Saturday, May 14, 2011

Suspicious minds

So, the world of cycling is once again in turmoil. Surprise surprise. This time due to a UCI document that has become known as the "index of suspicion" being leaked to that certain French newspaper the UCI just love. I for one love L`Équipe, and their latest findings make for intriguing reading. Popovych and Barredo being ranked at 10 can hardly be a surprise to anyone, and neither can Menchov`s lofty 9. The fact that the Shack and Astana are worst off team-wise is no shocker either. Obviously, though, we shouldn`t read too much into this list as we have no idea what the rankings are actually based on. And it`s not fair on the riders. Some riders have quite obviously gotten a ranking wide off the mark as well. Call me biased, but what is Isasi doing at 5? The UCI are sitting on more info on him than I do, naturally, but come on. Seeing Hunt at 7, Thomas on 6 and Millar on 4 is also very surprising. Euskaltel ended up 13th as a team which is okay I guess, hadn`t really expected better. Seeing Martínez at 6 wasn`t good, but aside from that it`s not too bad. Nice to see both Oroz and Velasco get a 0; they`re two honest and hard-working riders to my knowledge. As for the other Tour riders last year, A Pérez got a 1, R Pérez a 2, Txurruka and Verdugo 3, whilst team leader Samu ended up with a 4.

1 comment:

Bolsen3 said...

I think one shouldn't lay to much importance in these numbers. As I see it, only the highest (9 & 10) and lowest (0 & 1) numbers are interesting, not the ones in the middle. And Cancellara on 0? That is a good sign for cycling! Of course it's no proof that he is clean, but if a rider can have so little suspicious values, and be so dominant in his field, that is a very good thing!

btw, the ranking is based on the bloodpass and tests before the Tour 2010.

 

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