STUEY O'GRADY ! Self Destruct ?

Miserable news hits the Internet today ! Stuey O'Grady having kept company with Matt White
and David Millar , during his Pro World cycling Career , reveals that he was doing what they chose to do during their careers !

 HE BUCKLED UNDER THE STRAIN , IN AN EFFORT TO PERFORM !

My first contact with Stuey was in the Cholet to Chatellerault Etappe , at the France TV3 Compound in the Arrival area on that Wednesday night . He had just been moved into the " Maillot Jeune " through a combination of good fortune and serendipity ! I had the previous night , had the good fortune to meet a France TV3 Employee , who recognising a  " story " , introduced me to a colleague , who quickly scheduled a meeting point , at the start of the day's Etappe in Cholet . During the day he popped up several times , along the route and reminded me where to find the TV3 Personnel area at the " Arrivee "!

Whilst awaiting decisions , i was given hospitality in an area that abutted the " Winner's Area " , thus reached over the Wire barrier to shake hands and congratulate a sheepish looking Stuey . He seemed to be bewildered with his good fortune . The following evening he was a lot more at ease with his " role " , when i again greeted him . Friday night after a day of being trailed by a car , loaded with TV3 Personnel , i again got to greet him . Amusingly my " Team " returned from a meeting , and decided that they needed " film " of the Two of Us together . You can imagine that scene , Stuey in the Maillot Jeune , wondering " WTF is going on here ?" Already shaken hands with this old goat "!

Later in the 1998 TDF , i was in Grenoble when Stuey won the Etappe on the Sunday , arriving in front of a heavy Thunderstorm which then continued into the next day , that saw Pantani win the Etappe in Des2Alp , after a waterlogged day including the Galibier .

Over the years i have bumped into Stuey in a variety of situations , one occasion coming to mind , is the rest Day in Bordeaux . I had ridden out of the Hotels Complex , that morning with the USPS team , with all but Lance  making the Rest Day training ride . Along the way i was twisting the tail of Paulo Salvodelli , since the " Italian Diving Team " had put the Aussies out of the World Soccer Cup . The other Team guys joined in the banter and an amusing training ride around the area continued . returning to the Hotels Complex near  the Racecourse , i then joined the T-Mobile Team spending some time chatting with Vinky  amongst others on that ride .

After Lunch , i happened on Stuey as he started a lone ride . On asking to join , he said he would prefer to listen to the music he had brought along with him . No loss to me , as we were some way out of the Bordeaux Old Town , which i was planning to visit .

Another occasion was the Vuelta Rest Day when i had ridden out of town with the FDJ Team and happened on the group , containing the Schlecks , Cancellara and Stuey , that was taking coffee by the beach . Seems they were discussing LeOpard business , so i was shooed off .

With 16 seasons at the " Le Tour " , i have had plenty of occasions to see Stuey in Action . It has also been my pleasure to meet him at several Olympic Road Races and World Championships .

Below is his Palmeres , copied from elsewhere  :

FACT FILE

STUART O'GRADY

Age: 39

From: Ingle Farm, South Australia

Lives: Luxembourg/Adelaide

Teams: GAN/Credit Agricole, Cofidis, CSC/Saxo-Bank, Leopard, Orica-GreenEDGE

6 Olympic Games

1 Olympic Gold Medal

1 Olympic Silver Medal

2 Olympic Bronze Medals

1 Paris-Roubaix Title

4 Commonwealth Gold Medals

17 Tours de France

4 Tour de France stage wins

2 Tour Down Under titles

CAREER TIMELINE

1992: Makes Olympic debut at the age of 18 in Barcelona and wins a silver medal in the team pursuit

1993: Wins team pursuit world title

1995: Turns professional with French team GAN, later known as Credit Agricole

1996: Wins two bronze medals at the Atlanta Olympics

1997: Makes his Tour de France debut

1998: Rides the Tour de France for the first time, wins Stage 14 and wears yellow jersey for two days

1999: Wins inaugural Tour Down Under

2001: Wears yellow jersey at the Tour de France for five days

2003: Wins national road race title

2004: Wins Olympic gold in Athens with Graeme Brown in the madison

2007: First Australian to win one-day Classic, Paris-Roubaix

2010: Guides Andy Schleck to overall victory at the Tour de France

2012: Joins Australia's first WorldTour team, Orica-GreenEDGE and competes in his sixth Olympics in London

2013: Rides a record-breaking 17th Tour de France as Orica-GreenEDGE wins the team time trial. Announces his immediate retirement after the Tour and admits to taking EPO before the 1998 Tour de France.

With this Career behind him , it comes as a GREAT SHOCK to many , that he chose not to defy his " accusers " since the nature of the French Senate Enquiry was to " Speculate " rather than to state emphatically the names revealed were GUILTY of DOPING !

Earlier in the year i created a " Change.org Petition " ,   

  http://t.co/BU3r7126

  to allow Racers to reveal their " Past Indiscretions " , but NOONE seems to be willing to see OMERTA Broken , thus starting the HEALING Process that is required to SAVE ROAD RACE CYCLING from the coming STORM !

I also wrote a letter to the Australian Governor General trying to create the right atmosphere for confessions such as Stuey is now offering :

www.skippyblogging.blogspot.com/LettertotheAustralianGovernorGeneral

Will we NOW see more Aussie Racers follow his example ?

My Tweets to Stuey today :

1. skippy mc carthy ‏@skippydetour1h

   @Cyclocosm @StueyOG Hey Stuey , remember when we met in TV3 TDF 1998 , i said i had no time for " Dopers " & YOU give me cold shoulder SINCE

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2. skippy mc carthy ‏@skippydetour1h

   @Cyclocosm @StueyOG Remember me riding with You in Nice 2013 asking You to guard REP of Gerrans? Guess French Senate changes Career Options?

   
   

   Could be said that i was taking advantage ?

   
   

   Personally i WISH that People had chosen to use the " Petition " or something similar !

   
   

   Cycling Sport will now get more of a KICKING and more BAD PRESS !
   
   Some of the articles , currently highlighting his " Confession ":
   
   http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/07/ride-a-kilometre-in-ogradys-shoes-before-judging/
   
   http://stevetilford.com/2013/07/25/stuart-ogrady-exposed/comment-page-1/#comment-32766
   
   
   

CADEL WON THE 2005 Tour de France

Hein and Phat , listen up ! There are people doing the work that your minions have chosen not to do , YET ! As people will see , some are able to see the wood from the trees , and reach fairly logical conclusions from the existing information available . Of course that tome written by shamilton may change a few things in the information made available by their efforts !

Listed below in date order , are the blogs that i have found presenting their conclusions and worthy of your attention :

http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/if-not-armstrong-who-won-the-tour-de-france-or-tour-dutopia-from-1999-to-2005/

http://150wattsofawesome.blogspot.co.at/2012/09/lance-armstrong-aftermath.html

My coming across these blogs , came through a variety of resources , but i feel sure that the " Clinic " on CNF , had something to do with that . Seems the mushroom farm is good for something worthwhile occasionally .

What a pity that the " UCI " is such a mess of problems that both Cadel , as indicated by the conclusions drawn , for 2005 and Georg Totschnig  in 2004 , will not be presented with their wins when the 2013 edition of " Le Tour " begins on Corsica ! In celebrating the 100th Edition of  " Le Tour ", would it not be great to see ONLY those who are " Clean of Drugs " participate ?

Please take note of what was said by " Scotslawyer ":


 "  What this exercise does, I think, is demonstrate the futility of looking to change the record book by awarding titles, long after the fact, to people who did not win on the track or field.
This is different from disqualifying Ben Johnson the day after his 100m win at Seoul. “Fixing” the result within days, or weeks is probably in order, and in fact even within a year of the event would be possible.
However, going further than that risks creating strange results, not reflective of competition.
If, for example, the first seven finishers in the 2000 Tour had not entered, or had been disqualified as the race proceeded, then Escartín and his Kelme team would, in all probability, have had to ride the race in a totally different way, and the people who were just behind him in the General Classification would have attacked differently too. There is a big difference between how a rider races when 18 minutes behind the yellow jersey, and 18 seconds behind.
That is why my idea, which, when I started this piece, seemed a whimsical one, namely the Tour D’Utopia, could in fact have a place in sport. "


Some people think that the IOC is as badly run as the UCI and with the board of WADA having people like Phat as members of the Foundation Board of WADA , one wonders if there is not a taint of suspicion ? How much linkage is there between WADA and SportsAccord  when WADA funds the Salaries of SportsAccord personnel ?

Governments will listen to the IOC and WADA through their National Branches so it is not difficult to believe that these bodies have the power to seek their cooperation in instituting an " AMNESTY in ALL SPORTS "!  Would it not be worth while for Governments to allow Athletes to avoid " Double Jeopardy " when they choose to cooperate with a " Truth & Reconciliation  Commission " in the allotted Time Span , thus paving the way to discovering and destroying the resources and incomes of Criminals supplying the Products used in Doping ?

With WADA  conducting a meeting in Stockholm concerning " Doping as a Public Health Issues " , attended by World Health experts from the likes of  World Health Organization ( WHO ) , the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), INTERPOL and WADA . Link for more details here :

http://playtrue.wada-ama.org/news/wada-calls-for-increased-alliances-during-stockholm-symposium/

Earlier in the week there was another meeting in St Petersburg of the " Athletes Commission " regarding changes to the World Anti Doping Code , link here :

http://playtrue.wada-ama.org/news/athlete-committee-discusses-code-amendments/

Those at this meeting were concerned with the " Code review process " and their personal experiences will help to shape the 2015 version of the WADA Code ! People such as David Millar will be able to relate their experiences at the sharp end of the WADA experience ! In visiting the following website you will notice the background is of a Wheelchair race which no doubt will remind people that even Paralympians are involved in the collection of data needed to shape the 2015 WADA Code !

http://www.wada-ama.org/en/World-Anti-Doping-Program/Sports-and-Anti-Doping-Organizations/The-Code/Code-Review/

2012 London Paralympics detected several users of HGH , using new testing procedures , only recently introduced .  That they were not used at the 2012 Olympics , was a policy decision by those in the IOC , seeking to avoid controversy . Perhaps they  used the tests but decided not to publish the results ?  " Shamateurs " use whatever they can get their hands on for what purpose ? You guessed right ,  " BRAGGING RIGHTS "!  Of course Professional Athletes would not stoop to these means to inflate their income , prestige or EGO , would they ?  Some years ago i overheard Masters Cyclists " bragging about their " Supplements and bike weights " , they still continue , no doubt with the same methods , to attend events , thinking they need these underhand abilities to enhance their lives ?

AS to the minor placings for the years that LANCE  won , do we need to bother ? Doubtful that anyone cares ! Only Contador seems to have been  replaced in the records and that by a suspected Racer who regularly follows the same training regime as his brother . Mud sticks , so it is not surprising that Andy has not taken the step of returning to racing after his Spinal problems mid year .

Off to watch the end of the Women Road Race and then out on the bike if the rain will only stop for a while .