Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Stirring the, um, pot

I suppose it's a question of trying to back up their original article.

Le Monde this morning picks up (rather gingerly) a story which appeared yesterday on the Belgian news site "7 sur 7" , reporting that a German doping expert, Werner Franke, called Alberto Contador's Tour victory, "The biggest fraud in the history of sport." Claiming to have documents from the police search of Dr. Fuentes' offices, Franke asserted they showed Contador taking a "whole doping protocol" of banned substances.

Both "7 sur 7" and Le Monde hastened to point out that Franke has a history of making extravagant declarations, and that in September 2006 a German court enjoined him from making similar statements against Jan Ullrich.

2 comments:

daniel m (a/k/a Rant) said...

Interesting note about the extravagant claims, Marc. A similar AFP story in VeloNews leaves that bit out. Casts the story in a whole new light when you know about that. No wonder they're stepping around Franke's claims gingerly.

- Rant

strbuk said...

The motivations behind this accusation being reported in the first place at this time would lead one to the conclusion that just like the rest of the media does with any story now someone wants readers, or ratings, or whatever. Scandals make more money than happy endings.]

str