Armstrong on '99 and EPO

Here's a good ESPN interview with LA that makes some clear points about 1999 and that urine sample that may or may not contain EPO: Let me ask you this question: If this was your urine sample [grabs a half-finished bottle of iced tea on table] -- it's open. You haven't seen it, you don't know where it's been. It's been sitting open, and all of your credibility and your life's work, everything rides right there on that bottle. Would you go over there and test that? I can answer it for you. Of course you wouldn't. Nobody would do that. So we're not going to get into that game with them. It's time that they move on from that.

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.

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."

Ullrich offered a deal?

From PezCyclingNews:Ullrich Offered Deal VeloNews and the rest of the cycling world are reporting that Jan Ullrich has been offered a deal by German prosecutors in his ongoing criminal investigation. If the former Tour de France champ and multi-multi-time podium finisher cooperates he can walk away free of financial burden and bad conscience.

Of course if he confesses he would still be fined and banned from racing, wouldn't he?

Speculation of the day: Evans on Contador

Most Aussie bike racing enthusaists would have watched Cadel Evans be interviewed by Andrew Denton (a local comedian turned Parkinson-style interviewer) last Monday night. To be honest it was OK but not very revealing. Denton talked it up on ABC radio prior to the show and suggested that Cadel was unhappy about his team's support during the race but Cadel himself didn't say that in the interview. He did say that Contador was innocent until proven guilty, but that's hardly earthshaking, is it? He also regrets losing those 23 seconds, but it would be more surprising if he hadn't regretted it.

CN has a partial transcript on its site:
"Evans: Contador is "innocent until proven guilty"... 2007 Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans took time out to conduct an interview on the Australian talk show, 'Enough Rope'... After discussing Evans' childhood and life growing up on a remote Northern Territory settlement, Denton moved into the hot topic following this year's Tour: losing by 23 seconds and doping. He was specifically asked if he believed that Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel) deserved this year's Tour de France victory, especially in light of comments made by German anti-doping activist, Werner Franke, that the Spaniard's victory was "the greatest swindle" in sports history. Evans said: "I think, like everyone, there is a bit of a shadow over his winning and his reputation. For me, innocent until proven guilty is always my attitude. "Just because you win the Tour de France doesn't mean you are a cheat. People have to remember that. If something comes out... solid evidence, yes... but 'til now, no solid proof has come out. So I'll leave him innocent until proven guilty," he said. "