Is 5x annual salary a fair penalty? Transparency and equity in discouraging doping "cheats"

Oh the tangled web we weave - not that anyone is necessarily being deceitful, but how much "discouragement" do bike riders - or any athletes - need?

Following the positive doping test of its Austrian rider Christian Pfannberger in early May prior to the start of the Giro d'Italia, the Russian team Katusha said it would implement stronger anti-doping regulations in its contractual relationship with its employees, the racers. The policies take the form of an additional chapter to the cyclists' work contracts including a clause which states that riders will have to pay a fine of five times their annual salary in the event of a sanction given for doping offenses.

Firstly, does a clearly defined financial penalty work? The current 1 year UCI-sanctioned penalty doesn't seem to work, although we can't be sure exactly how many riders were "dissuaded" by the thought of losing a year's pay. It may have discouraged none. It didn't discourage the likes of Kohl. Indeed, once you are caught and the legal battle ensues, it can be years before the fine is paid. Perhaps never, if you just quit the sport.

So will multiplying the fine by 5 make a difference? A rider already loses his contract - which is his livelihood - and even when he or she returns their contract value is severely impacted. History shows us that riders generally come back to lesser teams on lower wages, if they come back at all. It is doubtful that Landis or even Basso are on the sort of deal that they would have been on had things just continued as they were. Indeed, the financial loss from personal sponsorships alone must be massive. So why add further financial discouragement? Won't that just lead to court battles and possible personal bankrupties, or worse?

If the existing financial penalties don't work, and the public humiliation doesn't dissuade, what are we seeking to achieve? How is this more "transparent" than what we have? And what if a rider is actually innocent but is nevertheless found guilty? It's easy to say that that the tests and procedures are flawless, but are they? Whilst guilty "cheats" do bring dowm teams and cause widespread distress, perhaps it is possible to also go too far in protecting the team, its image, and its funding. Teams are after all made up of people, and last time I checked bikes don't ride themselves.

Confessions of a doper: Jaksche again, with feeling

Nothing new here, move along please. Someone has dug up some dirt or simply created speculation out of thin air regarding a confession made almost 2 years ago. Some of it we knew already, some is more detailed and this bit would be damning, if proven true: Jaksche rode for Riis and Team CSC in 2004. During this time, according to Bild, Riis decided who should take how much of what product, with Jaksche saying how he was helped to avoid a positive doping control. Team Saxo Bank did not have a comment on the story.

No-one is saying anything at this stage and it is, as I said, a thin air story published by the German tabloid Bild am Sonntag. Did I say tabloid? It has plenty of juicy detail but little or no credence at this stage.

Ullrich denies, testifies...

Ullrich has stated in court that he did not dope during the period he was employed by Team Coast, nor beforehand to the extent where the effects may have lingered. (Which still leaves some time in question, although he also answered some questions about Operacion Puerto and various 'usual suspects'. ) Yes, he testified under oath. Yes, he did it for the money he was owed. Or did he?

After the hearing, Ullrich said that right had been done, adding, "Dahms is a cheat. I don't want his dirty money. Dahms lied in my face, although he knew he was broke. If I do get anything from him, then I will donate it to a children's charity."

Soccer (aka 'football') follows where cycling rides

Well, maybe. They say that several sports have 'whereabouts' databases on their athletes, but cycling's the only one I've heard of, up to now. But what would I know?

England's soccer players will be next to join the ranks of those who have to report their "whereabouts" and make themselves available for out of competition doping controls, just like their fellow athletes on bicycles.

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.

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.

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.

Old dope: Camenzind

This goes back a little, but Oscar Camenzind has reserved the right to not name his EPO supplier. Good news for someone, I guess, who can continue to hide in shame and fear.

Dope of the Day: Libardo Nino tests positive... who?

Well he's Columbian and has tested positive, so he gets a jersey in the Dope of the Day comp. EPO, of course.

Doping forum at Daily Peloton

There's an interesting forum on doping here, filled with the usual mix of useful and useless opinion, of course.

Ex-doper of the Day - David Millar

Reformed doper David Millar find that he can win and be clean. Nice one David. You'll recall that David was ashamed and bitter about his cheating and made it plain to all within earshot he was uncomfortable with his decision to use EPO. To take the penalty and move on is enough, but to become a role model for clean racing is even better.

From CN:
Millar takes second '07 win at British Championships. David Millar (Saunier Duval Prodir) took his second win of the 2007 season on Sunday at the British National Road Race Championships by overpowering fellow escapee Daniel Lloyd (DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed) on an uphill sprint finish. "This win is massive for me. It means a huge amount," said Millar. "I have wanted this jersey for the whole of my career. I've had close calls and I have spat the dummy out a couple of times in this race before. I think I have matured with age and managed to control my temper a bit better. I am pretty proud of being British. A week after the Tour I felt bad all day today. I was tired and my legs were bad. Your perception is weird. I was off the front and my legs were hurting but I was going damn fast. I can just keep doing it as well."

Dope or no dope? Rate my dope?

If I took a guess it would simply be a guess. I know maybe 1 current pro "a bit", and 3 current pros "less than a bit". I have however known 6 or 7 pros in the past 20 years - all cyclists, mind - and have raced and trained with a couple, too. And I have a few MySpace friends who claim to be pro cyclists, past and present. None of them have said, 'oh yeah, I dope'. But how would you know, I mean really know?

Indeed, how do you judge whether someone is doping? Empirically, yes, by blood or urine sample; which may miss the smarties with the latest masking techniques. Or by feel, as in 'I don't know Floyd/Tyler/Ivan at all personally but I've seen them on tele and watched their careers unfold over years, and from their words and deeds I trust them completely'. Yeah, right.

So what about a man who has obvious, broad and deep contacts with riders past and present, including his own son? Say Eddy Merckx? Would he know, and do you trust that he would tell all?

From La Gazzetta dello Sport via Cyclingnews.com:
"Merckx convinced the majority of cyclists are clean. Legend Eddy Merckx, winner of nearly every race on the calendar, is forced to face the current doping polemics with the entire cycling community. The 62 year-old Belgian who reigned from the 1960s to 1970s believes that although the sport is going through a black period, three-fourths of the cyclists are riding clean.

"I hope that cycling rises again. The disease is terrible, the situation continues to be serious, but there are signs of life," said the five-time winner of the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia to Marco Pastonesi of La Gazzetta dello Sport. The sport has been rocked by doping related incidents in the last month involving Patrik Sinkewitz (T-Mobile), Alexander Vinokourov (Astana), Cristian Moreni (Cofidis), Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) and Luca Ascani (Aurum Hotels)."

"There a lot of honest guys. I say that three-fourths of the gruppo is clean. The others are at risk. [Tour Director] Christian Prudhomme is right; the riders that are doping are playing Russian roulette with their lives."

So how about 25% still doping? That's a lot of riders slipping through the cracks...

Dope of the day number 3... Patrik Sinkewitz

We all know the story. That testosterone gel that we all have in our cupboards at home is just so easy to apply, so smooth and sweet on the skin that we almost forget it's a banned substance as we smear it on.

Why? Because we are really good bike riders anyway and all we need today is a bit of a lift, a bit like caffeine or Salbutamol really. Everyone does it, don't they?
Why? Well, it's more of a placebo than anything but it seems to improve recovery. I think.
Why? Because I want to take a risk. I'm a cyclist, we are all risk-takers.
Why? Because I feel like coming clean in public after getting caught. It's good for the soul.
Why? Because I feel like a bit of a break from cycling, y'know. A long break.

Once more, from Cyclingnews:
Sinkewitz' home searched The German Bundeskartelamt (federal police) searched Patrik Sinkewitz' apartment in Künzell, Germany, on Thursday, The search was connected to the BKA's investigation of the German cyclist for "fraud or damages against his contract partners", and is unrelated to his positive testosterone doping test. Both the BKA and Sinkewitz' attorney Michael Lehner confirmed the search. It was a routine matter, Lehner told the press agency dpa. "Herr Sinkewitz has nothing to hide and will answer all questions posed to him." A spokesman for the BKA said that it was acting on behalf of prosecutors in Bonn. It is alleged that the former T-Mobile rider used medications for doping purposes and in so doing would have "defrauded and damaged" business partners such as sponsors and sporting event organisers.

Dope of the day number 2... Alessandro Petacchi

Almost sorry to put Alessandro here, but he did fail a doping test - for Salbutamol - despite having a medical release registered with the UCI that allows him to use it legitimately. The problem is the quantity. Does it remind you at all of the old caffeine chestnut? Yes, caffeine wakes you up and gets you going, and it even mobilises fat use; but should we ban it outright at any level of use? What about coffee addicts? Aren't we human after all? Just insert "salbutamol" for "caffeine" and ask the same questions. Well, OK, we aren't all coffee drinkers - or asthmatics. And there do seem to be a lot of "puffers" out at the start of bike races though, eh?

Again from Cyclingnews.com:
CONI appeal on Petacchi set Alessandro Petacchi may return to competition this week, but he's not out of hot water yet. While the Italian cycling federation cleared the Milram man on charges stemming from a 'non-negative' doping control from the Giro d'Italia, the decision was appealed by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) which wants to see a one year ban. The date for the appeal has been set for August 11 according to the Italian federation. Petacchi was left off his team's roster for the Tour de France, and spent the month instead awaiting a decision by the antidoping authorities on punishment for a urine test which showed he had more than the allowable amount of the asthma drug Salbutamol in his system during the Giro d'Italia. The rider claimed that he had simply used too much of his asthma inhaler.

And the first dope of the day is... Luca Ascani

From Cyclingnews.com...
Luca Ascani positive for EPO The reigning Italian time trial champion Luca Ascani (Aurum Hotels) was suspended by his team following news that the rider had tested positive for EPO. The 24 year-old tested positive following his championship ride, according to the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), the country's antidoping agency. His team suspended him pending the outcome of the hearing on his case. Ascani thus becomes the next in a long line of recent doping positives including Saunier Duval's Iban Mayo, Astana's Alexander Vinokourov and Matthias Kessler, T-Mobile's Patrik Sinkewitz, and fellow Italian Cristian Moreni (Cofidis).

A new name, a new purpose

Well the abecedarian insult is no more. Instead I will dump my dope about doping here to cut the clutter in my cycling blogs. Well, that's the theory, anyway.