Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

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.”

Incidentally, it looks like the “Believe Tyler” website is no longer functioning http://www.believetyler.org/

BTW, you can get an EPO T-Shirt at the Velochimp store:

EPOWhite T-Shirt
$15.99

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.

http://velonews.com/news/fea/9472.0.html

Sounding a bit like Tonto talking about the Lone Ranger, Manolo Saiz believes in Roberto Heras. Heras, as you know is now serving a two year ban after tests taken during the Vuelta show that he was on the EPO juice. Saiz does not believe the tests were done accurately and that if there is justice, that we should see Heras riding again in February.

I am very sure that there are irregularities in the testing procedure for EPO. If the judicial process can look at the evidence of these errors, then we will see Roberto Heras riding again in February

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