a sham. Meanwhile he took the spotlight away from riders with ACTUAL talent! If you have to use EPO to compete in US races, you are a talentless.
Maybe more testing should be done even at cat 1/2 level . Find the cheats early on in their careers.
I understand there may be other “locals” on the list. I hope that last big win at Prospect was worth it….
“Depends” undergarments may help with that Sh*t in your pants.
This guy rides in our backyard! Wasnt he at Mengoni and Parkridge?
If your going to dope make sure you can win local races.Makes me wonder who else is doping here.I feel sorry for the image of the team. Im glad that justice was served for all those hardworking riders who have to deal with these cheaters…
what about his team!!!!!!!!! dopers too!!!!!!!!!!!
what a shame!!!!! sell your bike and go to work!!!!!! forget about cycling for the rest of your life.
EPO!!!!!! WOWWW!!!!!! STUPID.
NOBODY on our team was aware of alvaro’s use of PE drugs, including team director mike fraysse, a true cycling legend. if you have any evidence to the contrary, lets hear it. if not, shut your mouths and stop making stupid, unfounded accusations.
the image of your team is ruined. Your teams focus on developing young riders is pretty much diseased. There is no excuses when you get caught doping. In my book your are a dirt bag. I feel sorry for all those who break thier backs in the sport of cycling, that have to deal with this scum.
one should not blame the whole team, even tough they specialize in races that dont have any testing for most of the year,
there goes the arguement that locals cant afford these drugs because they are poor
Frankly it upsets me too. The kid had talent and he thought doing drugs was the way to make him better. It pretty much pisses me off.
Well, it is sad, but when are we going to hear about Puja and his positive after Univest? I’m sure there is much more riders using drugs to beat us in small local races, and I think that it is this website (not only, of course) that should do as much as posible to inform us about these things. How come that I heard about Alvaro and Puja months ago, and nobody said a thing. It is your responsibility to inform us about cheaters, and not to cover them ’till the last posible moment.
DZ – we reported the positive as soon as we had reliable information, we even beat Velonews by a day. To report any other news without source isn’t “informing” you – it’s called libel…
Lets give credit to USADA as well as the USI for their tireless effort of trying to catch and then suspend the riders that feel the need to use illegal performance enhancing drugs.To bad for the team,I wouldn’t assume that they all use EPO.
is puja dop?
df shut your mouth!!!!!!!!
stinks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
or is that just talk
Pulla? I have heard nothing about him doping and no allegation should be brought against him unless there is solid evidence. Please dont use another riders name in the same sentence as doping. Pulla is a hard working man, works 40 hrs a week at a bike shop and works hard on the bike. Hes a talented rider that knows how to train.
Somebody said, that we should give credit to USADA. I don’t think so! Alvaro tested positive at Superweek. That means July, or August, right? Are you kidding me? I don’t see any reason why it should take six months before such an information is made public. How many times did he beat you since he tested positive? Do you think he is going to mail you his checks? And what about that poor guy from CCCB, who finished 3rd in Mount Holly AND Univest. He should have been at least second both times (and I beleive 1st). How come that there are people who have these informations MONTHS before they are made public? Give me a break about USADA, or UCI doing good job. Everybody talks about clearing the sport, but nobody is willing to bite the bullet. Even though Schmalz is most likely right, about publishing this information as soon as it was officialy available, I don’t beleive that he never heard about Pulla. I also don’t know if he has any power to varify this info, but they should try to find the truth. I’m sure that John Eustice (organizer of Univest), or Mike Fraysse (vicepresident of USCF) could put more light into this. And if Pulla is a nice guy, should not somebody tell us that he officialy did not do anything wrong and stup this GOSSIP. I for one would like to know for sure. Please don’t take it badly, I like this site a lot, this is just a suggestion, and maye I’m wrong altogether.
Seems like for the USCF events in the park and for that matter everywhere else locally, the 1/2 fields should be tested pre & post race. To dope at this level of racing is just an insult. I feel bad for the espoirs that have to put up with this crap at would should be encouraging years for them.
DZ – it wouldn’t be responsible to post anything as potentially career and character damaging as a doping rumour I might have heard, and it’s not even very legal – once again it’s considered “libel”. And by the way, when I start sounding reasonable, it’s a sure sign of the coming end of days, just to let you know.
wow DZ sounds to me like you have a thing for pulla. is it a gay thing? (theres nothing wrong with that if you admitted to your self first) I did. face it you might be gay like me.
we are not that bad
Im sure you will come back with a smart answer but face it you are bitter racist or gay (I’ll take gay)
have you see broke back mt ? I told you.
did you take your beard?
DZ, from what little I understand, unless it’s the Olympics or the Tour, they don’t test the samples the moment they get them. So, they’re not covering anything up, and we certainly aren’t either. It just takes a while for the lab to get around to testing samples from mortals.
It is sad that we have instilled in our younger generation the feeling that they cannot compete on their own merits alone. Everything in sports seems so unattainable that something must be taken to make a winner, when in fact nothing could be farther from the truth. What do you put in your water bottle? I like H2O personally, it works for me.
we need the tru!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! is he dop!!!!!
Everyone wants to believe the poor-kid-makes-good or jerk-beats-cancer-and-reforms story: sometimes it’s true and sometimes it’s not. Why are so many people chiming in to defend or accuse riders they neither know nor race against?
It’s been pretty obvious to me which of the riders I race with are juiced — you get to thinking when you’re dropping a guy at the beginning of the month, and then he’s trashing domestic pros at the end of the month.
DF and DZ are two riders who are personally effected by this sanction and the likely upcoming sanction, and I for one appreciate that they’ve spoken, as posting anything in this forum most often means being attacked by those who are at once clueless and uninvolved.
To me, the vicious manner in which many defend our local likely-cheats on this site is both mystifying and pathological. You might ask yourself what you’re really defending. Why let yourself get manipulated by someone’s story? How do you know what goes on in the basement of a bicycle shop?
Ken, I’m not saying that anyone did or didn’t do anything–it’s impossible for me to know. THAT’S THE POINT. People are writing in and saying that other people are doping, and whether or not that’s somehow obvious to you or anyone else, you can’t do that to someone–especially if you’re then going to complain about all the “gossip” being thrown around. Even if your magic dope detectors are spot on, I would think that you would consider the damage to the person’s name that’s caused by an accusation before you go spreading rumors around on the internet without evidence. If someone’s name is going to ruined, it should be by the proper authorities, not by the rumor mill.
MIKE, let me please clarify something. I’m not going to call you a dickhead, or anything else, becouse I do not know you and chances are (even though very slim) that you are not. I heard about those two positives from the same source months ago. Now at least one of those is 100% true, so I have all reasons to beleive that the other one will be as well. Let me please remind you one more thing. Alvaro was sanctioned on October 17th. That is three months ago. There are people, who KNEW about it for three months, before it was made public and I know that there are people who know about the other one as well. I’m convinced, that my information is reliable. You all defend USADA, UCI, USCF, but why the hell do they need to hold such an information for months. If we are to clear the sport (and I’m doubtfull) the procces must be crystal clear and informations need to go public ASAP. I beleive that this system does not work as it should. And once again, STOP THE DAMN GOSSIP. If you all beleive that I’m wrong, prove it. Did anybody call USADA, USCF, or John Eustice to ask them? I don’t think so. And if so, what was the answer? It is not my job to tell you who I know it from, but it is job of the jurnalist to dig out the truth. The info leaked out even before I mentioned it. Everybody screams out in defense of Pulla, but your information is based on absolutely nothing, apart from blind beleive in a guy you most likely don’t even know, and than is GOSSIP. I gave you what I know is reliable info. Deal with it! I would also like to thank Ken for one of the very few reasonable responses.
we need to know if pulla was dop.
Harris is on the money with his comments, By the way I belive Tyler is full of shit as well as dope. Most of the worlds elite cyclists are too, wake up and smell the Coffee. Just like when you see a division 3 footballer cranking the roids to win the championship of east butfuck, it sucks to see dudes rolling the dice with thier life, for nothing. Good luck to UPMC this year!
KWK
BRILLIANT!!!!!!!
I don’t know how you guys can do this and feel even remotely ok about it. DZ, I’m not pretending to offer any information, and I’m not defending ANYONE–not Pulla, not WADA, certainly not Tardaguila. If WADA has good info, yeah, they should make it public. If anyone is caught doping, they’re hurting the sport, and yeah, they should suffer the consequences. But I completely fail to understand how you can think that you’re justified in writing in that someone is doped if the authorities haven’t come out and announced it. Secret sources–or whatever suspicions you may have based on “dropping” someone in a training race in March–are not ample evidence for publicly trashing someone. If does eventually turn out to be true, it’s one more sad story we have to deal with, but if it turns out not to be, you’ve still thrown suspicion on the guy. You could say this kind of thing about anyone who has a breakthrough race or a good season, and then the guy will never live it down, true or not. WADA and USADA are far from perfect, but let them do their jobs and stop talking shit about people.
Yea…..I have to agree on that. A guy can just be coming into peak or whatever. dropping somebody is sort of a questionable measure of basing ones guilt. A bad spell one month and a string of wins in the next, though in this climate, raises eyebrows, is not un-plausible. Let the tests point the finger. You wont have to say I told ya so – just make the “I told ya so” face.
I can see that some people have been violating both the first and the second rule of Bike Club. Only DF toes the line. It’s truly sad how the white riders are willing to trash talk the hispanic riders. Even sadder how inept some dopers are. It gives us all a bad name.
So hey, lee3 and Mike, how’s that fantasy working for you? Good? Waterboys like you help the cause. Keep it up — you got about six weeks.
Guys don’t make this about racism, or any other BS. I don’t care about where he is from, or even who he is. I was trying to rock the boat. It worked differently then I hoped. Don’t you see the problem here. The main problem is that the information is outhere. It is just not official yet. And that is sickening. You are kept in dark and viciously defend somebody you don’t know, becouse you lack the information. And that is bad. Don’t attack me, becouse I happened to know. Go attack the officials that did not tell you immediately. That is what pissed me the most, not the fact that somebody doped, but the fact that we are not being informed immediately. You can get back to me in few weeks, or months, when I’ll be proved right and tell me how you feel about it all. Don’t worry I’m not going to particiate in this forum till then.
I’m repeating myself now, and this is it for me too. DZ, I hope you’re wrong. But if you’re right, you’re right–congratulations, you knew bad news before anyone else and saw fit to spread it around. It isn’t going to change my opinion that it’s irresponsible and hypocritical to write in, essentially anonymously, with unverifiable sources, saying seriously derrogatory stuff about people and demanding an end to the gossip in the same breath. I also hope that the reason this kind of thing takes a long time to come to an official announcement is because the UCI/USADA, etc. are double-checking and triple-checking anything questionable before they come out with an announcement that’s effectively going to end someone’s “career,” if you could call it that. Anyway, that’s enough of this for me. It’s depressing.
The handling of samples, determination of penalties and announcement of results is solely by USADA. USCF does not even have anything to do with the process. USADA does not announce sanctions until after a hearing, if one is requested by the athlete. The involvement of other international federations probably adds to the length of the process. The athlete is informed as soon as the positive is found.
Check out http://www.usantidoping.org for more details.
Hope this helps explain why it took so long for Tardaguilla suspension to become public.
Make your own judgements on how rumors can get out or not, but would seem to be serious violation of policy.
Now some of you are getting it. Don’t talk about Bike Club. We’re in this whole mess here because some pros have a thing about our SA and CA riders who can’t be bothered to learn the clear time on their dope. THEY broke the Bike Club rules — the code of silence. It’s not a race thing, it’s a class thing. These guys are getting caught out because they’re ignorant. If we want to make it a RACE thing, then …damn, Bike Club, can’t talk about that.
DZ, I can tell you’re outrage is as real as your talent. Yeah, this sucks. Green is right , it’s USADA or WADA that’s dealing with this, not USA Cycling. But I’ve got a few more things for you. Who is the President of USA cycling? Who does he work for? Who is the COO of USA Cycling? Who put him there? What team does this guy own? And doesn’t this team have test with everyone at the same HCT? Odd, no? ‘Can’t say the names, or this site will go down in flames. Welcome to Bike Club. It’s very clubby.
A given pro is more likely to know the clear time on an array of drugs than the spacing of his cassette or the height of his saddle, whether or not he does them. This sport is based on performance, and the drugs work. They work until your kidneys, pancreas, or thyroid fail. Or you have a heart attack in your sleep. The riders are left with nothing more than their own conscience to keep them from indulging — they have no support, only threats from their sponsors and the governing authorities. Threats and a wink and nod. The sport in america is now rotting from the top down. And great, we have WADA grandstanding from the sidelines. Tough job making Verbruggen look bad… he did a great job making sure no one was endangered by funny looking bikes.
So we have to wait while the wheels of justice grind up a runt that the pros laughed at … in part because he made more money than them. It’s not the worst thing — no one’s died here because their HCT was too high. Yet. Gaggioli did attack Sunt with a 2×4. Which brings to mind certain events in Central Park.
TD good answer!!!!!!
Good job TD!
All you weekend riders who call yourself racers because you do circles in a park and think you understand the pressures of high level competition really need to look at yourselves. You feel the need to criticize someone, anyone who does all they can to succeed and does so with a little help whether it be for psychological or physiological benefits.
Look at the typical New York work week….we jack ourselves up on caffeine and sugar then down some wine with dinner so we can sleep and have at it again the next day….we do this not from 9-5 but more like 7-9 and 6 days of the week. Is it not just a legal form of doping to succeed in the workplace? If those of us who work harder or work more get the better jobs and the better salaries and we’re willilng to do whatever it takes to get there why would the expectations and means to achieve be any different in the athletic arena? People will always look to find a way to win.
Survival of the fittest.
I wish there was a way to maintain an even playing field and that regulations set in place would be expeditious to prevent fraud, but it’s just not how it is right now and trashing specific individuals will not make it right and I think it actually does even more harm than good.
shut your mouth mk!!!!!!! dopers are losers.get it!!!
I don’t think they’re losers, I think they’re possibly good people willing to do anything to succeed and that everyone has the capability to do whatever is necessary in whatever realm they deem important to them.
I don’t think they’re losers, I think they’re possibly good people willing to do anything to succeed and that everyone has the capability to do whatever is necessary in whatever realm they deem important to them.
who are you mk? do you think is cool that they take some juice to do better?
I’M SORRY TO BREAK THE NEWS TO YOU GUYS WHO PUT IN THE TIME TO TRAIN HARD AND RIDE NATURALLY, BUT NOW WE KNOW WHO WAS USING SOME GOOOOOOD RITE AID VITAMINS LAST SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!