Monday Roundup

News
Sportingo writes about the death of the Discovery team and the Alberto Contador controversy saying that they would not be surprised if he winds up like Floyd Landis did after his Tour win.

The CyclingNews this morning has no real Landis content but prints Pat McQuaid's response to the demise of Disco which he sees as a wake up call to all riders on all teams that they not take their positions for granted. The replacement of Discovery in the pro tour is also discussed with Slipstream seemingly a long shot at this time. Meanwhile Cristian Moreni is disappointed at the severity of his two year ban for testing positive for testosterone at this year's Tour de France:

Cristian Moreni (Cofidis), who was handed a two-year suspension following his positive test for testosterone, declared to French paper Journal du Dimanche that he had a hard time accepting the ban. "It is like giving the same sentence to someone who stole an apple and to someone who robbed a bank," the Italian declared in light of the fact that riders caught for blood doping got the same suspension.
"I did not want to dope," the former Cofidis rider declared and emphasized that to him, riding at l'eau claire (clean water) is taking illegal substances such as EPO, growth hormones or testosterone. "I have bought a plant-based paste over the internet to stimulate the natural production of testosterone. I wasn't aware that I could have a problem with the doping control. For me, it was like taking amino acids or protein. I know many riders who take it."

Does he click through every pop-up ad on his computer too?

Pez Letters chew over a recent proposal made there.


Blogs
Every Turning Leaf read Positively False, and found the defense not irrefutably convincing.

Team Velveeta tells his Leadville story: 1000 riders and a shotgun blast to start. Glad that Wiens won, glad that he broke 11:00, and thankful to the folks who put the event on. But it is just a bike race, after all.

Racejunkie give mostly jeers to a number of folks, but concludes with:

[F]inally, congrats to Floyd Landis for coming in second in Leadville despite a craptastically ill-timed flat tire and the distinct disadvantage of being likely grossly preoccupied by such trivialities as, say, the loss of his '06 Tour de France and de facto end of his career. Welcome back Floyd, and couldn't you simps over at Vs. have managed half an hour of coverage without enraging the rawhide-whip-wielding rodeo crowd?

Oh yeah, there's a jeer in there too.

Steroids Blog links a whole bunch of stories about Barry Bonds and one with a mention of Floyd Landis for good measure.

Sarah Abbott blogs about the experience she had watching all the competitors, including her husband, at the Leadville 100 Saturday. Here she provides a slide show of the event.

Noodlestatic tells his Leadville story, bummed about missing the first time cut because of a chain that got messed up he couldn't fix on course.

For the next 10 miles, I would ride anywhere from 50 feet to a quarter mile, lose the chain, stop, put it back on the rings, get back on, ride until it came off, then do it all over again. I was passed by at least 150 riders, most of whom asked if i was alright, but none of whom had a chain tool or would loan it to me. Along that stretch came Dave Wiens, who shouted out encouragement as he cranked by. About two minutes behind was Floyd Landis, who did not shout out encouragement but looked in pain.

Lazerow passes on a friend's Leadville story, with a great description of the course.

Gail Bernhardt took 48 minutes off her time from last year, and tries to figure out how and why. It looks to us like luck (equipment and weather) was most of it, but she also went out harder.

Left Hand Blogging considers profiling and reduced sanctions as an approach to doping, and doesn't know that it'll work -- he identifies some problems. He's not happy with the current state, involving Hamilton/Landis-style "epic legal battles."

First 100 Mioles/Sara Best is happy about cycling again, and Leadville is a big reason. She wants to give up the death watch on cycling, and is especially happy for Dave Wiens.

Bike Daily gives our Leadville coverage a plug, and links some pix with misleading credits -- we tried to give the shooters their due, but that seems to have been lost in, um, translation.

J'adore le vélo!! also points folks this way.

Bob explains his Leadville as a bonk complicated by Adult-Onset Speed-Slowness-Syndrome. Finally we have a name for going up hills at 215w while chiseled young men dancing on their pedals blow by us as we grind away.

At the start of the climb up Columbine, I was on pace for an 11-hour finish. Perfect. I dropped into the valley and saw the turn to the road of the mountain. While I was choking down an energy bar, I noticed two riders flying down the hill. It was Floyd Landis followed by Dave Wiens, who'd won the last four times. This rattled me a bit. I've never seen the lead riders in previous years until I was halfway up the mountain, so either they were flying or I was dragging ass, or maybe a combination of both. I started to climb. I climbed and climbed and climbed up over the switchbacks, just as I'd drawn up on the shower door.

Then I bonked.

It didn't get better.

Peregrinate Press/Will Byrne writes with nuance about "Dopes" -- He doesn't think Landis is one, even though he "flunked" a test; Ras might be even though he didn't fail a test; and Contador has to be respected as the winner. We also get a plug.

Somebody at MySpace gives an "Attaboy, Floyd!", but we can't open it.

Forums
As if to compensate for the "Attaboys!", a rider sent some mail that his wife posted taking the other angle:

After finishing I learned that Dave Weins whooped up on Floyd Landis and that just brought a big smile to my face. Floyd might have been too humiliated to show his face today at the awards ceremony (or his people claimed he had an event in Vail right after the race that went late)...

Elsewhere, another rider writes:

Saw both Floyd Landis and David Weins tearing down through Twin Lakes as I was heading up Columbine-- despite Landis' crash and flat tire he was RIGHT ON Weins tail-- he said afterwards he had worked too hard to catch back up to Dave after his setbacks. I wish I could tear down the downhills like those two-- they were movin!

Quote of the Day, Historical Division

"Let General de Pellieux allow me respectfully to point out that a piece of evidence, whatever it may be, cannot have any value and cannot constitute scientific proof before it has been subjected to cross-examination..." -- Fernand Labori, defense attorney at the trial of Emile Zola. Paris, February 17, 1898