Thursday Roundup
News
The CyclingNews writes briefly about the AFLD's decision to reopen the Landis case which it had shelved last winter, and CN also posts comments from Anne Gripper of WADA that so called "blood passports" for all cyclists will be discussed at the WADA meetings in Paris on October 22-23.
CyclingNews letters talk about Peirero, DiLuca, and a bunch about Armstrong talking about Landis.
Reuters talks about CAS in the context of the Landis appeal. It's a longish piece about the "little known" agency. It notes the IOC provides 30% of CAS $6 million budget, and talks of "discretion" and mostly private hearings:
[T]he court has acquired a reputation for discretion, bordering on secrecy.
That reputation has been heightened by the fact that the court's hearings have all taken place behind closed doors with the notable exception of Irish triple Olympic swimming champion Michelle Smith-de Bruin.
De Bruin personally requested a public hearing before CAS in June 1999 but failed in her attempt to overturn a four-year ban for tampering with a urine sample.
"Having the hearings behind closed doors is traditional in arbitration matters and even when it comes to the appeals I think it is probably better that the athletes can state their cases without worrying about journalists being in the room.
"But if the parties agree to a public hearing, as they did in the De Bruin case, then there would be no objection on our part."
Floyd if you're reading, Bill and TBV will go. Continuing:
Of the 175 appeal cases heard by CAS in 2006, 118 concerned soccer disputes compared to 38 involving doping.
AP via Yahoo reports the UCI has removed Danilo DiLuca from the ProTour rankings completely, making him ineligible to win the year championship. What rule did they apply to make this decision...
The UCI press release says,
Having learnt the decision sentenced by CONI who condemned Danilo Di Luca for a three month suspension period starting on 16th October 2007, the UCI announces that the Italian rider is excluded from the UCI ProTour ranking in accordance to the article 1.2.133.1 of the UCI regulations.
The UCI rulebook says,
1.2.133 Is left out from any UCI classification as well as from any UCI cups and series classifications:
1. the suspended rider: in case of suspension until the last event counting for the ranking, the rider is immediately excluded from the classification.
That certainly seems to cover it, so why was anyone thinking he could back into the championship before this announcement?
The Contra Costa Times overstates things just a tad as they, very early on in this game, list the top ten cheaters of the 21st century. Floyd Landis comes in at number five.
The Houston Chronicle makes note of the fact that while on Team Phonak Floyd Landis and Oscar Pereiro were friends, they don't seem to be that close anymore.
Blogs
Rant feels he sees the real motivations behind the AFLD decision to reopen the Landis case. It has less to do with closing alleged loopholes and more to do with covering the ASO should the CAS rule in favor of Landis sometime this winter.
Confused at Mt. Waverly is watching Wikis, and despite initial fears it's his opinion that the Floyd Landis Wikipedia page is fair and balanced, and well footnoted to boot.
Dugard is afraid that there's just no justice for Floyd Landis:
French prosecutors are re-opening their case against Floyd Landis. They're concerned that he might find a technical loophole and be allowed to compete next year. Guilty or not, one thing's for sure: There's no justice for Floyd. It's one thing to have the Euros going after him, but he's not even getting a decent act of jurisprudence in the U.S. It's just not right.
Sara Best thinks it's possible that things got a little bit worse for Floyd Landis this week with the announcement that the AFLD is going after him again to prevent the remote possibility that he could participate in the TdF in 2008.
BikeNuts says stop testing the riders, and anyway who really IS the yellow jersey holder for the 2006 Tour de France? Oh, and keep on fighting Floyd.
Joey Thompson reveals he is the true winner of the '06 TdF:
Here’s how it works. Dave Weins did the cross races both days and I beat him (by a lot, but that’s beside the point). Weins beat Floyd Landis at the Leadville 100, which gives me the yellow jersey. I’ve allerted the appropriate authorities and they’re taking the jersey back from Periero and sending it to me.
Indian Cricket League News, under the headline, "Principle has no Currency", says:
The Tour de France will go ahead again and people will cheat again. Last year Floyd Landis won but failed a drug test. He continues to fight his ban in the courts. This year it was more of the same. Two teams withdrew because of positive drug tests. Two other cyclists were caught. Only a fool would follow next year’s race.
OK. God as as my witness, I am that fool. However, TBV wasn't intending to follow cricket next year. After decades of asking, no one has ever been able to explain the rules to me.
Racejunkie says hold everything and wait a minute before you (the AFLD) go after poor Floyd Landis. What are you thinking?:
...Whether you get to crow "we got him!" or not, his career's destroyed, his legacy is irreversibly tarnished, two years in the peloton at what would've been the height of his powers are gone; even if he actually did nothing wrong, the boy's completely screwed. What conceivable good could this utterly redundant witch hunt do any of us, with the possible exception of reminding everyone that you hypocrites never had it in for, say, admitted dope skank Richard Virenque a tenth as much?
Let's see. Virenque was contrite, and cried convincingly. Landis is aggressively denying guilt and calling those in power corrupt. Sounds like time for a political punishment. They can't hang him, then draw and quarter him, and finally throw what's left in a bonfire like the good old days. So they'll smite him as best they can, as George Smiley explained, "to obliterate, to punish, and to discourage others."
Barber's English breaks our heart by promising a podcast with an interview of Landis, but we get a "file not found". I'm guessing someone at a K-12 school talked to him, and they are learning how to do a podcast, slowly.
Seattle Velocity Blog has found the perfect recovery drink, inspired by Landis:
Finally I found the magic elixir, in of all places, Gaylord Opryland in Nashville. Here, in the Jack Daniel's Saloon, the dessert menu includes the Jack Daniel's Coke Float: Jack Daniel's, Island Oasis Ice Cream, Coke.
Fill my water bottles, please.
5 comments:
The AFLD case is a waste and another example of “bleeding” an accused athlete in an effort to get them to acquiesce to the original lab finding, correct or not.
There is a lot of double speak from Bourdry of AFLD. He indicated the re-opening of the AFLD case is intended to close a loophole that might allow Floyd to compete in the TdF while he is serving his UCI suspension, still in dispute and being appealed.
The “closing a loophole” story is laughable. One of the few ways a loophole might present itself is if ASO declines to sanction the TdF via UCI and runs it using another sanctioning body, or self-sanctions.
If the UCI remains the sanctioning body for the TdF and Floyd is serving a UCI imposed suspension, then there is no loophole.
If ASO uses another sanctioning body of self-sanctions the TdF, then they are doing so to gain more control over their race. It’s hard to doubt that a key component of that increased control will be the ability to invite or dis-invite any rider of team it wishes. Again, there is no loophole to close.
Officials of the Alphabet Soup make their living off of the efforts of the riders, yet treat the riders not much better than chattle. At a variety of points they have to make decisions about what is in their best interests. So far the Alphabet Soup has decided to exert force, limit transparency, and sometimes outright lie. The riders have collectively found themselves in a weakened state and, thus far, have failed to little about it as a group. As for the Alphabet Soup, they can only beat on the riders so much before they pull the rug out from beneath themselves, as the riders will no longer be in a position to support the careers of the Alphabet Soup(ers). They’ll have to pick on someone else in order to make their livings……………….. A sad state of affairs we have come to…………………..
TBV I dated a cricket player when I taught in Wales and I tried so hard to understand the rules, and never could. Then again, my boyfriend didn't get baseball, and so it goes.
str
Another "great job" by the UCI, and this time aided by CONI, wrt DiLuca.
This only helps to make the "Pro Tour Championship" irrelevant. It also serves to cheapen a victory by Evans. Despite not being able to race in the Worlds and being forced to miss the final Pro Tour race, DiLuca likely had enough points to win the championship anyway. Time will tell. It depends upon how well Evans places this weekend wrt whether the point is moot, or not.
I’m not particularly a DiLuca fan and I enjoy watching Evans race in approximately the same terms. I’m just not for legislating the clear leader of a series out at the 11th hour. That strikes me as being cheap.
DIdn't Landis get first in some US season long deal on the basis of points scored before July? Could this have anything to do with DiLuca situation?
Yes, it was the USACycling NRC points classification that Landis won in 2006, at CyclingNews The UCI rule only applies to UCI classifications, not ones by other federations. I wouldn't be surprised to see changes to many national federation rule sets to match the UCI on this one.
TBV
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