Stuart O'Grady Retires

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Ichabod Noodle

Ichabod Noodle

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Sep 13, 2011
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The great man is hanging up the boots :( .

A magnificent career. Wore yellow on three different occasions, was a bee's dick off winning the green. Won Paris-Roubaix. Won the Tour Down Under. World champion. Won gold at the Olympics. Went to 6 Olympics and 17 tours. :eek:


Time to celebrate his career.
:thumbsu: :thumbsu: :thumbsu: :thumbsu:
 

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so the last thing I'll remember of Stuart O'Grady as a competitive cyclist is pulling Australia's other great champion up one of the the mythical (as the french like to call them) climbs of the Alps early in the stage 19, and nursing Evans the rest of the 140kms to the finish Le Grand Bornard.

class act til the very end.

i wonder if he discussed it with Cadel and invited him over to Adelaide for a beer.

a loss to the peleton, but he won't be a loss to cycling. i think he still funds his junior team and continues to be involved with other sport and humanitarian pursuits.

his greatest win
 
Undisputedly one of the greatest riders this country has produced, has helped leave Australian cycljng with our own pro team.

Just one thing irks me, O'Grady holds outright the most Tours ridden at 17, Hincappe had 2 removed from the records when he pleaded guilty to drug offences, come on media get it right
 
Slax said:
Undisputedly one of the greatest riders this country has produced, has helped leave Australian cycljng with our own pro team.

Just one thing irks me, O'Grady holds outright the most Tours ridden at 17, Hincappe had 2 removed from the records when he pleaded guilty to drug offences, come on media get it right
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Hincapie had his results in those tours anulled. I'm not so sure about the participations.
 
any co-incidence that the names of dopers from 98 TDF will be released on Wed French time?

Not pointing the finger, but curious timing. Like you all - I love SOG and what a hero he has been.
 
Arsene Wenger said:
any co-incidence that the names of dopers from 98 TDF will be released on Wed French time?

Not pointing the finger, but curious timing. Like you all - I love SOG and what a hero he has been.
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Not really sure. It's possible..

Even if he is on the list, he can't be penalised for it as there's no B-sample to be tested.

The sheer number of riders on that list will make the point that he was only doing what everyone else was doing, doping to stay on the level playing field rather than seeking an advantage of his own. We all know that everyone was on the juice back then. Naming half the peloton (literally) isn't going to change that.

Even if his name is listed, he'll still be remembered as one of Australia's greatest cyclists - 6x Olympics, Paris-Roubaix, TdF stage winner, yellow jersey wearer, team Captain.. the list of plaudits goes on.
 
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/french-senate-releases-positive-epo-cases-from-1998-tour-de-france
Positive:
Andrea Tafi, Erik Zabel, Bo Hamburger (twice), Laurent Jalabert, Marcos Serrano, Jens Heppner, Jeroen Blijlevens, Nicola Minali, Mario Cipollini, Fabio Sacchi, Eddy Mazzoleni, Jacky Durand, Abraham Olano, Laurent Desbiens, Marco Pantani, Manuel Beltran, Jan Ullrich (twice), Kevin Livingston (twice)

Suspicious: Ermanno Brignoli, Alain Turicchia, Pascal Chanteur, Frederic Moncassin, Bobby Julich, Roland Meier, Giuseppe Calcaterra, Stefano Zanini, Eddy Mazzoleni, Stephane Barthe, Stuart O'Grady, Axel Merckx



Well there you go. Realistically we all had to suspect he would be given his form in that era, but of all the blokes in cycling who you want to trust I think he'd be at the top of my list. Doesn't really change much in my opinion, but when the general public get hold of this information from news.com.au I hope they don't trash his reputation / public perception.
 

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105 West Lakes Blvd said:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/french-senate-releases-positive-epo-cases-from-1998-tour-de-france


Well there you go. Realistically we all had to suspect he would be given his form in that era, but of all the blokes in cycling who you want to trust I think he'd be at the top of my list. Doesn't really change much in my opinion, but when the general public get hold of this information from news.com.au I hope they don't trash his reputation / public perception.
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Why not? The guy set out to cheat. He knew what was around - he could have chosen to blow the whistle, or walk away. Instead, he decided to join in. No different to Armstrong, or any of the others.

Look, I've read the justifications. I accept that if you were a top level cyclist, the realization that you had no hope of making it to the Top level without drugs back then must have been pretty devastating - you either cheat, or you give up. All that Work to get there, only to realize that you now had to cheat to stay there. That's tough - but life's tough. If you are offended by it, blow the whistle. Do something about it. Don't sit back, do nothing, then join in and expect to retain much respect from sports fans.

If there was no money involved, I bet a lot of them wouldn't have done it.

I liked O'Grady too - who didn't?

+
 
Wallaby said:
Why not? The guy set out to cheat. He knew what was around - he could have chosen to blow the whistle, or walk away. Instead, he decided to join in. No different to Armstrong, or any of the others.

Look, I've read the justifications. I accept that if you were a top level cyclist, the realization that you had no hope of making it to the Top level without drugs back then must have been pretty devastating - you either cheat, or you give up. All that Work to get there, only to realize that you now had to cheat to stay there. That's tough - but life's tough. If you are offended by it, blow the whistle. Do something about it. Don't sit back, do nothing, then join in and expect to retain much respect from sports fans.

If there was no money involved, I bet a lot of them wouldn't have done it.

I liked O'Grady too - who didn't?

+
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Have a read of Brad McGee's article and how he felt he was cheated out of his cycling career.

He's the one we should be lauding,
 
Wallaby said:
Why not? The guy set out to cheat. He knew what was around - he could have chosen to blow the whistle, or walk away. Instead, he decided to join in. No different to Armstrong, or any of the others.

Look, I've read the justifications. I accept that if you were a top level cyclist, the realization that you had no hope of making it to the Top level without drugs back then must have been pretty devastating - you either cheat, or you give up. All that Work to get there, only to realize that you now had to cheat to stay there. That's tough - but life's tough. If you are offended by it, blow the whistle. Do something about it. Don't sit back, do nothing, then join in and expect to retain much respect from sports fans.

If there was no money involved, I bet a lot of them wouldn't have done it.

I liked O'Grady too - who didn't?

+
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Yeah I've woken up this morning with a pretty different view to last night, the mans a liar and a hypocrite like the rest of them. He started to lose me last year when he came out and said how shocked he was to find out that LA was a doper, that when I began to think he was part of the omerta like everyone else. And as for saying he only doped for 2 weeks, surely we can't believe that. If only he was completely honest about it, I don't believe he is though.
 
does he expect us to believe he figured out where to get it, exactly what to get, exactly what to ask for at a swiss pharmacy, how to store it, administer it and in what dose so as not to get caught (only return a suspicious result) all by himself in the pre-internet age?

and even then expect us to believe he only did it for two weeks?

as someone else said.. yeah, nah
 
Ichabod Noodle said:
The great man is hanging up the boots :( .

A magnificent career. Wore yellow on three different occasions, was a bee's dick off winning the green. Won Paris-Roubaix. Won the Tour Down Under. World champion. Won gold at the Olympics. Went to 6 Olympics and 17 tours. :eek:


Time to celebrate his career.
:thumbsu: :thumbsu: :thumbsu: :thumbsu:
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And all that means nothing now,he's nothing more than a lying cheat now.i feel sad for the many fans who supported him.
 
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