Once more into the breach dear friends

No comment. No really, I have nothing to say. OK, OK, I've said it already just by posting.

Oscar continues with Rock Racing...

Spaniard Oscar Sevilla will stay with the Rock Racing team for another two years, the Spanish daily Marca reported Wednesday. Sevilla, 32, was given a lifeline by the California team this year after he plunged into obscurity after being named in the Operación Puerto doping scandal in 2006. Sevilla is rumoured by Marca to be joined on the team by Francesco "Paco" Mancebo and Jose Enrique Gutierrez, both of whom were also implicated in the same scandal.

...and best news of all... the Bionic Man!

"We are very excited to showcase Floyd's Smith & Nephew hip, to play on the bionic man theme with his return," Dr. Kay told Cyclingnews. "We think it is going to set a precedent about what these joints can do."

Bossoni and Carini

Bossoni gets his due and Carini gets confirmed...

The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) handed down a ban for professional cyclist Paolo Bossoni on Wednesday. A two-year ban from all cycling competition was given, taking effect the day of the hearing according to the agency's website. The former Lampre racer tested positive for EPO in a control taken in June at the elite men's road race for the Italian National Championship. He had finished sixth in the race. Also on Wednesday, CONI announced the "B" sample of Giovanni Carini was also positive. Carini had had tested positive for EPO at a control for the non-contracted elite category, which he won, at the Italian National Championships.

So the system may be working, at least if you get a good result in a National Championship. What about everyone working their way up (or down)?

Cavallari caught out

Another one bites the dust - maybe. This is either great news - as in we are catching the cheats - or a stupid waste of time and money that robs athletes of their livelihoods and reputations. You choose.

Unconfirmed but here it is - Stefano Cavallari (Acqua Sapone-Caffè Mokambo) has his A-sample returned non-negative for a prohibited substance, tuttobiciweb.it reported today. Cavallari fell foul at a surprise out-of-competition control, conducted by the UCI.

Just in case you want to think about it some more, consider that some countries (notably Italy) believe that low-pressure high altitude "oxygen tents" are unethical and thus banned. There's a good case to be made that it is so - yet many other nations and their sporting bodies see it differently. With every product there's a case pro or against - it's not black and white at all.

Sastre, Cancellara and O'Grady speculation ends

With the testing complete, the speculation stops. Kohl was the big catch, no more to come. Even F. Schleck must be considered in the clear. For now, at least.

The French anti-doping agency AFLD has concluded its re-testing of the 2008 Tour de France samples. Bernhard Kohl was the last to be caught and no other cases have been found, L'Equipe reported.

That's it from him

What a way to go. One brief moment of glory, supported by a few doses of illicit drugs. Kill your career, and your team's. Disappoint sponsors and supporters. Drag everyone down. On the bright side, we are still catching the cheats.

Team Gerolsteiner's Bernhard Kohl has confirmed that he tested positive for CERA during the Tour de France to team manager Hans-Michael Holczer. "I had a call from Bernhard Kohl and he confirmed to me that he had been told of the positive test," Holczer said. "The substance is EPO CERA."

This isn't really working, is it? Should we legalise everything and monitor only for safety? Or perhaps Greg LeMond's sealed SRM power-output monitoring idea is the way to go, rather than play constant catch-up with new variations on a theme? Make more than an incremental gain in power, you get a please explain. Too big a jump, or into the realms of fantasy, you are out.

2 years for Hernandez

Miami racer gets a nice rest: Hernandez, 42, tested positive for exogenous testosterone, an anabolic agent, which is prohibited under the USADA Protocol and the rules of the UCI. His suspension took effect September 15, 2008, the date of his acceptance. Hernandez was disqualified from all competitive results achieved on and subsequent to March 2, 2008, the date his urine sample was collected at the Vuelta Independencia National, including forfeiture of any medals, points and prizes.

I guess when you are 42 you need every helper you can find - even if it's unlikely to make much (or any) difference. Then again the 22 year olds need to take some "assistance" just to get noticed. And everyone in between is under the hammer just to stay competitive. This is what you call a culture of doping. I wonder what other pro sports do to keep doping under control... something? Or nothing?

Sastre, Scleck, Cancellara and O'Grady speculation

No positives, nothing but guesswork and rumour. So it's just idle gossip, isn't it? But here we go: It was reported originally in Le Soir, and now German and Danish media are reporting that Tour podium finisher Carlos Sastre is a doping suspect. Sastre and three other CSC riders are suspected of doping in this year's Tour de France. CSC has not heard anything officially, according to their press officer. The Danish news site TV2 Sporten is reporting that the other CSC riders under suspicion are Frank Schleck, Fabian Cancellara and Stuart O'Grady.

Schleck is already under suspicion over the funds transferred to Dr Fuentes, and Cancellara (like Sastre) falls into the "didn't ride the World's" theory. Cancellara has been consistently great, although at times he has done some amazing things (like climb with the climbers or attack and bridge impossible gaps). Not sure why O'Grady's there but you never know.

Perhaps you aren't a good rider if there's no idle speculation, after all.

Who's next? Schleck, now Sastre speculation?

The suspense is killing me. There are more tests underway on those 2008 Tour samples and the only thing we know for sure is that they have already caught Ricco (twice more), Schumacher and Piepoli. What we are guessing is that there are more positives to come, and that they are likely to be riders who were in the results. We can also speculate that their behaviours will betray them. They will have become nervous and will limit their exposure by actions such as avoiding the World Championships. We can also guess that they are riders who display uncanny ability, perhaps an ability that comes and goes and is inconsistent. They will also be smart, with a lot to lose.

High on that list must be Sastre, winner of Le Tour. Now he seems a decent guy, and he was on the best team, so it didn't seem impossible that he should win. He's been consistently "up there" on GC. But never so close before. He was also supported by Frank Schleck, now tainted by a transfer of funds to Dr Fuentes. If Sastre is caught it'll be a major blow to Le Tour, but good news (in a sense) for Cadel Evans, Bernhard Kohl and Denis Menchov. It may also may help explain why CSC stopped funding Riis's team. But that's just idle gossip.

It may be that Frank Schleck is the one, given the as yet unexplained transfer of funds. Smoke and fire, y'know.

Alas, we only have this statement so far: Tour de France director, Christian Prudhomme, expects more positives to come from the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) blood testing. The Frenchman thinks there will be one or two more riders, according to Reuters.

We shall see.

Piepoli and Schumacher - positive is so negative

According to unconfirmed reports, Leonardo Piepoli - who had seemingly admitted and then denied doping - has tested positive at the 2008 TdF to CERA. No surprise there, really. More surprising, perhaps - although many would have found it easy to believe at the time, when he seemed to be riding out of his skin - is Stefan Schumacher, positive in the same way. Funny how those unbelievable results turn out to be so - umm, unbelievable?

The German who rides for Holczer's soon to be defunct Gerolsteiner team won both of the time trials in this year's Tour, taking the yellow jersey after his win on stage four and holding it for two days before crashing during the sprint into Super Besse on stage six. His second win came on stage 20 where he beat world champion Fabian Cancellara.

I trust we can rely on at least some of our 'unbelievable' riders. Those that are consistently amazing, like Cancellara for example, draw less suspicion for their performances. Let's hope that trust is repaid. (Alternatively, if it's not working anyway - let's just ditch this 'detection and punishment' model completely and be fair to everyone.)

Armstrong states his case

And he's certainly entitled to defend himself. He hasn't been found to have taken performance enhancing drugs, although there was one incident for which he had a valid medical certificate (that was the case, yes?). And he's right, during his amazing, astounding and incredible 7-year streak not one of his able domestiques was caught out in a drug test.

OTOH many of these teammates - admittedly not all - have fallen foul, some quite spectacularly, since. And there is reasonable wonder at the 1999 "questions" raised, and wonder again surrounding how almost all of his competitive contemporaries have variously been shown to have been "enhanced", yet remained unable to beat The Boss. We just have to trust the man, as he is sticking to his guns.

"The last time I checked I won the tour seven straight years and was never once found to be guilty of doping despite seven years of intense scrutiny," said Armstrong in response through his spokesperson Mark Higgins. "Not to mention that my team of 25 riders over those seven years was also never found to be positive. We won clean and fair. Also, according to industry standards, TV ratings, worldwide media impressions, spectators along the route, and global sponsorships were at an all time high. Where's the embarrassment in that?"

Vino to come back? Oh pleeeeease no

Well, he was a very popular rider for his attacking style, and he certainly would wish to come back and end things on a better note... but... surely not? Blood doper one day, retired the next. A potential 2-year ban left in limbo... just one year served. And he's how old? 35? Well if Armstrong can do it...

Alexander Vinokourov is planning to return to the peloton in 2009. "I think I have my place at Astana," he said in an interview with the Belgian TV show Sportweekend, to be broadcast Sunday evening. The Kazakh rider this summer finished a one-year suspension for blood doping, after testing positive at the Tour de France 2007.

Or can he?

Do I smell smoke?

The speculation just keeps growing. It's been bubbling away since Le Tour ended... then died a bit as we got on with life. However the Schleck family saga has played a part in re-igniting interest. You know, the father's car was inspected, then months later son Frank is implicated (without proof, as yet) in Operation Puerto. And now we all wonder, who are these masked men? And will they be unmasked in 2 weeks or so?

Anti-doping expert Dr. Rasmus Damsgaard, who runs an independent testing system for the Team CSC-Saxo Bank and Astana teams, noted in July that he felt the EPO use in the peloton had not been adequately dealt with. After examining the data from several tests which had been declared negative by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) laboratories, he said the agency was "sitting on a mountain of EPO positives".