Tuesday Roundup

News
We have the documents described by Hiltzik and Abramhamson.

The L.A. Times Michael Hiltzik tells of infighting amongst the three arbitrators that will hear the Floyd Landis case starting Monday May 14th at Pepperdine. The arbitrator picked by the Landis team in the hearings, Christopher Campbell, was excluded from pre-hearing deliberations by the other two arbitrators:

The excluded arbitrator, Bay Area attorney Christopher L. Campbell, vehemently protested in a written dissent that the others had not informed him they intended to confer on the matter before they issued the ruling May 1.

The "unprecedented and entirely inappropriate" action, Campbell wrote, "sends a clear message that the majority is unwilling to hear and consider valid arguments regarding a dispute."

He also confirms the authenticity of at least one of the Whistleblower documents:

Documents provided to Landis by USADA indicate that LNDD was forced to reverse itself in at least one other case in 2006 because it had mishandled an innocent athlete's sample.

According to the documents, the lab withdrew its finding that a competitive swimmer had doped with the steroid mesterolone after it discovered that the athlete's sample had been contaminated by steroids in another sample tested the same day. WADA rebuked the lab, demanding that it take corrective action.

The documents provided to Landis' attorneys appear to be identical to several that were made public last year by an anonymous source who had allegedly hacked into the lab's computers. USADA's delivery of the documents in the swimmer's case indicates that those, at least, are genuine.

NBC Sports.com's Alan Abrahamson also writes about the dissenting opinion filed by Christopher Campbell against the other two arbitrators, panel Chairman Patrice Brunet and Richard McLaren in the Landis case. The decision involved irregularities surrounding the observation by Landis experts of the testing of Landis' "B" samples from last summer's Tour de France:

Brunet issued a May 1 ruling rejecting Landis' complaints about those procedures. It went out by e-mail at 5:12 a.m.; it's not clear what time zone that refers to. At any rate, USADA had filed its brief on the issue just hours before, Campbell would later point out. The May 1 order says, among other things, that the majority ruling permitting retesting did not say the B samples "were to be analyzed in the presence of the panel's expert" -- meaning, apparently, that the expert did not have to be on hand for the retesting procedures to be considered valid.

How, then, to assure validity? The panel-appointed expert will "advise whether the lab's methodologies are flawed," and that "represents an adequate protection" to Landis, according to the ruling.

Campbell, in his May 3 dissent, said he had no idea the ruling was coming; he learned of it, he said, only when he read his e-mails that morning.

The Honolulu Advertiser proves that sports ,as well as, politics can make strange bedfellows. A Russian female marathoner, Lyubov Denisova, who won the Honolulu marathon has tested positive for an elevated testosterone to epitestosterone level just as had Floyd Landis after his Tour de France victory.She thinks that she purchased something suspicious at GNC. Go figure.


Blogs
Sharks with Frickin Laser Beams thinks that so many lies have been printed about Floyd Landis that at this point it would be hard to tell what the truth is anyway.

Rich Mathes deosn't want to give up on pro cycing, though with all that has happened it's not an easy thing to believe in. He does think Floyd Landis is innocent, but you'll have to make up your own mind either way.

Soxybox, yet another stick and baller, thinks that David Ortiz , as well as Barry Bonds, might be obfuscating on the steroid issue, oh and he thinks that in case Floyd Landis has ever unknowingly ingested a PED he might want to reconsider those mixed drinks.

Velo Swiss feels that having no connection to OP will be a benefit to Floyd Landis next week when his hearings begin. But Floyd's,and every other cyclists, arguments that the lab is incompetent is getting really old.

Rant has a Tuesday Two Fer, concerning the revelation late yesterday in the CyclingNews that that AFLD found no irregularities in at least two procedures at the LNDD per the Landis case. He also touches on the Basso confession and how it might impact Floyd Landis' desire for the hearts and minds of cycling fans.

Adventures of a T-Shirt Guy thinks dopers suck, but he's sticking by Floyd Landis, and by cycling because it's more competitive than it's been in years.

20 Million Minutes hopes and prays that, in light of the Basso confession of yesterday, Floyd Landis is telling the truth about his innocence.

Velo pas Terrain wants to "thank" Ivan Basso for making his planned Floyd Landis coverage this week redundant. He also wonder if Mennonites view confession the way Catholics do?

Cycledelicious has a reader response to a Basso post in which the commenter feels Basso may be trying to avoid the financial ruin now facing Floyd Landis.

Strider posts the usual list of sins committed by evil cyclists against non-cyclists and of course snarks that Floyd Landis is bringing the sport of cycling into disrepute.

Pommi, not hearing what was in the AFLD report, got hold of a well placed friend, who explained things

Ze AFLD has now validated all ze lab procedures wiss regards to Monsieur Landis' tests. Monsieur Bordry was not very forzecoming, so I zought I let you know what zey investigated and validated.

What zey found okay:

1. Ze lab coats are all bleached and pressed

and other important details so far kept hidden from us.

Forums
DPF chews the Hiltzik/Abrahamson stories about arbitration rulings, along with our copies of the documents.


Thought for the Day

Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.

-Lord Acton