Well yes, but... no. Andy and his worries

Andy is worried about bad press: "I am frightened that we will not be presented in the press in the same light as before," he said, noting that two months ago it was rumoured that five CSC riders had tested positive during the Tour de France. Those rumours have been laid to rest, but "there have never been any apologies for the reports," Schleck told sportwereld.nl.

OK Andy, I'm sorry I even mentioned the rumours. Hang on, the rumours weren't really about Andy, they were fairly broad-brush affairs that tainted just about anyone who rode out of their skin, or pulled out of the Worlds. And the Schlecks themselves came into it because of father Schleck's car being searched during Le Tour - which was just one of those things that starts people thinking and talking, but was discounted quickly as random. Then we had Frank and Andy doing so well in Le Tour itself, which also sets tongues wagging in a normal fashion, but not necessarily in a bad way. But then we had Frank admitting that he paid a doctor he didn't even know for some training advice he didn't really need. Well that was sloppy, and we can't really not talk about it, can we? That was brought about by brother Frank himself.

Now if Frank hadn't been so sloppy we may not have even thought about the car search again (and nothing was found, let me add). And if Frank's riding hadn't been so good, when he previously wasn't so flash, maybe we wouldn't have thought any more about it. And if they weren't brothers, and Riis wasn't a Tour winner and admitted doper maybe - just maybe - we wouldn't have even wondered about any of this. But Riis will always have a cloud over his head - just as surely as he gets a huge dose of respect, both for his riding and management as well as his courage in admitting the truth.

In any event it appears that we have caught all of the dopers we are going to get from the 2008 Tour, and that case is closed. So the riders who rode under the cloud of suspicion, and those who pulled out of subsequent races like the Worlds, are indeed presumed innocent. If they truly are innocent, as we think or hope they are, then they also have to be innocent - or naive - to think that riding for Riis is going to be plain sailing. That cloud is there, the topic has been raised and it's out there forever. It's a shame, but it's human to look at the dark side and imagine the abyss, to expect the worst.

We shouldn't apologise for being human, for speculating and wondering; but we should also accept the truth as we know it. For now, Frank is in doubt and has to do some explaining; for the rest of them, they have no known case to answer. But they can't expect us not to wonder.

CSC implicated, police involved, investigation underway

Well it sounds weak, but there's some evidence, if the reports are true... The newspaper further stated that research shows that Schleck is the one identified with the name "Amigo di Birillo". Birillo has been identified as Ivan Basso, Schleck's friend and former teammate, who confessed his involvement with the Spanish doctor last year.

So there's Riis, Frank Schleck and Basso, all caught up in a web. Should be fun seeing this one proved, or not.

How to get hooked on drugs

It's easy. Struggle a bit in your races, maybe no more than any other neo-pro, but have a kindly dealer handy to tempt you to 'try this'. When you take the pills and they seem to work, well, it's a done deal. I mean if they didn't work you'd stay clean, yes? But they do work and you go faster. Jorg confirms this theory: Jörg Jaksche was 19 years old and not performing at all well in his first pro year, when he got a suggestion as to how to save his career. "The team manager came into my room and said: Listen; in cycling you take drugs like this, and either you accept or you leave the sport," Jaksche told the anti-doping conference "Play the Game" in Iceland.

Of course you could say it was weakness that sucked him in. There are times when you have to choose between good and bad, and it's your decision and your personal responsibility. Bjarne Riis appears to believe in that: "Furthermore, that this is supposed to have been a threat is definitely insulting and tells me that Jaksche either has a very bad sense of memory or deliberately chooses to twist the truth. It is correct that I told him about how difficult it would be to come back, and I was speaking from experience here, since I had been through the same only a short time before. That Jaksche still blames all sorts of other people for the mistakes he made himself is just so trivial. It is necessary that the problems in cycling are taken care of, and that's what I stand for."