Tuesday Roundup

News
The Associated Press's Rachel Cohen reports that Lance Armstrong has finally commented on the Landis decision:

"I didn't follow Floyd's case that much, but I will tell you, if that's a jury trial in the United States of America, with eight or 10 or 12 of our fellow citizens, you get off every time. Not that you get off, but you're vindicated," Armstrong told The Associated Press on Tuesday while promoting a new line of Nike apparel that supports his Livestrong campaign to fight cancer.


"When you are giving someone the death penalty, which they essentially did, you cannot tolerate shoddy work, which they clearly did," Armstrong said. "I don't understand that type of rationale. I don't understand the verdict.

The Boston Globe discusses a different way to detect the use of PEDS. While this method doesn't single out any particular drug, it does measure the body's reaction to having the illegal substances in it:

There's a better way to detect doping that relies on a more advanced detection system: the human body. All human hormones - including steroids like testosterone - are controlled by natural feedback loops, much like a thermostat controls a furnace switch. When it's cold in a house, a thermostat turns on the furnace, and when the temperature rises, turns it off. Now pretend you "dope" some houses with space heaters. You can easily tell what houses are "performance enhancing" by checking how often the built-in furnace turns on.


Similarly, when an athlete uses anabolic steroids or human growth hormone, the brain turns off the signal to produce natural hormones. These signals - called lutenizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone in the case of anabolic steroids - can be measured. Since the precise kind of steroid doping is irrelevant (just as the brand of space heater is irrelevant) one could simply measure a handful of feedback hormones instead of dozens on specific banned drugs.

The VeloNews reports the false positive doping control for Stefan Schumacher was due to illness. Schumacher said that because of situations just like this one he understands Paolo Bettini's reluctance to sign the UCI "pledge" and lose a year's salary for a mere "mistake":

"Some riders are not happy with Bettini's refusal to sign," he said. "But the obligation to pay back your annual salary in the event of a positive doping test to the UCI is a high price, especially when there can be errors made in the testing procedure.
"On that basis, I find Bettini's stance acceptable."

The Baltimore Examiner posts the results of two bored sports writers who needed something to do during the halftime of the Ravens game this weekend. They compiled a list of greatest sports cheats, as if this hasn't been done to death already. But wait, Floyd Landis did NOT make their list. However, an "observant" reader responded that they somehow missed Floyd, who the respondent says, with hyperbole, shamed all of Lancaster County PA. Darn and this one was going to be different.

Blogs
Biking Bis notes the latest Armstrong comments on the Landis decision. The "silence of the Lance" has ended.

Sports News also makes mention of Lance Armstrong's belated comments on the decision that finds Floyd Landis banned for two years from cycling and stripped of his Tour de France title pending an appeal to the CAS.