I got to race against Mr. Fuentes at Hanford in the 1/2 Pro race a couple days ago. BTW Thank you Velo Promo, The City of Hanford, and everyone else involved with the races for putting on a great event! A big thank you comes from me and my team!

Okay back to Fuentes. You know, a public apology from him for his actions would go a long way. After all he was a professional at the highest level of cycling in our country. But I don't think that will happen. Why? I saw him at registration at Hanford, we looked at each other, I shook my head and walked away. I do not think he has any sort of conscious. I was surprised to see him wearing Maguire Clothing. Personally if I were a club, or elite race team, I would have refused him as a member. Let him race on his own.

You could feel the doping buzz in the air as we lined up at Hanford. Guys were rumbling glancing back and forth trying to locate where he was. Yeah he is a marked man for sure. No one wants any part of him at the races. But that is what I observed so I could be wrong. He missed the break in our race. So at least he did not get the win there, but it's March...

I too believe in giving second chances, but second chances are given to individuals who made a ligitimate mistakes, or paid the full price for their actions. Fuentes did race while under his suspension. Came up with a lame excuse as to why he took that stuff, and yeah it is a serious steroid and one would know if they had it in thier posession - Geeze Fuentes you think were all supid? In his case, I believe it was neither. Karma will get him! Hey why doesn't he write a list of all the promotors he cheated and the guys he beat, taking their prizes from them and "Pay Karma Back" Ohh wait that is another story...

Next time I am in a break and if he is there. I'll just sit on him. I might even taunt him a little. "Are you clean?" "I think there gonna test you after the race" I did not get the chance to do that at Hanford since I made the winning break and he did not. So one for me I guess.

Believe me I am not the only one that thinks this of Mr. Fuentes.

roadie4life wrote:There need to be some consequences to this kind of thing, not just a year off. Cleaning it up starts at the grass roots.

R4L

Wasn't much of a year off. And some grass roots organizations were complicit.

Dude was still racing in the "grass roots" CBR (until the CBR board found out about it and immediately put a stop to it), and in some local MTB races. To their credit, the CBR stepped up and took a stand.

However, one particular "grass roots" promoter in NorCal was less than interested in honoring any USAC/UCI suspensions, and when we (myself and others) pointed out to him that a suspended rider was entering and winning his races, he told us in no uncertain terms that he really could care less.

Jonathan

Note that promoters don't have the right to refuse entry to any rider who isn't under suspension if that rider's entry is received before the field limit is reached.

mhernandez wrote:I'm wondering if he will give back all the prizes won after he tested positive on March 24, 2004? He raced the entirety of that season (2004) while the case underwent examination with our governing body.

He won many races that season (2004) after his positive drug test and collected quite a bit of prize money and merchandise.

My personal stance on Dave Fuentes racing: (please note this is my personal opinion of the matter and does not reflect the views of my team, my friends, my girlfriend's dog, or ncnca forums)

DOPERS SUCK.

I am in favor of lifetime bans for all people caught using steroids.

Amen brother. Put some teeth in the thing. I read that decision in 04 and just don't see much room for doubt. Film canister? Are you kidding me? Virenque was more believable.

As a volunteer who put in a stupid amount of (unpaid) time helping organize one of those "banned period" races where he walked off with donated prize money & merchandise - well let's just say we're still waiting to get the 04 prizes back. It's the least he can do. A couple-dozen of us blew hundreds of hours of our time so he could ride around on his toy bike for an hour, and he decided not to play by the rules. You get caught cheating, you give the prizes back - easy right?

What can we do? Riders - shut down breaks obviously. And promoters - if he has the nerve to show at our next event I'll ask for the prize money back and refuse entry in the meantime. Why not? Obviously there's no teeth to the retroactive ban. There need to be some consequences to this kind of thing, not just a year off. Cleaning it up starts at the grass roots.

R4L

Having more primes than laps certainly sounds like one of those good-problems-to-have, promoter-wise. I'd rather see them give 2-3 deep prizes than increase the number of prime-laps. I would imagine (and have had this series of thoughts) that prime-odds are tough. There's a good chance of you working a ton for nothing.

Two-deepers would probably entice more racers to chase the prime.

...and I think primes always have the chance of changing a race. How many tiimes have big attacks gone off, just after the prime?

Peter

I'd not challenge that the break had its issues.

But I also wouldn't come out and call it whining. We won they lost, still good for my team.

I did toss out a question for people to give their .02 on.

My .02 is that its not cool.

yeah, I think our break-away was doomed at the Hanford crit.

With a guy who tested positive for steroids in the move, we weren't all that interested in giving him a chance to win.

I'm wondering if he will give back all the prizes won after he tested positive on March 24, 2004? He raced the entirety of that season (2004) while the case underwent examination with our governing body.

He won many races that season (2004) after his positive drug test and collected quite a bit of prize money and merchandise.

Then, in November of that 2004 - he was sanctioned for 2 years RETROACTIVE to the date of his positive steroid test. Hence, he was able to race 3/25/06 ... PLEASE NOTE: in effect he was suspended only for the 2005 season and the first 3 months of this year.

Interesting.

This is what he tested positive for, oxymetholone

Here is the ruling.

- - -

My personal stance on Dave Fuentes racing: (please note this is my personal opinion of the matter and does not reflect the views of my team, my friends, my girlfriend's dog, or ncnca forums)

DOPERS SUCK.

I am in favor of lifetime bans for all people caught using steroids. Please read the ruling linked above to get an idea of how POSITIVE this test was.

Here is an exerpt if you want:

Quote:4.5 Dr. Podraza, a clinical pharmacologist, testified that Oxymetholone is a Class III rated drug. This drug is not produced naturally in the body. While it cannot be obtained over the counter, it may be obtained over the Internet. ... He testified that the medicine [Oxymetholone] was originally developed for the treatment of anemia, some forms of breast cancer, and some wasting diseases, but that there are much more effective prescriptions for those conditions now. Oxymetholone has no pain killing benefit and is not prescribed for treatment of injuries. He indicated that it would benefit cyclists as it increases red blood cell production, increasing a rider's stamina and recovery time similar to EPO. ...

4.6 The Respondent [Fuentes] testified that on March 24, 2004, during one stage of the race [Redlands], he was involved in a crash and severely injured his shoulder. He was able to finish that stage, but was hampered by the injury. He testified that later that night he took some unknown medication that he had had in his possession for some time. This included
some pills in a black film canister that included some left over from an alleged prescription for a prior cycling injury. He could not recall what those pills were. The next day, March 25, 2004, he was unable to complete the race [dnf] due to the extreme pain. He was randomly selected for drug testing. He raced again on March 28 in the Criterium [amateur] and won that event.

[emphasis added]

- - -

As for primes during the final 5 laps of a crit ... i think it should be entirely at the discretion of the promoter. As should be allowing riders to participate, or NOT participate in their events.

We all have a choice.

primes had nothing to do with the break getting caught at Hanford.

1. they weren't that far off or going that fast.
2. roemer and black both pulled a lap each with 3/2 to go, to have a chance to win the race, not primes. every peleton wants to bring a break dangling off the front with only a few to go.
3. primes should be allowed/encouraged anytime. the more the merrier.

Peter Brown

no whining sasser.

There was never a rule banning primes from the last X laps of a race. As a general policy most officials will try to avoid primes in the last 5 laps of a race. The problem is you have some promoters who are running a race than may be 15 laps and they have 12 primes to give out.

As I have said before personally I think it would be better to have fewer primes and expand the prizelist instead.

There used to be a rule that outlawed premes within the final x kilometers of the race. Dunno if it's still in the book.

Back East I remember the "Gambler's Preme" for lots of money with one lap to go.