The Olympic message: cheat

Well, maybe, maybe not. For every one caught in testing, how many are missed? We are led to believe that a "catch" is a sign that "the system works". However if we don't know who is getting away with it how can we claim success? All we can say for sure is that those who are caught face humiliation and varying degrees of punishment, depending upon the severity, any past infringements and the sport concerned. Fair? Maybe, maybe not?

Ukraine's Olympic heptathlon silver medallist Liudmyla Blonska has failed a drugs test, the IOC confirmed. The 30-year-old's A sample tested positive for a banned substance, but the IOC source said they were still awaiting the results of the B sample.Blonska's is the fifth drugs case of the Beijing Games. Spanish cyclist Maria Isabel Moreno tested positive for EPO, North Korean shooting medallist Kim-Jong-Su (betablockers), Vietnamese gymnast Do Thi Ngan Thuong (diuretic) while Greece's rarely seen 2004 Olympic 400 metres hurdles champion Fani Halkia, tested positive for steroids at a training camp.

Panic stations, I've been tested!

Well this would be a difficult situation. You are selected for the Olympics and just don't want to let go of the dream. You have taken some EPO and know you'll get caught if the vampires actually test you, but you just haven't been tested lately - if at all. You expect attention will be on the favourites, not on little ol' you anyway. And then you get called to testing. Sometimes a doper just doesn't turn up, and gets in trouble anyway. And sometimes they get away with it. And sometimes they don't.

Moreno, better known as Maribel Moreno, had been entered for the women's road race and individual time trial and tested positive for the endurance-boosting EPO drug. IOC spokesperson Giselle Davies said Moreno was tested on July 31 and left the city on the same evening. The IOC officially took control of drugs testing on July 27.

Maribel appears to have panicked and broke down in tears after the testing - but before the result. I guess we can understand why. But do we blame her, or her supplier? Or the system?

I'm not saying he's innocent, but...

Then again I am saying something like 'we can't be so certain about these things'. Read it and weep: In the case of Landis, who had no previous record of doping violations, the chances that the positive result could result from anything except cheating - a lab error, an abnormally high natural occurrence of testosterone - were dismissed as not credible. The problem, Mr Berry said, is that for the actual process used by doping labs there is no body of scientific data to show just how rare "false positives" or "false negatives" really are, and that such data is essential for interpreting lab results.

Introducing probabilities into drug testing is interesting and debatable, but I accept the basic premise - that a false positive (or negative) is always possible. Look at Ricco's statement that he took CERA and should have been caught multiple times, but wasn't. Hence we run multiple tests and develop (now, at least) a longitudinal profile of an athlete. So any 'aberrant' values will appear over time and can be tracked without jumping to conclusions over one single test on one sole sample. Even better (or complementary) is the idea for certain pre-identified markers to be identified or inserted into drugs as "tags" that can be easily identified.

So will Landis take this as more evidence for his side of the case, or has he simply agreed to disagree and move on? If he is innocent, what of the human cost here? Are we doing the right thing with these so-called drug "cheats" or are we making what could be unemotional technical points highly emotive and "charged" with guilt, suspicion and pain - and thus feeding the media monster instead of protecting the athletes?

Giro hero Sella caught out

It doesn't take too much to get noticed by the wrong people. Win a few stages, especially in a dramatic way and you can make a real name for yourself. And get 'targeted' by the drug cops.

Winner of three stages and the climber's competition of the Giro d'Italia, Italian Emanuele Sella, has been found positive in an out-of-competition doping control issued by the International Cycling Union (UCI) on July 23, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport. The 27 year-old from Vicenza was found to have used the same third generation EPO – CERA (Continuous Erythropoietin Receptor Activator) – that Riccardo Riccò admitted to using in the Tour de France. 

Ricco, now Sella. It's certainly a good advert for CERA. It works. 

A fine Colombian catch

Quite a few names, little detail: The Colombian Cycling Federation announced Friday that six riders had returned positive doping controls during the Vuelta a Colombia in May. The federation did not specify the substances which caused the adverse analytical findings for Rafael Montiel, Juan Guillermo Castro, Camilo Gomez, Carlos Ospina Hernandez, Hernan Buenahora and Giovanni Barriga.

Who do you believe?

• Young rising star with much to gain, brilliant climber and self-confessed Pantani fan: Ricco tests positive, yet denies all. Gets sacked, backtracks and admits to EPO use. Denies doping before Le Tour but let's re-check his Giro blood samples just in case...
• Piepoli, climber with long and distinguished career: what could he achieve by doping? To extend his career? A last-ditch superannuation payment? He's Ricco's roommate and is reported to have confessed, is sacked by team to show that it means business, but denies all. From CN: "The 36-year-old Piepoli, who had not tested positive but, as the room-mate of Ricco during the Tour, was sacked by his team for violating the code of ethics "denied everything" after being questioned by CONI"
• Gusev, another rider facing retirement after a good career is caught out by internal team tests and dismissed. He refutes this "guilt" and threatens a lawsuit, raising speculation that the team (Astana) timed this sacking with Le Tour to get in the 'good books' with ASO - as proof they are cracking down on cheats and punishing them. But doesn't Gusev's sacking actually taint Astana, "proving" that cheats lurk within? Why would they bring this to light during Le Tour?
• Bossoni and Carini test positive in June at the Italian national championships: "Two Italian cyclists tested positive for EPO in June, the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) announced Thursday. The first, Giovanni Carini (Pagnoncelli NGC Perrel), tested positive after winning the Elite without contract category at the Italian National Championships in Boltiere. The second, Paolo Bossoni (Lampre) the following day after the elite men's road race"
• Sacked Euskaltel rider Pena has been cleared: "Aketza Pena was declared not guilty of doping by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Thursday, according to a statement by the rider reported in Marca. The Spaniard tested positive for nandrolone at the 2007 Giro del Trentino, and was suspended from his Euskaltel-Euskadi. He had received a two-year suspension by the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) in August, 2007. His contract with Euskaltel-Euskadi was not renewed and he abandoned his cycling career". Ouch.
  
• Does anyone believe any of this? Whole teams (like Astana) are denied access to Le Tour because of past "activites", despite new management. Athletes are sacked without a positive test, and others test positive and are sacked yet later are cleared. Is it all a publicity-driven shambles? Are we jumping to too many conclusions, too quickly? 

 

Ricco admits to EPO and suggests test failure

At least he's honest - eventually. Riccò has withdrawn his request to have a counter-analysis done on the B-sample, but said that the testing procedure needed some work. "Of the 10 controls taken, only two were positive. In theory all the tests should have been positive, therefore the method needs to be checked," he said.

I guess the tests need a bit of work, then? On this basis maybe a few other riders, other than those lucky enough to not get tested, slipped the net. (Bearing in mind the biological passports will help, but only if no-exceptions longitudinal analysis is done.)

On frogs and fatigue: stimulating reading at the end of Le Tour

Great work by Sastre to win overall, and for Steegmans to take it into Paris. Now onto the more stimulating side of the sport - can't get a natural high? Try this: Kazakh rider Dmitriy Fofonov was fired from his team and detained by French police for questioning after it was announced that he tested positive for a banned stimulant, heptaminol. The French Anti-doping Agency president Pierre Bordry said that the now former Crédit Agricole rider had tested positive for "very heavy dose" of the drug.

Being Kazakh has nothing to do with it and we should dismiss that as a coincidence. But why heptaminol? Heptaminol chlorhydrate is a common cardiac stimulant and vasodilator, widely used for the treatment of orthostatic hypotension - or low blood pressure if you like. A 'usual' dose may be 500-1500 mg or so, orally. Whilst it is structurally similar to methamphetamine, it's a different thing. So why take it? Presumably it will give you a lift and keep you going, and may help 'open the lungs' a little. This is certainly an interesting result, if you are a frog: Heptaminol stopped or delayed the progressive decline in tension which characterizes the phenomenon of fatigue in frog isolated twitch muscle fibre. Presumably Fofonov, if actually guilty as charged, acts like a frog in this case.

Ex-rider ex-Astana ex-Disco

Another one bites the dust. Gusev gets cut from Astana because of "irregular blood values".

"Vladimir Gusev has been officially notified that he no longer represents Team Astana," Bruyneel said. "Our Kazakh sponsors have also been made aware of this decision and are fully supportive." Gusev, 26, the now former team-mate of 2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, came over to the Discovery Channel team from Team CSC in 2006. He followed Bruyneel from that team to Astana this year. A four-time Russian time trial champion, Gusev was considered to be a Classics specialist, finishing fifth in the 2007 Tour of Flanders. But he stunned the cycling world by taking a mountain stage win and the climber's jersey at the Tour de Suisse that year.

Add him to the growing list of ex-Discovery riders with similar blood problems. Not that it's a causal relationship, mind. Just a correlation.

Vaughters avoids saying what we can all assume

Judge for yourself. Read this article and imagine what possibilities emerge.

Vaughters and the wasp (I remember this well):Vaughters was distraught. “But that’s ridiculous . . . I can’t see! I can’t ride my bike! How will I finish the race?” “I’m sorry Jonathan,” the doctor replied. “I can give you the injection but you will have to abandon the race. There are no exemptions for allergies. We have to do this by the book.”

Vaughters struggles on with the swelling but meets another rider: As he made his way to the start line, aching with disappointment, he crossed the path of a chap he describes as “a famous rider”. Most of the other racers had greeted him with sympathy that morning but this particular rider didn’t do sympathy. No, his speciality was contempt. “Poor Jonathan and his stupid little team,” he spat. “What the f*** are you like? If you were on my team this would have been taken care of, but now you are not going to finish the Tour de France because of a wasp sting.”

Vaughters is asked if he saw doping at US Postal: “No, of course, and I wouldn’t expect that. I guess I would just say that my time at US Postal Service was . . . I kind of almost have to leave that as a ‘No comment’. And you can take that however you would like.”

And I'll leave the rest to you.

Hearsay and rumour

It's just talk, but there was talk about Ricco too, before he fell off the doping cliff. Via CN, El Pais reported that Italian Leonardo Piepoli, the winner of stage 10, confessed to his directeur sportif Joxean Fernandez Matxin to using EPO. After his team-mate Riccardo Riccò was taken away by police after testing positive for EPO, Piepoli reportedly said to Matxin, "I have done the same as Riccardo." No positive doping control has been announced yet for Piepoli, but the team's manager, Mauro Gianetti, pulled the entire squad out of the race. Riccò was indicted on the same charges as Duenas in a court in Foix, but denied using EPO.

No, not Piepoli, please!

Slight irony in that blood-doper, Tour star and denier Tyler Hamilton's continuing comeback is reported on in the same page of CN: Rock Racing's Tyler Hamilton looks set to take the overall victory in the Tour of Qinghai Lake in China tomorrow after he successfully defended his lead in the second to last stage through the high Mountains on the Tibetan Plateau.

Moreau and corticosteroids?

Speculation is rife about riders who have abandoned without obvious injury. Moreau comes to mind: French newspaper Le Monde has cast doubts over the former Tour de France stage winner. Confirming that Moreau's blood values did not present any anomalies prior to the Grande Boucle, the paper however alleged that Moreau was sent a letter from the French federation doctor after Paris-Nice this spring. In the letter, the rider was notified of his too low blood cortisol values and asked to stop competing for a while. Along with hematocrit, haemoglobin and reticulocytes, cortisol is part of the French "suivi longitudinal" anti-doping controls, a system similar to the UCI's blood passport, but that has been in place since 1999. Low cortisol in the blood is said to be directly related to the intake of corticoids, which block the natural production of cortisol. According to Le Monde, Moreau is the only French rider who was notified with a "counter-indication to the practice of cycling" in this way.

Yes, prolonged use of glucocorticosteroids will suppress natural cortisol levels, but what is the benefit? These drugs will definitely increase your anxiety and bring anger to the surface more readily, which may help you in a sprint... or not. I wouldn't want to be riding beside an angry or anxious sprinter myself ;-)

Alternatively a rider may seek to use these drugs to reduce muscle mass (they are catabolic, not anabolic steroids). Typically you get thinner skin, and lose both muscle and bone minerals. You may therefore get lighter, but they also cause you to retain water... so the benefit is hard to pin down.

3 down, 7 to go?

If there were 10 riders in Le Tour with 'abnormal values', do we have a case of 3 down, 7 to go?

French newspaper L'Equipe reported that Beltran was one of 10 riders found by the AFLD to have abnormal blood values in the days prior to the Tour. On July 3 and 4, the AFLD performed blood tests on riders "to allow for subsequent targeted doping tests during the Tour de France", the agency announced Friday.

Or have some of these riders already abandoned, for whatever reason?

Not to mention Duenas

It's never too late to mention a rider caught out, is it? For the record, another non-negative for EPO in this year's tour: Spanish rider Moisés Dueñas has become the second rider to register a non-negative test for banned blood booster erythropoietin at the Tour de France. The results came from a sample taken from the Barloworld rider after the Grand Tour's first time trial, Stage 4 on July 8 in Cholet, according to head of the French Anti-doping Agency (AFLD) Pierre Bordry.

Ricco takes Pantani too literally

Self-confessed Pantani fan with a 'naturally high' haematocrit has seemingly been caught out. And is thus out of Le Tour and into police custody. What can one say? Beltran at least was at the end of his career... what was Ricco thinking?

Italian rider Riccardo Riccò of Saunier Duval has tested positive for blood booster Erythropoietin (EPO), French sports daily L'Equipe reported on its website on Thursday. According to the paper's Damien Ressiot, one of the climber's urine samples collected by the French Anti-Doping Agency AFLD showed traces of a third generation EPO called CERA (Continuous Erythropoietin Receptor Activator).

Of course he could be innocent. Of course.

Beltran exits stage left

One of Lance's faithful lieutenants has been caught out with EPO. Yes, it's been a while since Lance raced with the guy, and there's no evidence to suggest that Beltran used EPO before this year, but one's mind does wonder at why he should do so now. The obvious answer is to make it a bit easier in the twilight of his career. A career now effectively ended, I suspect.

Dane Bjarne Riis, head of Team CSC-Saxo Bank, looked at the positive side of Manuel Beltrán's "A" sample test result which resulted in the dismissal of the "scandalous" Spaniard from the Tour de France. He said the sport's anti-doping controls were working. "It is bad for cycling, without saying it is a 'scandal' – he is the 'scandal,'" said Riis to Cyclingnews the morning after Beltrán was asked to leave the Tour de France for his positive Erythropoietin (EPO) test. "The controls work. The system works. Those who don't understand, like him, have to leave." The classification rider of Team Liquigas was caught in a French anti-doping agency (AFLD) control following stage one that led to a positive EPO result. All the Tour de France controls are being carried out by the AFLD, which is different than in past years when handled by the International Cycling Union (UCI).

Of course Riis is right, and the kerfuffle has already died down. Let's hope that's it for Le Tour and Le Dope Scandal this year.

McMurdo cops steroid ban

At least he accepted it as fact (or is that too bold an assumption?) and didn't ask for a hearing. He got 2 years. It's sad as he had some great results in the period in question, and it's doubtful that the steroids themselves had as powerful an effect as the placebo value alone. 

Australian domestic cyclist Hilton McMurdo has been handed a two year sanction by Cycling Australia (CA) for his use of anabolic steroids. The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) yesterday acknowledged CA's decision to sanction McMurdo for the doping violation.

 

Rasmussen gets his due

Will he cop it sweet or appeal? Do we care anymore? Rasmussen gets 2 years for telling fibs about where he was, or wasn't... Nearly one year after he was forced to leave the Tour de France while wearing the race leader's maillot jaune, Danish cyclist Michael Rasmussen has been suspended for two years for missing out-of-competition doping controls prior to the race.

Still, it did make for an interesting, if confused, L eTour. It's hard to believe Landis won and lost 2 years ago, and Rasmussen was pulled out just a year ago. This year, of course, we have Boonen sidelined (even if his drink was spiked) and Contador sitting it out 'cause Astana is a bad word around Paris. Cross your fingers, it'll all start again soon enough.

Professionalism re-defined

What makes a professional bike racer? Is it someone who simply rides for cash? Is it a racer who also rides clean? Or is it a bike rider who does everything possible to maintain optimum performance? Including doping?

With that thought in mind, here's an interesting quote from David Millar, via CN: Millar walks through his career, saying he was naive about the prevalence of doping in the sport when he started as an amateur and said doping "went against everything I stood for." Millar then speaks about a point in his early days as a professional after he won a race when he showed a team-mate that his natural hematocrit level at the time was 8 points below the UCI allowable 50 percent. "I saw it as showing him that you could win without doping," Millar says in the show but adds that his team-mates response was that Millar was unprofessional to not have a hematocrit level right at the allowable limits. The message, he said, was that doping was considered normal and expected.

The race you win when you aren't racing

I won't comment, really, I won't: When the Kazakh cycling federation handed down its decision in December 2007, the UCI had initially planned an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but subsequently withdrew after Vinokourov announced his retirement from professional cycling. However, on May 31 Vinokourov participated in - and won - the Laurentine Kivilev, a 100 km race held on the French Riviera as a tribute to his compatriot Andrei Kivilev, who died at the 2003 Paris-Nice. Vinokourov revealed at the event that he was training three times per week, but denied a comeback was on the cards.

HGH a fizzer?

Do we now distinguish between drugs that actually work and drugs that only work because we think they work? We already control substances that both work and don't work and have bad side-effects (like gluocorticosteroids), so controlling a substance that probably doesn't work and hurts you still makes some sense. I think.

The researchers concluded, "The results of this study suggest that the placebo effect may be responsible, at least in part, for the perceived athletic benefit of doping with growth hormone for some people."

Or do we ban placebos?

It goes on and on

Just a progress report on another "attempted" use of dope... in case you missed it: Italy's Ruggero Marzoli has been disqualified by the Italian cycling federation (FCI) for six months for his involvement in the Oil for Drugs investigation involving Doctor Carlo Santuccione. The 32 year-old will be able to return to racing October 17. Despite an appeal made on March 31 to the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), the FCI appeals commission ruled, "he is liable for frequenting Doctor Carlo Santuccione, limited and without membership ... therefore it is considered guilty of attempted use of prohibited substances and a sanction is imposed."

Aussie TT dominator back in November

Well he would be satisfied, surely? Australia's Nathan O'Neill is satisfied with the outcome of his Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) appeal, which sees him able to return to the sport on November 12. O'Neill will return to the United States of America on Monday, where he will begin training and start to focus contract negotiations for the 2009 season. O'Neill tested positive for the stimulant Phentermine in an in-competition test on August 12, 2007, during the Tour of Elk Grove in the USA. While the eight-time Australian Time Trial Champion is allowed to use the appetite suppressant out of competition, traces of the substance remained in his system during the event.

O'Neill has published some interesting ideas on weight control in Aussie cycling mags. So was the Phentermine part of his program? You'd have to say yes, but I hadn't seen it in print before, strangely. So is it still OK out-of-season? Is it a case of anything goes, at least with weight loss? Or was the Phentermine part of a larger picture? Nathan, please tell us what you think...

Boonen stays out of sight... briefly

Nasty recreational cocaine-taker one day, winner the next. You'd imagine he'd like to stay out of sight for a while, but no... Tom Boonen recovered from his rather tough few weeks with a trademark Boonen sprint victory, crossing the line just ahead of his lead-out man Wouter Weylandt while notable speedsters Mark Cavendish, Matthi Breschel and Graeme Brown were left in his wake. The Belgian, who tested positive for cocaine and had his invitations to the Tour de France as well as the Tour de Suisse revoked, had a quiet first three stages, but was back to his old form on stage four of the Ster Elektrotoer. He and Weylandt crossed the line a full bike length ahead of third placed Nikolai Trusov (Tinkoff). Enrico Gasparotto of Team Barloworld retained the leader's jersey.

Boonen sorry, of course

Well it is a personal issue, isn't it? It's a stretch to say that cocaine will improve your cycling; rather it's a social, recreational drug for people with a bit of cash to play with. And a popular one at that. So when we get upset at Tom Boonen's lapse of judgement we are really getting upset at our own community, its double-standards and its penchant for social drugs of all kinds. Cocaine is but one; the biggest drug of choice by far, is alcohol. Do we get upset about cyclists or other sportspeople abusing alcohol? Perhaps not as often as we should...

From CN: Belgian Tom Boonen will not be sanctioned by his team for his positive cocaine test, it was announced Wednesday morning at a press conference in Wielsbeke, Belgium. The 27 year-old Quick Step rider apologised for his actions and said that he would take a short break from competition. The team continued to show its support for the sprinter, as did the sponsor, which prolonged its contract.

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No-one's perfect after all

The biggest problem with the idea of dope controls is 'who decides'. In other words, who actually has the moral and ethical right to decide what is "good" or "bad" dope? Whilst drugs that are clearly shown to offer performance enhancement, like EPO, are 'probably' something we can all agree on, in fact not everyone will agree that we should set up costly programs of detection, control and punishment in the first place. The alternative may be 'legalising' dope but monitoring the health of riders and asking them to stay within limits; or perhaps simply 'outing' them so we know who the 'cheats' are, but not withdrawing their right to participate.

And then we have recreational drugs and 'out of competition' testing. Again it's a moral and ethical question. Do we have the right to say for example that cocaine is wrong, but alcohol is fine? What of an athlete's right to live a 'normal' life? And then again, should we consider them role models and expect the highest standards?

And then there's Tom Boonen. Obviously and clearly an outstanding athlete, a top road sprinter and dominating one-day classics rider. He's had some run-ins with the law lately, and we 'kind of' expect better from him. But should we? Do the standards we apply to athletes apply to journalists, to lawyers, or to popular music and movie stars? Should they?

What has Boonen done? Apparently he has lost his driving licence twice and been implicated - and now has been caught in an out-of-competition test for cocaine: from CN - "This is not the first time that Boonen has been linked to the drug (cocaine). Last December, his good friend and cyclo-cross star, Tom Vanoppen was caught by the Flemish doping controllers with cocaine. During questioning Vanoppen allegedly named Boonen as his dealer, a claim Boonen later denied. Following the claim, Boonen's parent's house was searched. Boonen's brush with the law does not stop there however. Just last week, he lost his drivers license for the second time in six weeks. On Tuesday night he was pulled over by the police travelling at 180 km/h in a 90km/h zone on the Mol ring road. He had a blood alcohol reading of 1.0. Six weeks earlier he lost his license for 14 days for travelling 120km/h in a 70km/h zone. In 2006 Boonen was the face of the Belgian roads and traffic authority, promoting safe driving."

Obviously not a good look for Boonen and his team, irrespective. But what penalty should apply to recreational drug use, especially outside of competition? And who can truly decide right from wrong without exposing themselves to charges of hypocrisy, when the 'norm' in most Western societies is clearly and certainly to indulge in recreational drug taking?

We just don't know...

A grab-bag of dope on the dopes who may or may not have doped but we can't be sure, via CyclingNews:

Remember Andrea Moletta, whose father was in a car that was pulled over by the cops? And that they found a syringe in a cooler? And heaps of Viagra at the driver's home? Remember also that Andrea has not tested positive, nor were there any signs (so far) of a cycling link. "Gerolsteiner rider Andrea Moletta remains on "inactive" status and will not participate in the Dauphiné Libéré as originally planned. Team manager Hans-Michael Holczer told the German press agency dpa that he will not ride until it is established what was in a syringe that the police found in the possession of his father. Holczer is in contact with the Guardia Finanza (an Italian law enforcement agency responsible for drug trafficking), which is handling the investigation."

Remember VDB? His ups and downs? His deeply troubled soul and wretched luck? His enormous promise as a young rider? Oh dear: "The never-ending story of Frank Vandenbroucke's legal troubles has added yet another chapter, as a Belgian court has ruled that a doping case stemming from a search of his house in 2002 must be re-opened, according to Sporza."

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Astarloa sacked for blood irregularities

What can one say? He didn't get caught doping, but his blood is apparently showing some irregularities. Expect more of this, and more legal action to test the 'biological passport' as a means by which we determine who is "in all probability" doping.

Team Milram has terminated its contract with former World Champion Igor Astarloa, it announced Thursday, following disclosures that he had shown "irregular blood values", as reported by Focus magazine. 

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Well this could be interesting

Oh what a tangled web we weave. Remember the year when Jan Ullrich was injured and missed Le Tour? He was a tad depressed about it all, or at least at a loose end for a while. Remember also when he was caught taking, umm, recreational drugs? And he had to switch teams for a while until the heat cooled. So you do remember team Coast? I hope so because it will be important.

Recall how he wasn't paid all that he was owed by Coast when it all went sour? Well he naturally is still chasing his money for that lost year... and is prepared to go to court to get it... but what if he has to testify that he was clean whilst riding for Coast? Will he own up, or does he have nothing to hide?

We shall (possibly) see: Jan Ullrich may have to testify in court as to whether he was using illegal doping products or methods while he was with Team Coast in 2003. A court in Düsseldorf, Germany, is hearing a case between Ullrich and Günther Dahms, the former team owner. "I can confirm that the senate plans to ask Mr. Ullrich to testify as to whether he doped or not," court spokesman Ulrich Thole told the dpa press agency.

Justice done, and seen to be done

There's a difference between simply dispensing justice and in being seen to deliver justice correctly in accord with and open and fair procedure. Many of the perceived problems of cycling and doping have come about when justice may well have been served but it was done oddly, in an unfair manner, or in a way that breached a stated (or even assumed) procedure. When this happens you get conjecture, speculation and perhaps legal loopholes for individual cases to fall through... of course this has nothing to do with the following blood doping case...

Spanish website Todociclismo.com claimed to have seen a letter from the Kazakh federation, stating that "there are elements against opening a procedure against the cyclist Andrey Kashechkin," and guaranteeing that he "is free to return to racing." The letter is said to be endorsed by the Ministry of Sports and the national Olympic committee. The letter details the case against Kashechkin. The rider had protested against the timing of the test and other irregularities in the testing procedure. Allegedly, the UCI did not send documentation to the federation explaining how the control had been conducted.

There you go, nothing to do with following established procedures or doing the right thing in an open manner. Hmmm. Unless of course it was all done in the approved manner and someone just doesn't get it.

Will Petacchi race again?

Will he find a team? Of course he will, he's too good to lose and after all, it was just a breathing problem.

Alessandro Petacchi may be under suspension until later this year but he maintains that he has been treated unfairly. The Italian sprint sensation was handed a suspension by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on May 6 and late last week his Milram squad announced it would part ways with the sprinter. "My case is extremely weird," said Petacchi. "CAS concluded that I never tested positive. "I have not cheated or undermined the rules," he added. "I just had problems breathing."

Accsuations in Portuguese

We have to be careful when translating from other tongues into English, but this looks clear enough: Judicial Police, the Portuguese criminal investigation department, has raided the headquarters of the cycling team LA MSS. The department confiscated doping substances, medications, equipment to conduct blood transfusions and instruments for clinical use, according to Marca.

When then makes this quite a bit more than sad: On the same day LA MSS had its headquarters raided by Police, questions have surfaced over the death of rider Bruno Neves. The 26 year-old passed away while contesting the Grande Prémio de Amarante earlier this month.

More to come I'm sure.

Father pulled over, son pulled out

IT may be a mistake, or a co-incidence, or both. These things happen, don't they? Those Italian drug cops can get a bit carried away at Giro-time and pull anyone aside for questioning, and it's just by chance it's a rider's dad this time around.

Team Gerolsteiner has removed Andrea Moletta from the Giro d'Italia and placed him on inactive status, following his father's involvement in an anti-doping action. He did not start Wednesday's 11th Giro stage "for private reasons", it was said Wednesday morning.

We shall see.

Ahhh the mystery of it all

The UCI's biological passports are a great idea - if only the administrators, media and the lawyers all had one as well. Anyway, it's a practical way to monitor changes in blood values over time, so any deviance from a rider's baseline can be investigated. However it's also a great way to 'innocently' announce that some riders have already deviated from the norm and to start a new round of the 'who is it this time?' game.

So who is it? And which teams? Well apparently no-one and everyone. Confused? In this respect nothing has changed...from CN: "The teams involved have been informed," Gerolsteiner team manager Hans-Michael Holczer told the Suedwest-Aktiv newspaper. "Thank God, I didn't receive a letter." The two Dutch teams Rabobank and Skil-Shimano both confirmed to telesport.nl that they had also not received such a letter from the UCI. There's a good reason for that, McQuaid told the website, "That is correct, because we have absolutely not sent any team such a letter."

Certainly Steegmans is not amused by the UCI's tantalising annoucement "It is a perfect example of how not to deal with such things," an annoyed Steegmans told Het Nieuwsblad, "Why was that announced in this way? Either you say the full names, or you shut up and go about your business. This is only good for making everyone suspicious. I am certainly not the only one in the peloton with this opinion."

Same lawyer, different drug: Patxi Vila

Not Salbutamol but testosterone this time. Apparently the same lawyer though as Pettachi. From CN: Spain's Patxi Vila has tested non-negative for testosterone according to the International Cycling Union (UCI). The 32 year-old from Italian ProTour squad Lampre is requesting a counter-analysis.

There will be more to come on this one.

Petacchi gets a year off

Ouch. That's a bad result for Petacchi. At least we was already out of the Giro through sickness (or do we believe that now?) and he's already served 2 months. But there goes the season.

From CN: The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced this morning that Italian Alessandro Petacchi would be suspended for one year for having tested positive for an asthma medication during the 2007 Giro d'Italia. It ruled that the Team Milram sprinter did not use the Salbutamol – an asthma drug – as doping but for medicinal purposes. Since the sprinter did not race for two months after the positive test on May 23, 2007, those two months were removed from his ban. The ban will run from November 1, 2007 to August 31, 2008.

Too good to resist...

Ahh, these stories are just too good to pass up...

• I went to the fortune teller, to have my fortune read... oh, VDB, where next dude?? The Belgian was released by Team Mitsubishi-Jartazi last week. He has ridden very little this season, and most recently had been named as a customer of gang drug dealers. If the 33 year-old is unable to come back on his bike, he may have a new career as a fortune teller. In the TV show, which was filmed before Sunday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège, he accurately predicted that Alejandro Valverde would win the race. According to sportwereld.be, he had also predicted the winners in the Ronde van Vlaanderen (Stijn Devolder), Paris-Roubaix (Tom Boonen) and the Amstel Gold Race (Damiano Cunego), missing only on Milano-Sanremo, where he picked Filippo Pozzato instead of Fabian Cancellara.
• Can't buy me love... Sunday was the deadline for Rabobank and Michael Rasmussen to settle their differences, following the Dutch team throwing out the Danish rider of its team during last year's Tour de France.
• It's a question of credibility? Sure is! "It is a question of credibility," Maertens continued. "We are working already since October last year on a new team. By accepting Vino in the team, we would have to start all over again. We proved already this season – unfortunately some organisers don't see it – that our team works super professionally and clean. We want to keep that." Astana has not been invited this season to any races sponsored by the ASO, including the Tour de France.

It would be cruel to suggest that VDB will not find yet another team to disappoint, however someone must be cruel to be kind at some point, surely? And Rasmussen is holding out for more money, one presumes. One can only hope he has a strong case. Finally there's Vino, in the wings, waiting to come back. I doubt it.

Leukemans confirmed

He's tried another excuse and failed, and must be running out of ideas, surely? Which is not to say he won't appeal again... The disciplinary committee of the Vlaamse Gemeenschap (Flemish Community) on Tuesday upheld Björn Leukemans' two-year suspension for testosterone usage, rejecting his appeal of the sentence handed down in January. The Belgian rider had argued that a team doctor prescribed a substance which caused the positive test and therefore he was not responsible. Leukemans can further appeal the suspension to the Council of the State.