Sunday Roundup

News
The CyclingNews continues its interview with Johan Bruyneel who contends that he can still salvage Astana's reputation. And Laurent Jalabert thinks that though cycling faces an uphill battle against doping scandals and bad press it will not die.

The VeloNews writes about Dick Pound's desire to be a "neutral decider" despite his controversial reign at WADA:

“That’s my job, to cause things to happen," he said. "If my job becomes to be a neutral decider, then that will be my job and I can do that. Most good judges were very successful lawyers before they became judges … to be a good lawyer you need to be a good advocate. The role of judge is different, but having been an advocate helps you as a judge.”

ESPN reports that British sprinter Dwain Chambers has seemingly become another victim of the system as he tries to continue his career in track and field after serving a two year doping suspension:

UK Athletics said he cannot compete in its championships or trials because he has not been drug-tested since his ban ended two years ago, and he must be tested for a full 12-month period.

Chambers' lawyers said they will take legal action against UK Athletics if he is excluded from the trials.

"I never took myself off the drugs register at all," Chambers said. "It was their [UKA] decision and unfortunately because of that, it has left both of us in a sticky situation."

Blogs
Podium Cafe's Ursula makes some incredibly astute observations about the Astana/High Road rejections by the Giro organizers. It's not the doping, it's control politics between the organizers and the UCI. These teams are collateral damage.

Velo Vortmax feels that if you want to know how to run and retool a UCI pro cycling team, don't use Astana as an example. And VV talks about the latest "dust up" between the UCI and the ASO.

Harrumpher says the history of cheating in sports is long and storied, so don't pretend that "purity" is attainable.

The Angry Fan thinks much the same -- at length.

Racejunkie is NOT taking this Sunday off and wonders what in the world is going on with Astana and High Road being left out of the Giro. And let's not even get started on Dick Pound's power grab for control of the CAS. Finally, is Rock Racing just a disaster waiting to happen? Stay tuned.

Leo Campbell thinks the Landis case smalls funny.

Fatty asks the big questions about Rock Racing for all cycling fans, and answers them himself. Here's a sample of the "Q&A":

Question: Why isn’t Frankie Andreu the director of Rock Racing anymore?

Answer: This separation stemmed from an honest disagreement between Frankie and Mr. Ball. On one hand, Frankie thought the directeur sportif of Rock Racing would be in charge of both strategic and tactical operations for the team, from the hiring of the racers to the race-day plans.

On the other hand, Michael Ball thought main job of the directeur sportif of Rock Racing was to run odd errands, chauffeur the team Escalade, and give Mr. Ball soothing neckrubs when he is feeling stressed out.

The truth is, though, Michael Ball fired Andreu because he discovered that Andreu had used — and then kept secret for many years — EPO as a professional cyclist, and that kind of unethical behavior is simply not to be tolerated on this team.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAAH! Sorry