Hi there!
It's amazing to think that, after having a flaming meteor hit their town, they still have managed to find time to check in and see what's going on in Schleckland.
The photo above is taken from a windscreen-cam of a driver, and shows the big "bang" before the thing came down and hit the ground.
I'm sure you've all seen news footage of it by now - LLB and I were particularly struck with the cctv footage from inside various offices and shops, where you can quite literally see people stagger, before all the glass shatters, and the blinds all blow about.
It must have been absolutely terrifying, so a special Schlecklander prize to you guys from Chelyabinsk, whoever you are! *waves*
No good news on the horizon for Schleckland. http://www.sporten.dk/cykling/avis-schleck-er-amigo-de-birillo
ReplyDeleteThe article (in Danish - thanks to google translate!) reports that according to a Dutch newspaper Frankie was a client of Dr. Fuentes - I heard that also ex cyclist and ex CSC rider and ex doper Jorg Jaksche said so. Frankie is said to be the rider under the nickname of "Amigo de Birillo" aka Ivan Basso, ex CSC rider himself. Basso stated that he had his blood collected by Fuentes but that he has never doped (hilarious) and that Riis wasn't aware of it. The article add that also Andy could have been working with Fuentes.
I'm not sure at all about the source of the article - I think it is a Danish newspaper reporting the words of a Dutch newspaper whose source is not specified. I think there's no point in speculating on uncertain information so I'm not going to give my opinion. However, I feel we'll never know the whole truth about the Operacion Puerto as the Spanish judges don't want Fuentes to reveal all the names he could tell - not only those of ITALIAN cyclists!! It's a shame.
This is the original article in Dutch: http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2013/02/16/vier-codenamen-arts-fuentes-gekraakt-bekijk-origineel-dopingschema-pantani/
ReplyDeleteBut it's nothing really new. Already back in 2008 when Fränk got into trouble with the transactions, it was made public he made those transactions under the name of "Amigo de Birillo".
This is what the article says:
"Amigo de Birillo: Fränk Schleck
One of Fuentes's most loyal (and most lucrative) clients was Ivan Basso. His code name was Birillo, after his dog. When Basso's friend and team mate Fränk Schleck asked for Fuentes's help, it must have been simple to make up his code name: Amigo de Birillo.
From conversations with other Fuentes-clients, it turns out that Schleck, nowadays riding for Radioshack, used Fuentes's services. His involvement is moreover confirmed by a source close to him. That same source also confirms that Andy Schleck, Fränk's brother, was NO client of Fuentes."
Hope that helps!
And I agree with you Alice, there's a lot not right about the Fuentes case. There are over 200 athletes involved and only the names of cyclists are being released. Not fair.
Inge
Oh, google translate, damn! I totally misunderstood the sentence about Andy (luckily). It's still not clear if this source "close to him" is reliable or not. Anyway, thank you Inge!
DeleteThis is old news: Frankie contacted Dr F for a training regime: he did it so openly and above-board that he paid the money from his own, personal, Luxembourg account in the name of "Mr Frank Schleck".
ReplyDeleteIf he had been doing anything the least bit dodgy, he would not have paid for it in the open, like this, now would he?
I get the impression that Frank is mightily embarassed about the whole thing, rather as you or I would be if we'd sent off money to the internet to someone promising "instant weight loss" and had received a single A4 photocopied sheet saying basically "eat less, exercise more" and it hit the headlines the next day that thousand of stupid people were being caught by this con.
From the interviews with Frankie that I have read, he went into it without realising what a reputation this man had, he cancelled the order as soon as he realised, and is heartily sick of being accused of involvement ever since.
You will all note that he was cleared of any involvement by every official body concerned.
Of course, (in my opinion) he is not doing himself any favours by refusing to speak about it now: it just leads to people digging up old rumours like this one. (Memo to self: put sporten.dk on the blacklist)
But it's easy for me to say "oh, Frankie, tell everyone that it was a mistake on your part, and that you genuinely thought it was just a training regime" or "Oh Frankie, tell everyone that it really was a training regime, and it seemed quite a sensible thing to investigate, but that you threw it away in disgust the minute you realised what this man was involved in."
It might not be so easy, if it were me: especially if - as I suspect, on no grounds whatsoever - that Frankie did not consult his team, or his family, he just went out and ordered it.
Don't forget, one and all, that every professional athlete, in every sport, is always on the lookout for that "edge": remember the fuss the French made about Team Sky's time trial bikes, in the Olympics? "Oh, zey have zee speshul wheels" said the French "Zey are cheeting, using zee new technology" they said: "Vy do zey keep zem covered in ze special bags, huh?"
Turned out the Sky team were using standard, French-made, wheels. And only kept them in bags to prevent the tyres getting dirty, and to prevent extreme changes of temperature. That's all, nothing sinister.
In the same way, the photographers hang around the training camps trying to spot what tactics the teams are using, what new equipment they have, and what training regimes are being used.
So I think it is perfectly acceptable to think that Frankie read, or heard, about a new training regime that would benefit him, and sent off for it. Possibly without discussing it within his team.
But I guess this is shoot-the-Schleck season, and these people only want to sell papers, or advertising.
*Sigh*
Coug