Wednesday Roundup

News
The CyclingNews has a couple of interesting stories to offer in this update not the least of which is the resignation of Patrick Lefevere as head of the International Association of Professional Cycling teams (AIGCP). His reason? He is tired of the constant quarreling between the UCI and the Grand Tours, join the club. But, of more interest is perhaps the piece on Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes of OP fame. He was speaking out at a sports health conference and had some very enlightening things to say about cycling and cyclists, neither of which he claims to follow anymore:

He spoke of sports impact on professional athletes. "You cannot race a tour on bread and water. Alternatively, you can if you are able to go at a 28 [km/h] average, not 42. The Grand Tours have to be modified radically, otherwise they will vanish."

He went though a slide show that helped demonstrate his point, according to an Italian newspaper, and used medical terminology that many in attendance would have had difficulty in understanding. "The cyclists are like miners: they know that they are at risk, but it is their work. Sport affects your health, and the doctors have to help."
The issue is delicate, and certainly storing blood bags in Madrid for professional cyclists around the world to re-use at a later date was considered a risky – and not healthy – activity on the part of Fuentes and his collaborators, such as José Merino Batres.
"Are the cyclists criminals? Certainly if you permit them to have their privacy violated while living in a free country. However, the cyclists were born to suffer, and they accept it all or almost all."

Confusingly evasive answer to the question of the criminality of the cyclists, many of whom have certainly suffered a great deal due to their association with Fuentes.


Yahoo! Eurosport UK reviews a recent creative doping excuse from soccer player Romario and includes Floyd Landis, booze, hair restoratives, and sex in the mix.

Blogs
WADAwatch read the WSJ "Doping 101" piece from some time back and ponders WADA's testing procedures and entire system of operation:

Similarly, the idea is hard to hold back, that if Mr Catlin is in a position where his testimony is 'fatal' to certain Athletes, such as Floyd Landis, and yet, he has 'an ear to the ground' and is hearing 'such things' exist that fall in the rubric of laboratory error, is he not proving to those of us, who support the ends that WADA seeks, but do not support its MEANS of so achieving, that the system as envisaged is still fatally flawed?

Dear J muses on the media, its influence on what we see and think, and then manages to mention Floyd Landis along with other "disgraced" athletes. Maybe the "media" really is just trying to scare us all.

While there's no new posts, there are a lot of good comments at Rant lately, in Back to Basics, and Even More Required Reading.

There are some good comment threads going on here too, Tuesday Roundup, What is documented where, Different Columns detailed, Different Columns Hiding in plain sight.