[sundaymorning]

In all the discussion of Landis I haven't seen much made about his soigneur, Freddy Viaene. We all know that soigneurs have been shown to be the first line in administering doping. Freddy has been around the sport for a long time, he has worked for 7-11, Motorola, Cofidis, Mapei, US Postal, Phonak and Quickstep (I think in that order).

I'm usually reticent to bring the L-factor into any message board discussion, but I think it's very appropriate when discussing Viaene. Armstrong's coach, Chris Carmichael, was quoted in USA Today in 2004 saying:

"There are only four people who really know what's going on with Lance's body: me, Michele (Ferrari), (team director) Johan Bruyneel and Freddy (Viaene, Armstrong's massage therapist)."

Another soigneur, Willy Voet of Festina scandal fame, wrote about how obvious it was that working with Ferrari meant doping (when discussing Virenque):

"...teaming up with Ferrari was like putting a saucepan up your backside: it was immediately obvious what you were doing."

Viaene left Postal and moved to Phonak with Landis. Landis' website called Viaene "Floyd's Soigneur".

Viaene was out of a job after Phonak dissolved, but he landed on his feet. He was hired by Patrick Lefevre at Quickstep. Last winter the Belgian paper, Het Laatste Nieuws, did an expose on doping at Quickstep. One of the sources was an unnamed soigneur associated with Quickstep. Cyclingnews provides the translation:

'Soigneur 2' tells a story about Freddy Viaene, a colleague from the Discovery Channel team. "Viaene isn't welcome anywhere: burned his hands, got spat out by the peloton. He knew how the Americans work, he worked with ... " several leading riders, 'Soigneur 2' was quoted in Het Laatste Nieuws. QuickStep's popular soigneur, Dirk Nachtergaele, apparently said to Lefevere, "you can't take that guy in our team!" Despite this Lefevere insisted and wanted Viaene in the team.

Lefevere threatened to sue the HLN but that suit hasn't seemed to materialize (the Dedecker suit was a different thing).

Once again, there is a lot of smoke around Floyd that's not coming from the stage 17 positive fire. Freddy Viane definitely adds a lot to the pollution.

This post has been edited by sundaymorning: 06 February 2008 - 05:19 AM

[D-Queued]

... Freddy Viane definitely adds a lot to the peolloution.

There, that is better!

Dave.

[jimmypop]

For all the in-depth scientific discussion that takes place here (which has its merit), it's the anecdotal accounts which have me convinced that Landis doped.

You don't have to search for very long to find credible accounts of Landis jumping into the deep end of the PED pool.

This post has been edited by jimmypop: 06 February 2008 - 03:24 PM

[ludwig]

all in all, the information surrounding Landis paints a damning picture. He is a lyer, and a fraud. He took money off unsuspecting punters.

Lying about the doping is unacceptable but so common that it's difficult for cycling fans to condemn (unless we intend to condemn everyone). But the fact that decent people believe him at his word and he takes their money...that's just unconscionable.

Hopefullly his example will help the next American doping positive understand that the best and easiest thing to do is tell the truth--the lies will come back to bite you in the ass. Screw the omerta.

[the Dragon]

Hopefullly his example will help the next American doping positive understand that the best and easiest thing to do is tell the truth--the lies will come back to bite you in the ass. Screw the omerta.

Ludwig, How cute.

I think there was a great push to have the miscreants "confess". Sometime in the 1400's and got misnamed as the "Inquisition". Thanks for enlightening me. The History I was taught was in error. It should have been more accurately called..."The Great Truth Telling".

Let me know when you and Chris actually care about liars and frauds. The list is long and includes a great number on ALL sides. I realize that doesn't fit your template, so be it.

Regards,

[lakeArrowheadrider]

5. Klinger said he was the largest consumer of HGH at USPS

That might be why his thyroid is screwed up. That is one of the side effects.