Wednesday Roundup

In case you have missed it with all that has been posted on TBV the past few days be sure to read Floyd Landis' op-ed piece,"Dopers Must be Stoned" (or so says Patrice Brunet) published here on Monday.

News
The IHT says that just because Dick Pound is leaving WADA as its president we shouldn't expect him to quietly slip away into retirement. As Pound presides over the Madrid anti-doping summit, which begins tomorrow, he leaves behind a legacy which at its very least brought greater exposure to the wide spread problem of doping in sports. But, his tenure as head of WADA was consistently controversial and not universally appreciated:

Former International Cycling Union head Hein Verbruggen called Pound's leadership of WADA a "catastrophe."

"He says that to run that agency it's necessary to be controversial, but I didn't think you needed that and I don't think the stakeholders expected that," Verbruggen said. "His style meant that the public believed every athlete was a suspected athlete. All he does is accuses. ... Insulting people who don't fight the battle against doping is wrong, especially without proof."

Pound also comments on the fight over his successor and his desire to become president of the CAS.


Azstarnet.com promotes El Tour de Tucson and apparently feels it necessary to insult Floyd Landis while doing so.

The CyclingNews has a bit more in today's early update about Patrik Sinkewitz's deal with prosecutors which prevented his sponsors from pursuing him legally, and Michael Rasmussen will finally meet today with the UCI in Switzerland to discuss the circumstances under which he was fired from Rabobank and kicked out of last summer's Tour de France.

The NYTimes posts a piece about Jonanthan Vaughters' Slipstream-Chipotle team with the emphasis of the story on confessed doper David Millar. It briefly mentions Floyd Landis along with other Tour de France scandals to point out how badly the sport of cycling needs a "clean" team.

WTVO/WQRF in Rockford reports that Illinois high school athletes may be tested starting next year for PED use.

Blogs
Rant feels it very ill advised for WADA to eliminate the "B" sample testing it has proposed to do with revisions in its code to be discussed at the doping summit in Madrid this week. He also says that IF WADA really wants to do something it should assure the people who careers as athletes might depend on their tests to improve the quality of the work they do.

Racejunkie felt the Floyd Landis op-ed piece was right on target with its call for due process in the pursuit of "justice" within the ADAs. RJ also wonders about the quality of the writing over at the NY Times as he read the cycling article cited above about "St." David Millar's experiences in jail.

Phantom Refections likes what he sees in the 2008 Amgen Tour of California route, he only wishes Floyd Landis could race it too.

Lugo writes a most confusing opinion piece on Floyd Landis and fellow "cyclist" Justin Gatlin.