Tuesday Roundup

News
Vino's alleged positive for homologous blood doping (the Hamilton offense) and Astana's withdrawal is all over the news: VeloNews; Daily Peloton; Pez. We won't detail except for Marc's French updates. Mr. Pound will be chortling an "I told you so" about Vino's borrowing Landis' goddamn Harley, because Vino's offense somehow has probative value about Landis' charges.

Comments here say TBV is part of the culture of doping and shares responsibility for the debacle. Would that we had such power. It's also as specious as saying someone is in favor of terrorism for having wanted a fair trial of Omar Abdel-Rahman.

PE.Com writes that other "infamous" athletes besides current resident Floyd Landis have lived, or have almost lived in Murrieta,CA.

Sportingo says it's 2006 all over again, and this year's Floyd Landis is Michael Rasmussen.

ESPN Page2's Jim Caple has some random Tour de France comments and also thanks the bike shop owner in Seattle who loaned him an Orbea Orca so that he could ride with Floyd Landis a couple of weeks back. The bike was worth more than Caple's car.

The CyclingNews' Tim Maloney,who worked with Floyd Landis when Landis did the CyclingNews rider diaries a few years ago, writes a rather late review of "Positively False" in which he feels the "hastily written" and sometimes inaccurate book is not only a rehash of the Wiki defense but also fails to capture the personality that endeared Floyd Landis to many cycling fans in the past:

This writer has done many interviews and diary entries with Landis since 2001 (Landis wrote a diary for CN for several years). His dry, ironic humour and unique personality are things that have made him so endearing to many cycling fans. Unlike many top pros, Landis has always been a breath of fresh air; a regular guy. That has been much of his appeal to his fan base. He comes from a modest Mennonite upbringing; he's still a hard-headed Pennsylvania farm boy who has shown the talent, drive and desire to get to the top of the sport since he won the USA NORBA Junior Championship in mountain biking at age 17.

Despite his success, and the turmoil in his life since July 2006, Landis never lost his sense of self and his family values that came out so strongly when he testified in the USADA arbitration hearings, but this Floyd seldom emerges in Positively.

Blogs
Coming home to you has three words for cyclists following Vino's downfall: Fuck. You. All.

Love Love Shine watches the Tour de France with her dad each day, and thinks that it's insane to compete in it. She notes Floyd Landis' pending arb decision and wonders what happened to the day when athletes competed without drugs.

Steve Lavey/20 million minutes notices the similarities between Vino's ride yesterday in the Tour de France and the " greatest one day ride in Tour de France history".
Now updated with disbelief it is happening all over again.

Of Triathlons, God, and Random Crap still feels that Floyd Landis mat have been set up last year and blames the cursed BMC bikes. He can also believe that Vino doped and thinks that the low budget teams may be in the drivers seat.

SomewhereQuiet posts Floyd Landis' response to people who say," I want to believe you, but I just can't because it's so hard these days".

Pommi gives us a look back with a YouTube video from last July.

PJ continues the Pope Watch for a decision. The adjudication is going to need offsets to be carbon neutral.

The Thought Mill says that Floyd Landis knew it, Tyler Hamilton knew it, and Vino knew it too, they all knew they would be tested.

Rumours and Rants thinks cycling is hopeless, and baseball no better:

[C]yclists these days know that everyone thinks they cheat and that they don't care.
...
Would Bud Selig every say anything about Barry Bonds breaking the record being bad for baseball because of allegations of steroid use? We want to be clear, cycling is no worse than baseball. In fact, cycling might even be a little better because we seem to find out who is cheating a lot sooner in cycling than in baseball.

Sporting Reflections is having a crisis of faith about cycling.

RaceJunkie talks Vino and Landis in more depth than most.

Rant asks for a show of hands from those who thought that the Landis arbitration decision would be announced today, boy were "we" wrong.

Chat Write Man Woman thinks they're all guilty, and Landis should have confessed and cried.

Rumblestrip says Vino was on the Floyd recovery diet, and that other sports have the same problems but better labor organization.