Velochimp

Former USPS team doctor Prentice Steffen has been very vocal about Tyler Hamilton being a doper. He made comments in the past about certain riders on the US Postal Team asking for performance enhancing drugs. Steffan claims that once he brought this issue up to Postal management, he was quickly fired. Last week, Steffan was back again making remarks about Hamilton again, and included Armstrong in the slander. This time he added that Armstrong was a “Bad Guy” who doped and Hamilton was a “Good Guy” who doped. Well, it seems (as the VeloNews article implies) that Armstrong’s lawyer has put the smack down on Steffan and his remarks. Plus, Steffan as quit the TIAA-CREFF development team with which he was involved. The full text of the letter reads like like a very apologetic letter that only can be written when threatened with a major lawsuit.

Under pressure, Steffen retracts L’Equipe comments

Paris Tours is usually a sprinter’s classic, with a mostly flat parcours that leads to a large bunch sprint in the end. There have been a few riders who foiled the sprinter’s plans in the end. Take REEEChard Virenque who is a climber (he won the TDF Polka Dot jersey seven times) beat out the sprinters in a day long break that was not reeled in in time. Erik Dekker managed to hold off the sprinting bunch last year. The final pics make it look like he won a field sprint, but that was not the case. The odds on favorite to win is Erik Zabel, since AleJet Petacchi and Tom Boonen have called it a season. Boonen is happy and on the mend from some minor stomach surgery. Petacchi is wallowing in the depression of losing the World Championships road race, which was pretty much set for him to take the win. That is why they race the race I guess.
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Gilberto is still on form as he won the Giro dell’Emilia today in rainy conditions. Damiano Cunego was again a super domestique to a very much on form Simnoi. The race was decided in the last kilometer climb as Simoni dropped Celestino and Schleck in the deciding move. This may be somewhat of a parting gift for his Lampre Team as Simoni is moving on to Ferretti’s new formation likely sponsored by Sony Ericcson and Caffita.
Gazzetta dello Sport – Giro dell’Emilia a Gilberto Simoni

Cycling News Coverage

The same scientific researchers are back again with more studies about how riding a bike will affect your love life. Beware, the wrong type of seat will adversly affect your performance and you will be left with a limp noodle. I love riding, but if I start getting numb anywhere, I know it is time to take a serious look at my positioning on the bike. Ho hum, yet more negative publicity about cycling. I need to go for a ride…
Serious Riders, Your Bicycle Seat May Affect Your Love Life – New York Times

The VeloNews Photo Gallery has a rare picture of Tyler Hamilton winning the Mt. Washington Hill Climb this summer. Hamilton could race that event because it was non-sanctioned, or something along those lines. Anyway, the kit he is wearing is for his Foundation which is to be expected. The interesting note is that the shorts have the words “believe” and “I”. This would be related to the “I believe Tyler” campaign which was supposedly started by people other than the Tyler Hamilton Foundation. A simple whois lookup on the “I believe in Tyler” website easily relvealed that it was setup by the Tyler Hamilton Foundation. Even though Hamilton has a personal marketing campaign to declare his innocence and keep his relevance as a Pro Cyclist, having the advertising for the site on his kit seems wrong. Something about it seems wrong to me. I hope Hamilton is not a doper, but no one except the scientist conducting the test and Hamilton himself know for sure.

Hamilton wins Mt Washington in the clouds 05 – By Bill Dunkerley1

Wednesday’s Eurofile in Velonews and pretty much all of the cycling news wires have been filled with stories about doped riders getting suspended, or appealing their cases, or anywhere else in between. This type of news gets very lame after hearing it over and over. It makes you wonder where the sport of cycling is on the issue of doping in general? Is the sport cleaner now than it ever has? or are most riders still doping with new methods that cannot yet be detected? Plus, there are the riders that get caught for obvious offenses. Mix this with the L’Equipe story on Lance and you get a pretty sad looking situation to an outside observer.

Wednesday’s EuroFile: Hamilton; Frigo; Sutherland and Capelle

I missed this earlier, but the Pro Cycling Manager video game demo is out. Manage your team through all of the big races. I may try this out and give a report later.
Pro Cycling Manager PC Screenshot 4 – GamersHell.com

The Tyler Hamilton case continues to roll on as the Spetmeber 6th to 8th hearings did not have enough eveidence. Now Hamilton must wait until December or January to see ifthe ruling on his blood dopig charges can be overturned.

CAS hopes to rule on Hamilton case by early 2006 – Cycling – Yahoo! Sports

Paolo Bettini showed that his form is last weeks World Championships road race was still with him, by taking a big win in Zuroch. Bettini finished over 3 minutes ahead of Frank Schlek and Lorenzo Bernucci to take the win. Typically Bettini does well in Zurich, placing on the podium several times. Danilo DiLuca wrapped up the first ProTour ttle, which was not a difficult challenge since anyone in the top five had already called it a season. Not the most exciting conclusion to the first ever ProTour, but DiLuca pretty much locked up the title after his awesome Giro performance.
Yahoo! Sports – Cycling – Bettini wins Zurich Championship, Di Luca wins Pro Tour title

Danilo DiLuca will most likely mathematically win the inaugural Pro Tour Sunday after the Championships of Zurich. Eurosport has a preview.

Eurosport – Cycling – Live and Results. Men and Women. – Zurich Championship