Thursday Roundup

An emailer sends us the sad news that Sean Livesay, who participated in the Pensacola "Ride with Floyd", was killed on September 4th, when a pickup towing a trailer backed into the road he was riding, and there was a collision. We are trying to find a contact for condolences. Sean was a long-term Floyd supporter.


News
The CyclingNews writes that since the UCI seems determined to waste as much time as possible in the Valverde case the Spanish cycling Federation may attempt to take them directly to the CAS in order to allow Alejandro Valverde to compete in the Worlds. In its' cyclocross section the CyclingNews reports that Belgian Ben Berden has been ordered by a court in Antwepen to pay the 60,000 euro debt that was incurred by his positive doping control for EPO. He has been given a two year suspension, and is now liable for the case costs ordered by the court:

"I don't know what to do anymore, this is almost unachievable. I have worked it out and if I save every cent that I make from start money over the next 3 years, then I still won't be enough. You tell me: why should I continue with this. I would be better of declaring myself bankrupt and then just do some extra work on the side for cash. I am being punished for my honesty. I gave up all the information straight away so that there would be nothing for them to search for. If I knew that they were going to do this I would have been better of continuing to lie," he said.

CyclingNews coverage of the Tour of Missouri early on had this tidbit:

There's a little bit of controversy in the Tour of Missouri pits this morning. In the daily communique teams receive from race officials, an announcement was included by a UCI official (Mr. Wauthier) about time trial handlebar positions that is causing problems for some riders.

I am paraphrasing, but the general language says that all time trial handlebar bar extensions (the pieces extending forward from the bike the riders grip when tucked in their most aerodynamic position) must be parallel to the ground. Knowing that a lot of teams have invested thousands of dollars in wind tunnels to dial in their riders positions on their time trial bikes, and knowing that for many riders the optimal position is for the extensions to be at an uphill angle as high as 20 to 40 degrees, this rule is causing concern for riders who do not normally sit flat on the time trial bar.

This would be the "Praying Landis" position that Floyd pioneered in 2006 to great success, and which got "modified" to be lower during the Tour de France. One wonders what the current rationalization for a change in rule interpretation is. At one point in the last week, which we can't find at the moment, Landis had said, "everything I did they outlawed", which seemed to relate to this, but we hadn't heard why except for the tour position change. Perhaps the UCI can salt the earth as well, and proclaim victory over the ASO.


The Nueces County Record figures that somebody's always out to "spoil" a great sports comeback story.

ESPN reports that Jan Ullrich has been linked through Swiss bank transaction records to Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes.

An emailer writes about the October 2007 Tennis Magazine:

On the last page editorial, L. Jon Wertheim works Floyd into his article as one of the bad guys. The gist of the article is that Tennis players are clean and lawabiding and every other sport is full of dopers and thugs.

Quoting the article:

"For the legion of sports fans disenchanted with rooting for morally bankrupt athletes - "rogues in uniforms," as a friend of mine calls Pacman Jones, Ron Artest, Floyd Landis, and the like - there's an antidote in tennis."

And cycling fans are accused of being gullible and in denial...


Bicycling posts a youtube video of something that has nothing to do with anything, but should be seen. Look Pythons, it's Bicycle Repairman!


Blogs
Cycling Fans Anonymous cites our story about the clock ticking on a decision, and calls the whole thing a "sad, sad affair." We agree. There's no glory for anyone in this.

Rant starts his clock ticking, and looks at the Tour of Mizzou. He give us too much credit for naming -- it was obvious.

Gwadzilla is amazed that a rider at the recent SM100 completed the whole course on a fixed gear, in just a bit over nine hours no less. He also wonders if Floyd Landis posted his iphone pics from a post race party on his web site. Not that we can tell he hasn't, but we'd sure love to see them.

The Convictor looks at NE Patriots video incident, and finds no excuse, and thinks "geniuses" cheat now.

Your MTB.Com wonders if roadies like Floyd Landis coming to the MB scene foretell a trend.

The Arena of Life discusses cheating in sports, in his past in racing,and in the present in the NFL. In cycling he naturally cites Floyd Landis.