Alex Murray › Comments

The route of a former race in the 60s, recently featured in Procycling magazine. VERY long! - Alex Murray

"I probably need to read them again then." - Alex Murray

"1. Again, not true. What we know is the percentage of riders, of those controlled, that were using EPO. It's a relatively small sample and IIRC Ashenden says it works out at roughly 10%. Given the relatively low number of riders controlled per stage it is not a true reflection of the overall doping picture. 2. Well if it wasn't tested for/on the list then it wasn't doping? Isn't that the Armstrong defence? And Moser is connected directly via Conconi, to whom Ferrari was a disciple. 3. Thanks for clarifying your Lemond point. I think Greg's problems are with speaking out, but not solely about that. There's lots of things that feed into his position on Armstrong and doping, not least of which seems to be a sense of betrayal." - Alex Murray

"Sorry but that's simply not true. Festina happens before Lance wins a Tour, Bjarne Riis wins a Tour on EPO before Lance even gets cancer, Moser uses Conconi in 1984 to blood dope his way to the hour record. Pantani's use of doping products is well documented. The existence of Freiburg, Humanplasma, Gril, Puerto and various other doping rings that have been identified say that Lance wasn't racing in a clean peloton. Ironic that you should mention Lemond given that it's an almost universally acknowledged truth that if any GT winner was clean it was Lemond who was borderline paranoid about his health." - Alex Murray

"Here's Walsh himself on LA Confidentiel: "We don't actually prove anything," Walsh said. "We just set out the facts and let the reader decide for himself who's telling the truth. But we do give names for every accusation." What Walsh does is convincing in the sense that it points towards a very strong narrative that Armstrong most likely doped at some points in his career." - Alex Murray

"I agree. Wherever there's Walsh used as proof of Armstrong's doping they always seem to ignore that Walsh himself has said that his books aren't the smoking gun but circumstantial evidence which it's up to the reader to make a decision on." - Alex Murray

Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004. citizen media formed basis of all MSM coverage in sms and video forms cf. SkyNews - Alex Murray

"It wasn't a problem until about 10 years ago. We used to have guard's vans on the London line from Woking which comfortably took near 30 bikes and which the guard kept organised to stop people's bikes getting stuck where then wanted to alight." - Alex Murray

"It wasn't a problem until about 10 years ago. We used to have guard's vans on the London line from Woking which comfortably took near 30 bikes and which the guard kept organised to stop people's bikes getting stuck where then wanted to alight." - Alex Murray

"Andy, "when will British Cycling take this approach with women's cycling?" Is the question I was probably looking for when I started writing my blog post. Thank you for helping me find it." - Alex Murray

"See I can appreciate the argument that we should be glad for what we've got now that we didn't have a few years ago. It's a valid point that perhaps the backroom resources wouldn't be available to cover both operations and would potentially leave other parts of the BC system short. But, and this is possibly the key point, if we are insisting on and supporting the move to parity of opportunity at Olympic level on the track, we can't then pick and choose where it is applied all the way down the sport. If we do, then it makes the whole thing sound a bit hollow. Imagine the situation for young girls coming into the sport. I imagine they think "well the boys have got that place on Team Sky to aim at, but what is there for me?"" - Alex Murray

"It's scandalous how little some of them are earning and that's absolutely rotten when you consider that a neo-pro on a Protour team is guaranteed. Totally agree that the need for coverage is the priority. I've been trying to write up more about women's cycling but without actually being there, it's very hard to cover races properly so I've been sticking to interviews and previews of big events. Promoters also don't think to make a basic set of results and reports available quickly. Lots of the reporting seems to come from team managers and riders." - Alex Murray

"If we're going with commercial returns, it's entirely in promotional value and socially responsible business kudos. That's ultimately what this project is about, otherwise that second point of their mission statement wouldn't exist, nor would the headline-grabbing "get one million people on their bikes" one. Sky could have looked at what Halfords got for their money with the Bikehut deal: an Olympic and World Champion. Not a bad return for a paltry amount of investment relative to the men's budget." - Alex Murray

"Jim, that's sort of what I mean: there's plenty of British women spread around the peloton, so it's not like forming a Team Sky women's outfit would be hugely damaging to the overall picture. And absolutely I'd expect them to be multinational in their outlook and selection. I just think it must be a bit disappointing for the women coming through when they see the money and effort being spent on giving the men a fighting chance at the top and then see nothing apparently being done for them. That said I know that at least one on the GB riders has good reason for choosing their current team as their base and programme fits with their ambitions and activities beyond cycling." - Alex Murray

"Not sure if they are doing bib shorts or not. There's something that looks like it's either a triathlon suit or a pair of bibs in another of the pics." - Alex Murray

"In defence of SRAM, I've been banging out the miles on Version 1 of Rival since early 2007, the only times I've had shift problems is purely down to me being too lazy to clean the drivechain or because the chain is getting stretched. I haven't had to change anything or get it serviced in a major way in that time. v2 has got so many trickledown improvements from Red that I still think it represents a good cost/weight/function balance as a gruppo." - Alex Murray

"In defence of SRAM, I've been banging out the miles on Version 1 of Rival since early 2007, the only times I've had shift problems is purely down to me being too lazy to clean the drivechain or because the chain is getting stretched. I haven't had to change anything or get it serviced in a major way in that time. v2 has got so many trickledown improvements from Red that I still think it represents a good cost/weight/function balance as a gruppo." - Alex Murray

"It's been picked up by the mainstream UK press now: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news..." - Alex Murray

"Now I see. It was the "police investigation" bit that threw me. AFLD is a independent agency created by the French State. In effect, they advise and oversee anti-doping measures, including (it seems) providing information to the police to help them prosecute under the sporting fraud laws and various other crimes. Bordry was making a lot of noise but there wasn't much proving going on this year, largely because they got sidelined and they had no new test to show off with. Totally agree that all the major busts have been down to basic, old-fashioned police work, right back to the original Festina bust." - Alex Murray

"Which French police investigation was that and which year? I'm genuinely curious as I read the French press and don't remember having seen those claims made substantially in print." - Alex Murray

"As far as I know there isn't a decent one in English. A definite gap in the market, but then again I don't think there's a decent Merckx one either. Well, certainly not one that I've ever had mentioned as "you must read this"." - Alex Murray

"I'd never noticed that the jersey had pockets on the front. Thought those stopped appearing at the end of the 1950s." - Alex Murray

"Trust me, they do. It's like a madness that sweeps through the countryside" - Alex Murray

Interviews with everyone involved - Alex Murray

"Michael Ashenden, well-respected researcher into EPo, pointed out that in the blind tests on samples from the 1999 TDF only about 8-10% came back as containing exogenous EPO." - Alex Murray

"Strange I've not seen the performance of the likes of Usain Bolt suffer as a result of complying with the whereabouts system. Nor have cyclists who have been doing it for years now. And all those things you list about lengths of matches, it's exactly why tennis players are likely to dope." - Alex Murray

"Proving my point: a handful of 5 hour games a year. And Nadal is saying he should be an exception to the rules, along with the rest of tennis. ADAMS is pretty easy to understand and not hard to comply with. Nobody I've encountered likes having to deal with the testers turning up but they are willing to accept that it is to the benefit of them professionally and part of their job, same as no one likes having to be at their desk before 9am and not getting a payrise. And if you want to play the source game, how do you know all tennis players aren't happy to commit to the whereabouts system?" - Alex Murray

"When was the last time you watched a 5 hour match? Every pro cyclist or marathon runner copes perfectly well with the testing system, how come it's so hard for tennis players to understand?" - Alex Murray

"So ability to recover quicker than your opponent, train harder and longer, keep your heart rate down, delaying exhaustion? No real benefit for a tennis player there from doping is there? Tennis is a physical game more than a mental one." - Alex Murray

29th August 1962: Scottish actor Sean Connery, best known as Secret Agent 007 in the James Bond films, sets off for a game of golf. - Alex Murray

"I'm using the reddit bookmarklet but aye, should have edited a few of those." - Alex Murray

It will look nothing like what they've been taught it will be. And they'll get ripped of for years before it pays properly. - Alex Murray