Well, the Belgian media can get a little hysterical at times, so I’ll wait for confirmation, but this sounds pretty bad. It’s not so much a crime against cycling as it is playboy stupidity, but guess what? The Tour isn’t going to make such a fine distinction. So… green jerseys, anyone?

I was rather innocently cruising the usual places looking for some good gossip and stumbled on this. Ack. I hope it’s the Belgian press going nutz and they sometimes do, but they’re awfully specific here – three days before tour of belgium, etc – which is why I went ahead and posted it without further confirmation.

So far, no else has picked it up, but it’s also like 3.00 am in Europe right now…

Hoping it’s not true etc.

Somehow, yeah, coke doesn’t seem as bad as performance-enhancing drugs or an underage girlfriend .... sigh.

But what a dork. Can I have his bike?

-Greg

Tom Vannoppen confirmed that he had returned a positive test for cocaine, but denied naming Tom Boonen as his dealer. “I tested positive but Tom Boonen has absolutely nothing to do with it,” he told Sporza.be.

After he was released from Team Sunweb, “I had a party. I drank and did dumb things. I felt I was no longer a rider. But two days after my dismissal, I was visited by the doping controllers,” explained Vannoppen, who is in Treviso attending the ‘cross world championships.

He vehemently denied having said that Boonen provided him with drugs. “This is a game to put cycling in a bad light,” the 29 year-old said. “Tom and I frequently train together and we will sometimes drink a pint. But there is nothing more. In my questioning the names of thirty riders came up, of course his name was mentioned.”

Het Laatste Nieuws reported that investigators had no search warrant when they arrived at Boonen’s parents’ house earlier this week, but he and his mother allowed them to enter. Hasselt prosecutor Marc Rubens emphasized that “With respect to Boonen, there is no indication that he has anything to do with the matter.”

Article here.

If Boonen’s positive test is true… it sucketh the big one. I almost wrestled with the idea that “well, at least it isn’t a positive for doping”... but seriously… you just don’t do it. Set aside the health and legal aspects of it… it’s right there in black and white with no freakin’ TUE gray area of any sort at all. You play the game; you abide by the rules.

Cheating is bad. But stupidity? Sigh.

Tom Boonen was caught on cocaine. The cyclist ran on May 25 – three days before the Tour of Belgium – during an inspection compete against the lamp. Last night there were planned searches in the homes of his parents in Postel and those of his girlfriend Laurie in Meerhout.

Vanoppen
Boonen was previously associated with cocaine, when the end of december his good friend and cyclo-cross rider Tom Vanoppen by the Flemish dopingcontroleurs on coke was caught. During his interrogation pointed Vanoppen when Boonen as the dealer of his cocaine.

There followed when all searches, including in the parental home in Postel.

Driving licences lost
Only last week played Boonen for the second time in six weeks time lost his licence. Noche he was in his Audi Variant by the police on the side put on the ring around Mol. He rode 180 in a place where you may 90. He had 1.0 promille and therefore too many drunk.

Six weeks earlier ran against Tom Boonen even if the lamp. On Thursday 24 april he rode in Postel 120 per hour in a place where 70 is admitted. Even when his licence was immediately revoked for fourteen days.

It is amazing how stupid people can be. If it was a PED at least there is an excuse, all be it an awful one. But this is just pure stupidity and arrogance. He is a major role model to youngsters the world over, like it or not, and this sort of stuff is way out of line.

driving and drinking is part of the landscape.

As far as recreational drugs go, he can hand out with me any day!

Although my recreational are grown, not processed.

I was wondering if Quickstep was gonna give any support to Devo in the Tour… sheesh.

the same 2 years as for a PED offense?

here and find out

nothing showing up there yet. Though I did learn that Koldo Fernandez is sneller dan Baden Cooke, which is why I picked him for my VDS team.

it was in yesterday’s CN, isn’t that the organization that Disco withdrew from when they signed Basso? and Liquigas withdrew from when they signed Basso? as in, Lefevere doesn’t want to have to fire Boonen outright, so he withdraws his team from the organization that might make him do so?

Does this strike you in the same way that it would if you’d heard Boonen tested positive for EPO v. 2 or something else similarly obviously aimed at in-competition performance?