Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

Stefan Schumacher’s blistering Time Trial performances at the Tour were certainly a surprise to many. Apparently when someone like Schumacher or Riccardo Ricco performs above and beyond expectations they are most likely doping. Meanwhile Leonardo Piepoli was positive for CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator) which is not a shock since he was implicated as an [...]

(AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)
Ugh, hope this turns out to be nothing. The car of Johnny Schleck the father of Andy and former Yellow Jersey Frank Schleck was searched by customs agents.
So far news reports are simply that the car was searched for 30 minutes. Schleck’s car was then seen following the French customs police vehicle during [...]

Cyclingnews had a quick interview with a doping expert Michel Audran who dropped some interesting tidbits. I was stunned at almost every response. Just when you think that maybe doping is being driven out of cycling, the riders are simply staying one step ahead with drugs that aren’t yet detected.
Ricco used CERA/Micera which is not [...]

(AP Photo/Michel Spingler, File)
This year was going relatively well in terms of cycling related drug scandals. Sure there is the Alessandro Petacchi overreaction due to one too many puffs of the inhaler, but most of the big names were relatively free from drug related scandals. Now that most cyclists stay away from the performance enhancing [...]

The banning of the Astana Cycling Team became official today as the A.S.O (Amaury Sports Organization) officially rebuked the team from participating in all A.S.O sponsored events. This comes after the Giro D’Italia snubbed the Kazak-sponsored team from participating in Italy in May. The snub comes despite a complete overhaul of the team structure from [...]

T-Mobile has dropped their main sponsorship from their Bob Stapleton run cycling team. The news comes after Adidas dropped sponsorship of the team in light of the ongoing-neverending doping stories surrounding the team. The team will not disband as T-Mobile’s contract was set to go until December 2010 and there must be a decent enough [...]

Doug Pensinger, Getty Images

Levi is rumored to be switching to Astana along with Johan Bruyneel and defending Tour champion Alberto Contador. Meanwhile he is living it up by eating “blue cheese crusted tenderloin of beef and chocolate mousse cake” in Utah.
Levi is asked about doping particularly the Landis case:
“Yep, that’s pretty much all [...]

AP Photo/Daniel Maurer

Paolo Bettini was almost going to be sitting at home watching the Worlds instead of defending his World Championship of 2006. The reigning World Champ was defending himself on charges of not signing an anti-doping declaration and was almost banned from starting the race. Cooler heads prevailed and Bettini was on the start [...]

STR/AFP/Getty Images

Paolo Bettini is cleared to defend his title at the World Championships in Stuttgart Germany. Following the denial of Danilo DiLuca who is about to receive a four month preliminary ban , Bettini was ready to also go home. This Worlds is best know for the polemics of who will or will not race. [...]

Not a big surprise, but the ruling finally came down from USADA as Floyd Landis is guilty of doping. The court case wrapped up four months ago and is best remembered for the bizarre soap opera like revelations. Landis has one month to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The ruling came down [...]