Crazy Joe is back!!!

Where'd he go?

Oh, wait. Wrong one.

Nevermind.

 

To be fair, that one is even more confused about everything under the sun.

 

i am glad hes back, he got a shit deal being suspended so long (or at all). hope he does well.

 

+1 million

 

Nope, he broke the rules and got punished for it. Every single “elite” athlete is told repeatedly what the doping rules are and that they alone are responsible for what goes into their body. Getting caught and then claiming that you ate tainted steaks in Brazil or they changed the formula in your supplements is a BS excuse for getting busted doping to gain a competitive advantage.

 

Likely some others here, I'm struggling to stir up within me any form of empathy....

 

Kinda sorta. He deserved a punishment (having to wear a hair shirt, shave his head and maybe the original 18 month ban) but CAS and WADA took it too far (even though his argument on why he failed was ‘tarded).

Like I’ve said I’m not a fan and think he was a clown but I hope he goes well and adds to a series that’s kinda diminished the last few years.

 

his excuses were ridiculous for sure, but the ban was excessive and what he was taking gave him no added performance on the bike.

 

Wouldn’t a better punishment have been to reinstall his factory nose and chin?

 

He wouldn’t have been taking them if they didn’t benefit him in some way nor would they have been on the banned substances list in the first place. As far as the ban, he knew what the risks were and still took the substance. His appeals to the ban weren’t successful so that means that it was a proper ban according to the rules in place.

 

Except that isn't necessarily true. There are also substances that are on the list because they represent an actual or potential health risk to the athlete or they violate the spirit of sport (Both of those explanations are nonsensical in the context of motorsports) . I think racing motorcycles represents an actual health risk and the whole anti-doping thing violates the spirit of the sport. WADA sucks.

 

I think AI is going to produce some great results. Maybe even take out a seagull or two. He’s been away for a while but he hasn’t had to have any limbs reattached. Should be exciting.

 

He's essentially been off a bike for 4 years, and comes back right in the mix. Impressive. I might actually tune into wsbk a bit more next year. Always liked him as a racer. huge natural talent on a motorcycle. His off track antics, and modeling career didn't bother me that much. To each their own.

 

I don’t necessarily agree- these guys are insanely competitive, I think it’s hard to understand the level of insanity. He could have been doping to beat guys on bicycle training rides. There are guys doping on my Thursday night cycling group ride and they don’t even race!

 

Mentioned this previously but I think it deserves a revisit.
I had a buddy that moved to Utah to race mountain bikes and he was pretty competitive in the 90s and up until the the late 10’s. After that he did the vets/ has been class and they were always after him to piss test. Had some serious sponsors but never made it huge.
“Dude, I can’t afford to buy a house, drive a shit pickup and can’t always afford to eat right, how the fuck could I afford to dope?”

 

FIM has 3 choices.
1. No anti doping. Anything goes. Allow athletes to juice to the moon and likely lose sponsorship associations and suffer significant commercial damage.
2. Implement their own anti-doping regime. Very expensive and certainly less effectual and legitimate in the eyes of sponsors than WADA.
3. Contract with WADA and utilize their infrastructure and legitimacy at far lower cost than options 1 or 2. Accept and abide by their rules and occasionally a guy who’s not bright enough to avoid being caught will get punished more than he truly deserves.

If this were my call at FIM, I would take #3 all day every day. It’s unfortunate for Andrea as 4 years is too much, but if WADA doesn’t enforce their rules consistently then it opens them up to legal challenge and becomes less effective everywhere.

I feel bad for Andrea. They popped him after Malaysia when he was really dehydrated, and the analytical result was barely over the threshold. He was probably being disciplined about his doping program. I assume the testers chose that race for this specific reason, and maybe even chose him specifically. Lance liked to say passing doping controls was an IQ test, guess Andrea wasn’t quick enough on his feet to fake a fainting spell or heat exhaustion.

I don’t agree that he didn’t get a performance benefit. If a substance allows you to sustain lower body fat that absolutely improves your performance on the bike. 5-6 kilos of fat loss while retaining the same muscle mass could easily be the difference between a GP win and 5th place and a contract renewal vs. fading into the sunset. Pro cyclists used to get busted all the time for taking good ol’ clenbuterol which achieves the same goal, and they also all used the tainted meat excuse.

I really like Iannone as a racer and character. He’s a nutcase on and off track and incredibly talented on a motorcycle, chases skirt like an oversexed chimp, and he’s unpredictable.

We have far too few characters on any grid. He will clean up in WSBK I think. It’s a better fit for him than MotoGP as he can be eccentric with less scrutiny and it’s less corporate.

 

well clen doesnt do the same. it increases your ability to breath, (a bronchodilator) the side effect is it helps to burn fat. masteron doesnt do that. muscle gains from mast are negligible on its own, unless you are taking large dosages. it also wont help you get leaner, thats a diet...mast isnt a fat burner. HOWEVER you are correct that it will help you preserve muscle while in a caloric deficit . what little he would gain from mast on its own would be of very little help on a bike imo. i am not even sure why he would take it on its own...but thats his choice.

 

Gotcha, from what I understood it was similar to clenbuterol in PED intent. If it helps to maintain muscle while in deficit though, wouldn’t that help with your body composition overall even if it doesn’t actively enhance fat burning? Is there any advantage in terms of circumventing testing vs. clen? Metabolized more quickly or useful at smaller dosages, more amenable to microdosing etc.?

Maybe he really was just trying to look pretty! I wonder what the rest of the grid is juiced on. I doubt the guys at the very top are juiced because there’s too little benefit for the risk and they could probably get some kind of therapeutic use exemption when they’re injured anyway. The guys at the back of the field hanging on by their claws though have every reason to do it.