Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

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 to a 2 to 1 decision.

According to documents obtained by AP, the vote was 2-1 to uphold the results, with lead arbitrator Patrice Brunet and Richard McLaren in the majority and Christopher Campbell dissenting.

Not surprisingly Travis Tygart feels vindicated by the ruling:

“Today’s ruling is a victory for all clean athletes and everyone who values fair and honest competition,” U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart said.

The ruling is interesting in that the lab was found to violate WADA rules when conducting the tests, but this finding did not help Landis overturn the overall conviction of being positive in his first test.

In its 84-page decision, the majority found the initial screening test to measure Landis’ testosterone levels — the testosterone-to-epitestosterone test — was not done according to World Anti-Doping Agency rules. But the more precise and expensive carbon-isotope ration analysis (IRMS), performed after a positive T-E test is recorded, was accurate, the arbitrators said, meaning “an anti-doping rule violation is established.”

“As has been held in several cases, even where the T-E ratio has been held to be unreliable … the IRMS analysis may still be applied,” the majority wrote. “It has also been held that the IRMS analysis may stand alone as the basis” of a positive test for steroids.

The decision comes more than a year after Landis’ stunning comeback in Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour, one that many people said couldn’t be done without some kind of outside help. Flying to the lead near the start of a grueling Alpine stage, Landis regained nearly eight minutes against the leader, and went on to win the three-week race.

“Well, all I can say is that justice has been done, and that this is what the UCI felt was correct all along,” Pat McQuaid, leader of cycling’s world governing body, told The Associated Press by telephone. “We now await and see if he does appeal to CAS.

“It’s not a great surprise considering how events have evolved. He got a highly qualified legal team who tried to baffle everybody with science and public relations. And in the end the facts stood up.”

So, the testing procedures were violated, but the ruling of doping still stands? Chris Campbell had many concerns about the procedures and his vote was to dissent as he did in the Tyler Hamilton case.

“In many instances, Mr. Landis sustained his burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” Campbell wrote. “The documents supplied by LNDD are so filled with errors that they do not support an Adverse Analytical Finding. Mr. Landis should be found innocent.”

… In his dissent, Campbell latched onto the T-E ratio test, among other things, as proof that the French lab couldn’t be trusted.

“Also, the T-E ratio test is acknowledged as a simple test to run. The IRMS test is universally acknowledged as a very complicated test to run, requiring much skill. If the LNDD couldn’t get the T-E ratio test right, how can a person have any confidence that LNDD got the much more complicated IRMS test correct?”

It was confusion like this that led to the system receiving the harsh review Landis was hoping for during a nine-day hearing in Malibu, Calif., in May. But Landis also took his share of abuse, and ultimately, USADA still improved to 35-0 in cases it has brought before arbitration panels since it was founded in 2000.

Cyclingnews.com

Yahoo News

Pro cyclist have shown to have larger than normal hearts at rates of 20 to 40%. Scientist studied several Pro cyclist in a long term test and showed that they usually have larger hearts even after they stop competing. The larger heart is developed in response to the intense training. This is not completely surprising since the heart muscle is one of the key components to cycling. Just as most cyclist have overdeveloped legs especially in the quads. What is most interesting is that point made at the end of the article where they reference doping. Seems that since cyclist train their systems to function so well, doping would be detrimental and could possibly cause major problems.

… in athletes with bigger hearts, doping could prove potentially more dangerous than for normal people.

Athletes with bigger hearts have more red blood cells, which deliver oxygen around the body. These cells are thicker than normal cells. So if athletes decide to use an illegal agent like the blood-booster EPO, they run the risk of making their blood too thick. That puts them in danger of a clot, stroke, or heart attack.

“These athletes already have hearts that have increased in volume to adapt to their training workload,” Bove said. “If they then go and use drugs, that could potentially erase the natural advantage they already have.”

The EPO deaths were seen early on in the 1990s and late 80s when several Dutch cyclist died in their sleep. I seems that later on in the 1990s cyclist were savvier in their use of EPO as mysterious deaths were rare.

CNN Health

It took twice as long to finish the Tour, but the first non-doping cyclist rode into Paris.

Finland’s Piet Kvistik, a domestique with the Crédit Mondial team, was this year’s highest-finishing non-doping rider (142nd overall). Kvistik claimed the maillot propre, the blue jersey worn by the highest-placed “clean” rider, on the ninth stage of the race when the six riders who had previously worn it tested positive for EPO, elevated levels of testosterone, and blood-packing.

“It became most difficult for us on the 7th stage, which was almost 200 kilometers and the first stage through the mountains,” Kvistik said while accepting the non-doping victor’s 100-franc check from his stretcher. “Not only did the excruciating pain and weakness in my legs make it difficult to walk my bike on the steeper stretches, it was mentally very hard to know that half the other clean riders were dead or dying. Also, the other 141 riders finished the Tour in Paris that morning, which made it all that much harder.”

read more at The Onion Thanks to Tim Bingham.

AFP/File/Joe Klamar

2007 Tour de France champ Alberto Contador met with the press accompanied by Discovery Channel Team Director Johan Bruyneel and his family and Spanish sports minister Jaime Lissavetzky. Contador basically announced they he never doped and he is not involved in Operation Puerto (OP). He will not stop racing and will in fact give DNA samples and help with the investigation. The growing controversy surrounding the Tour champ resulted in Contador not being invited to several races especially in Germany where investigator Werner Franke is said to have evidence linking Contador to OP.

The announcement by Contador must surely be a way to help clear the air of suspicion surrounding Contador especially as he is now looking for a new team to race for in 2008. Tailwind Sports the company behind the Discovery Channel team has announced that they are stopping the team at the end of the 2007 season. Tailwind sports was unable to find a suitable sponsor since the announcement earlier this year that Discovery Channel would cease sponsorship. The never ending flow of doping news most likely scared away potential sponsors, especially with the admission by Ivan Basso of being “Birillo” of Operation Puerto fame. The involvement with Basso and other doping controversies which only intensified during the Tour de France may make any potential sponsor shy away.

Now, the remaining team and associated staff will be looking for a job for 2008. George Hincapie is said to have already signed for T-Mobile which will stay in the sport until 2010. Levi Leipheimer, Yaroslav Popovych and Alberto Contador to name a few will be looking for work.

The end of Tailwind sports marks the end of a formidable team that started way back in the 90s as Subaru Montgomery. The team eventually landed a large sponsor in the United States Postal Service who was keen to advertise overseas. In 1998 they signed recovering cancer victim Lance Armstrong. In 1999 Johan Bruyneel came on board. The rest is history. Discovery Channel finally seemed to get past the Armstrong Era with Contador. The team performed better overall placing three racers in the top ten overall at the Tour.

Just like US Postal “took over” after the demise of Motorola in the early 90s a similar pattern is emerging at Team Slipstream is gaining momentum to be the next top American team. Slipstream may not take the ProTour opening left by Discovery Channel for 2008 as their main goal is entry to the Tour de France only and not the various Pro Tour events.

Another interesting note is a developing trend. The 2007 and 2006 Tour winning team have ceased sponsorship at the end of each season. Last year’s Phonak squad ended after Floyd Landis’ Testosterone case caused replacement sponsor iShares to cancel its sponsorship of the team. Now Discovery Channel is ending its sponsorship after having a Tour winner in its ranks. Sponsors are shying away from the sport and the doping headlines causing racers and support staff to actually lose their jobs. With lots of racers around and not as many teams, they pay for racers goes down due to supply vs. demand. Therefore each racer gets less money than they would have otherwise. So, the incentive to dope should now disappear.

Andriy Kashechkin tested positive for homologous blood doping in an out of competition test while training in Turkey. The Kazak racer’s positive test is the latest in a series of devastating blows to the Astana team that comes after doping related issues with Mattaus Kessler, Eddie Mazzoleni and Vonkourov. The double positive for blood doping surely shows that there was a mix up of blood bags. Most doping tests cannot detect when a racer re-injects his own blood, but can easily spot if there is a presence of another person’s blood.

The same situation happened with Tyler Hamilton and Santiago Perez of the Phonak squad. Both tested positive which signaled a mix up of blood bags. Hamilton tried his best to find an excuse for the positive doping test, going so far as to say he had a vanishing twin which caused the abnormal test result.

Ugh, the sinking feeling is starting again. Velonews announced that Tour de France winner Alberto Contador is scheduling a press conference where he will release a statement and not take questions from the press. Discovery Team Manager Johan Bruyneel will be by his side.

Contador issued a release Wednesday notifying media of his plans to read a statement at the offices of Spain’s national sports council – the Consejo Superior de Deportes – in Madrid.

Contador will be accompanied by Discovery Channel team director Johann Bruyneel.

Via Podium Cafe: http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/13062.0.html

This conference could also be setup to announce that Contador will not be racing while the WADA investigation to Contador’s Operation Puerto case is finalized. WADA decided to re-investigate Contador’s involvement in Operation Puerto which was previosuly dismissed by the UCI.

The World Anti Doping Agency has opened an investigation on Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel), winner of this years Tour de France, and his alleged involvement in Operation Peurto. WADA is working with ex-Liberty Seguros rider Jörg Jaksche, who admitted that he worked with the Spanish doctor while he was a team-mate of Contador at Liberty Seguros, after it received documents from German Professor Werner Franke that supposedly links the Spaniard to Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes.

Documents seized in the case are said to contain the letters A.C., which is allegedly the initials of Alberto Contador. Jaksche’s initials are also present on the document along side the doping products that he has admitted to using. “I don’t know if Contador was a client of Fuentes,” said Jaksche. “I only know that I used those doping products that are shown on that document.”

With this action, WADA is overturning the UCI’s earlier decision to acquit Contador of any involvement in the case.

Johan Bruyneel, Contador’s team manager, has serious doubts of the integrity of Professor Franke. “‘He defended Danilo Hondo, when he was caught in the Tour of Murcia for using the banned substance Carphedon, if you ask me he only speaks the language of the person paying him,” said Bruyneel.

Cyclingnews.com

Hopefully the press conference is a simple announcement that Contador is simply not going to race and will participate with the WADA investigation. He could also reclaim his innocence and vow to fight. The other possibility would be that he could admit to being involved in Puerto which would not be a good thing for cycling or the Discovery Channel Team.

AP Photo/Daniel Maurer

T-Mobile decided to stay in the sport of cycling and keep sponsoring its top German team. The decision was made after several high profile admissions to past doping by 1996 Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis, Ralf Aldag and house sprinter Erik Zabel. After these revelations came the bombshell of Patrik Sinkewitz’s non-negative for elevated Testosterone levels. Sinkewitz admitted to using to making a boneheaded move of self administering a testosterone gel without realizing it would trip cause some doping issues.

“We want to prove a point through consistency and reliability which this sport is in great need of,” said Hamid Akhavan, chairman of T-Mobile International and board member of Deutsche Telekom AG. “We want to continue to accompany cycling and support it in its effort to become a cleaner sport.”

“After intensive internal talks, but also after contacting important representatives from politics, media and sport, we decided to face the challenges and not to give in to the current problems. We know that the chosen route would be difficult,” Akhavan said in a company statement.

The T-Mobile management has the right to end sponsorship if more doping cases popup. After the Sinkewitz fiasco it was thought that T-Mobile just might pull out of cycling altogether. This would have been troubling especially since the team have committed to an extensive internal anti doping testing system.

Hopefully all future T-Mobile racers will be extra careful with the gels, lotions and rubs they administer so as to not trip up a positive/non-negative doping result. If any T-Mobile racer dopes after this close call then they should probably take an IQ test because it would surely be a boneheaded move.

Yahoo ! News

AP Photo/Antonio Calanni

Michael Rasmussen is still reeling from his firing from Team Rabobank. The 33 year old racer is back home giving interviews about his sudden sacking while leading the Tour. Whether he was doping or not, the missed tests and obfuscation of his whereabouts created enough concern from Rabobank management to sack the racer while leading the Tour. Rasmussen like any fired employee is in denial.

“I know very well that I was late with information about my whereabouts,” Rasmussen said in Friday’s edition of the Politiken newspaper. “For that I have been punished with a fine and warnings. But that it should lead to such drastic (measures) which have been taken, is out of all proportion.

“I have now had time to collect my thoughts and I can guarantee that I am not done as a rider.”

Unsurprisingly, He is bitter about the ordeal too.

“I was kicked out of the hotel like an animal,” Rasmussen told the Berlingske Tidende daily.

Newsvine story

The real reason Michael Rasmussen was dumped from the Tour? According to The Daily Show not only was he suspected of doping, he was also smuggling plums.

One reassuring aspect of all of the latest doping related news is that the perception inside the peloton is changing. Cyclist are now angry at the dopers because they see sponsors going away and jobs being lost. Doping inside the peloton may be see as a reckless way to get ahead, with the doping racer risking not only his job, but that of the team and support staff.

So why dope? The issue has to do with money more than anything. In the high flying 90s when the miracles of EPO and other drugs were making pasty Italian guys fly up hills the sport was going a renaissance in Italy. More money and sponsors come in and expect results.

The Telekom guys such as Zabel and others said they had to dope to get results that the sponsor wanted.

If the whole field is doing something then in order to compete you must dope. To get a paycheck or keep your spot on a team you dope because otherwise the next guy who is doping will take your place.

Guys like Christian Moreni dope to survive another day and collect the next paycheck. When faced with the prospect of getting a real job vs. racing for a living it may be a no brainer.

Cycling is a target because there is no central control and it does not bring in enough money and have enough political connections like soccer does in Europe.

There is no powerful “players” union which would protect cyclist from various forms of doping tests. Could you imagine the NBA, NFL or Baseball having their players submit to regular out of competition tests? And have to tell some organization their exact whereabouts at all times?

It’s turning around now since sponsors are thinking twice about their commitment to the sport. Rabobank was weary of any doping related issues with Rasmussen which is probably why they decided to fire him. They did not want a Landis-style off season.

The testing process is flushing out the cheaters little by little. So now the incentive is to not cheat. If a racer is caught cheating he is basically putting his job and the entire team and supporters jobs on the line.

Teams like Slipstream, T-Mobile, CSC and others are putting testing processes in place so that their sponsors can be reassured that their racers are clean.

Its a tough process, but cycling is undergoing a baptism by fire to become a cleaner sport. Its something that other sports may face publicly in the future too. By that time us cycling fans will react with a “been there, done that” attitude.