Thursday Roundup

Day 8 in the Landis decision watch dawns with tension rising in anticipation of the arbitration announcement.

News
The Houston Chronicle's cycling notebook catches up on cycling news from the past week including the official closing of the Landis arbitration hearings and the impending decision announcement.

The VeloNews reports that cyclist Jorg Jaksche received a one year suspension to end early next July for his use of HGH and EPO. It is felt that the shorter than normal suspension resulted from his cooperation with authorities .

The CyclingNews posts that the Grand Tours are out of the Pro Tour. After years of disagreement, UCI president Pat McQuaid said the the UCI will accept demands from Grand Tour organizers to no longer be part of the ProTour system. It also covers the Jaksche story as well as the continuing war of words between the Spanish cycling federation and the UCI over Alejandro Valverde.

PezCyclingNews Eurotrash Thursday is full of the UCI news of Valverde, the Pro Tour vs Grand Tour controversy, and the new UCI tough stance against doping that will be instituted at the World Championships this year. Pez also mentions the soon to be announced Floyd Landis decision which it hopes will be fair and thinks it should be after all the time the deliberations have taken.

Floridatoday.com wonders where all the good sports have gone, and provides countless examples of "bad sports" including Floyd Landis who is said to still maintain his innocence in the face of "concrete evidence" against him. The standards for "concrete evidence" are apparently not what they used to be.

The Vancouver Sun publishes part 1 of an extensive article about Canadian cycling team Symmetrics Cycling Fueled By FarmPure and the effects of doping in cycling on members of the team. Svein Tuft, who was described as having been "burned out," quit cycling before coming back to join the team, though he would not elaborate on the doping issues which ostensibly caused him to quit. There is also a top ten of doping scandals listed with the Landis saga claiming the number 1 spot:

1. Floyd Landis, 2006: Floyd Landis (above) is still officially the winner of the 2006 Tour de France, though that is in dispute. Landis failed a drug test, which found synthetic testosterone in his system. It also found he had an unusually high ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone in his body. Both indicators suggest he took some form of testosterone to enhance his performance. Landis denies he used drugs, and is fighting to keep his title. A decision is expected in the case within a week.

Blogs
PJ senses a change of atmosphere in the square, and even though the smoke is still black the anticipation is much greater than it has been at any time this week.

Rant writes that Pat McQuaid has waved the white flag and surrendered to the "big three" cycling grand tours. Rant also gives us the weather report for "the square" where we all wait for the Landis decision to be announced. Today should be sunny and calm, tomorrow on the other hand...

Finger Food is trying to write ahead of the decision announcement, whenever it comes Friday, Saturday or Sunday, and hopes he's guessing right about the result. But he's not saying which way he's guessing.

Finger Food later passed on the judgment of another writer, Bob Ford: "Cooked case."

Suitcase of Courage expects the result of the "wheels of justice(?)", and applauds The Outcast for its description of Landis carbo-loading with beer before going on a ride-along.