So to compare, David Millar’s throw seems to have gotten more air, but it is probably a much lighter bike. The Pinarello that Riis had probably weighed 19 pounds while Millar’s bike should weigh in at the UCI standard 16 pounds. Riis seems like such a douche when he throws the bike as opposed to Millar who may have injured the family jewels seems more sympathetic. One other factor is that Riis was probably using EPO and other performance enhancing means when he threw it, while Millar is pretty much clean.
Hmm, maybe David Millar won’t be doing promos for SRAM’s chains anytime soon. Bonus points for getting some good distance on the bike. Bjarne Riis would be proud. After 4 plus hours in a breakaway having your chain snap just as you are about to make a sprint has got to be the most frustrating thing to happen. Add to that how Millar landed on his top tube and I would not be surprised to see him at least try and snap the bike in half before launching it. Better luck in the next stage.
Another exciting Paris-Nice is in the books. This one was particularly eventful with several lead changes and a dramatic last day stage win that sealed the overall victory by the latest “Next Indurain” of the Spanish peloton. In fact Paris-Nice saw two potential “Next Indurains” with Luis Leon Sanchez getting the moniker after his stage 6 win where he duped his former teammate Contador by going on a late attack that was ordered by his team management.
Both Sanchez and Contador came from the Liberty Seguros meltdown of 2006. Manolo Saiz must be waking up in a cold “Vega Vega Vega” for not being able to manage these two up-and-coming stars. If he only had someone else carry the bags of blood we wouldn’t be in this mess and these guys would both be riding for Saiz.
While a Spanish Judge dropped the case dubbed Operation Puerto due to lack of evidence. Pat McQuaid president of the UCI is going to look at either appealing the judges decision or to take up the case through the UCI. Part of the problem with Operation Puerto is that there was no law against doping in sport in Spain until November 2006. That is well after the evidence in Operation Puerto was found. Spain only recently enacted the strict anti-doping laws that France and Italy have already established.
Another issue with Operation Puerto is the lack of clear evidence that implicated any rider and the constant leaks given to the press. This resulted in a sloppy ham-fisted investigation that inflicted more damaged against anti-doping efforts.
On stage 1 of Paris-Nice riders held a moment of silence to protest the archiving of Operation Puerto. This is in a race where the leader is David Millar of Saunier Duval a former doper who paid the price and is on the comeback trail. David Millar is one of the few exceptions in the never ending Global Struggle Against Doping. He admitted to doping, realized it was a mistake and fessed up. He took his punishment and is now coming back proving he can race clean. Most other doping offense do not come out so neat and tidy.
Alexandre Vinokourov is showing some great time trialling abilities as he captured the bronze medal in the World Time Trial Championships. Vino’s third place spoiled the Team CSC domination as he displaced Brian Vandborg to forth. Fabian Cancellara and David Zabriske two of CSCs time trialing specialist took first and second.
David Millar had a bad day as he came in 11th place and three time former World TT Champ Michael Rogers finished 8th.
Cancellara’s win is sweet revenge for the time trial loss to David Millar in the Vuelta. Plus, this win justifies Cancellara leaving the Vuelta just as Sastre needed all the team support he could get going into the last week.
David Millar completed his comeback from a two year drug suspension by winning the stage 14 time-trial stage. Millar beat TT specialist Fabian Cancellara by a split second to claim the win. Millar made a point to say that you can win clean in this sport.
Those that use the Millar line to determine who dopes and doesn’t dope based on who beats David Millar can now declare the whole Vuelta clean.
Peta Punch
Alessandro Petacchi was ready to make his comeback on stage 15. He ended up farther back than he hoped and was so Po’d by the loss that he punched the team bus. Well, Peta reacted like anyone trying to punch Superman in the gut. His finger is fractured and that may mean some more healing time for AleJet.
Vino Vanishes for Drug Testers
When the drug testers come calling, you better be there. Vino and Kazak pal Kasheckin missed out on the drug testing when they decided to take the team bus. When the drug testers came called Vino and Kash were 80km away with a 10am start not too far off. No word on the fallout of missing the tests, but this is not what Astana need as they try to put the Operation Puerto fallout behind them and start as a fresh team.
Adam Bergman the Jelly Belly riders who was caught for using EPO in 2004 has finally admitted he used the drug. Velonews received an open letter from Bergman where he admits that he did take EPO in a moment of desparation and tries to send a message to others to stop taking performance enhancing drugs. His admission was frank and honest and it could be a subtle message to other riders currently fighting suspensions.
It is time to tell the truth. I did it. I experimented with the drug EPO when I was preparing for the Tour de Georgia. This admission has been a long time in coming, and I should have done it a lot sooner. It seemed easier to say the test is bad or blame it on someone else’s error than to admit the truth. I made a big mistake when I tried EPO, and I made matters even worse by not having the courage to admit that mistake. My family raised me to be a better person than that.
I applaud Bergman’s candor in finally admitting the use of EPO. With riders like David Millar and Adam Bergman coming out and talking openly about EPO and other performance enhancing drugs, it will help younger riders who may face similar pressures. These riders who get busted and then come back racing clean may be more help than any doping tests or crackdown. These riders can speak frankly about the reasons for using EPO and other drugs and can be used as a lesson to be learned. It does not help when a big name rider is caught using drug but denies it to no end (cough cough Heras and Hamilton).
I can’t say for sure if they did use the drugs or not and the validity of the tests is another issue, but remember that old saying? “The coverup is sometimes worse than the crime.”
Not surprisingly Roberto Heras is now officially suspended for two years and stripped of the Vuelta title. Denis Menchov won the Vuelta, although he does not feel like taking the trophy or the Golden Jersey from Roberto’s hands.
The suspension is for two years and the recent change in the suspension laws mean that after two years, Heras cannot come back to a ProTour team for yet another two years. So he will effectively be out of major events such as the Vuelta and Tour for 4 years. No chance for redemtption unless his lawyers can get him out of the suspension by overturning the positive drug test. In the meantime, he can probably ride with Tyler Hamilton who (as Cyclocosm pointed out) has been relegated to lowly roadcycling magazine.
David Millar was suspended just before this rule took effect and is now enjoying what is basically a 1 to 1 1/2 year suspension. You may have noticed Millar all over every cycling magazine and cycling news site with “in-depth” interviews. He will come back just in time for the Tour. So if he were doing the Lemond-Armstrong method of Tour prep, then he is not missing anything at all.
Now that the ink has dried on the contract, David Millar is officially part of the Saunier Duval Cycling Team. Millar, the Scotsman who has been suspended for two years after he admitted using EPO. Millar is expected to return to competative bike racing in June when his suspension if over with any eye to entering the Tour de France.
