The inevitable happened today as CSF-Navigare's Emanuele Sella was found to have tested positive for the new EPO CERA. This is no surprise, as Sella's expoits in the Giro this past year were too good to be true. Italy as a country has been hit hard recently by doping positives, with Riccardo Ricco and Paxti Villa testing positive earlier this year.
Next important question is who's next? Will it be Stephan Schumacher, who performed amazingly well in the time trials at the Tour? Will it be (perish the thought) Christian Vande Velde, who never climbed as well as he did in a grand tour as he did in 2008? What about Bernard Kohl, the revelation of the Tour and polka dot jersey winner? Whomever it is, the alert is now out: doping in today's peloton is harder than ever to get away with.
Another point regarding the positives over the years are all the riders that missed out on glory while cheaters basked in the spotlight. Kim Kirchin, who was second to Alexandre Vinokorouv in the Tour a few years back. Gilberto Simoni, second to Basso two years ago and to Sella this year. Many others have suffered as cheats have dominated the sport in the past, but it is finally looking as though the doping battle is turning in the direction of clean cycling.
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1 comments:
I was shocked, too! Was he too incredible at the Giro?
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