Saturday Roundup

News
The AP posts an Eddie Pells report on the fiscal costs of the Landis case to the American taxpayer through USADA, as well as to Landis himself, who is said to be in financial difficulty. Requests for a statement from Landis or his representatives by the AP were unanswered. Pells' research estimates that the case has cost USADA between 5-10% of its budget. The closed CAS hearing takes place as if the previous USADA hearing at Pepperdine never happened with testimony being presented as if new. The hearing starts in a Manhattan law office on Wednesday and is scheduled to last approximately five days. Travis Tygrat repeated a statement he's made before:

"Generally, we would always prefer to spend our time and resources in supporting clean athletes and not having to prosecute guilty ones," USADA CEO Travis Tygart said Friday.

Which makes as little sense now as it did the first few times he's rolled it out. The job of USADA is to prosecute cases, not to "support clean athletes" by anything other than "management" of cases. Pells goes on to note that USOC paid for the first round, but not the appeal which is on USADA's dime, nothing that Landis has never had any intention of competing in the Olympics.

The VeloNews addresses the reasons given for the split in A.C.E. between Paul Scott and Paul Strauss. As suggested earlier in cycling forums Scott resigned from the agency due to his continuing support for the Landis case. Former Rock Racing DS Frankie Andreu is critical of Landis and Scott for working together on the science of his case, but due to WADA rules finding a scientist to testify on an athlete's behalf is easier said than done, as Landis notes:

“I have no choice but to hire somebody, because I don’t know anything about science ... But as soon as I hire someone, everyone is saying, ‘Oh, Floyd’s paying him.’ Well, what choice do I have? You’re stuck either way.

All of the people who express skepticism of Scott wrap it in the position that there is something unseemly with someone involved in ACE taking a position in any case, suggesting conflict of interest. We don't see that. Last time we checked, ACE never tested Landis, nor was ACE hired by Landis' team. It looks to us like the same kind of double-think "ethics" as the WADA code -- a false propriety getting in the way of looking for truth and justice, as if those were some kind of hot-potatoes one should avoid seeking.

And hey, Ace, if someone you were testing is accused of something, and your data doesn't support the conclusion, you darned well better become involved, or those folks you're sticking constantly might not be so appreciative of your efforts. Independence doesn't mean you never take a stand, it means you're not obliged to take a particular stand before the facts are in.

In an earlier edition of CyclingNews Bernard Laporte, the French Secretary for Sport, says that the French cycling federation has come under the protection of the agency who says that all the federation is doing is taking its sport back from the UCI.

Feltet.dk, machine translated, reports The Man came for an OoC test while Kevin van Impe was in the middle of making arrangements for the funeral of his son, who died six hours after birth. No, he could not come back later, or it would have been a "missed test":

"Luckily I had written in my whereabout's that I this week mainly would be at the hospital. Now I can so change next week write that I can meet at Monday in the crematorium in Lochristi. That system is simply not humane", a bitter Kevin van Impe said.

Velonews has an English version, and it doesn't come off any better.

Blogs
Rant thinks that Pat McQuaid and Martin Dugard have something in common this week, they both spoke before they thought about what they were going to say. Rant cites McQuaid's odd doublespeak on Alberto Contador, who he now supports but might ban IF Contador can somehow get the courts to allow him to race the TdF, and Martin Dugard in regards to his turnaround on Floyd Landis' guilt, which he fails to rationalize with any kind of explanation. Rant wonders if maybe Mr. Dugard just doesn't get the science of the case and has decided to find Floyd guilty on the basis of, a hunch? Open mouth, insert foot.

Bicycle.NET has Larry Behrendt write his version of Suh's opening statement for next week's appeal hearing. It focuses on the Elephant in the Room, being the fundamental unfairness of the process as embodied in the actions of the greater WADA community: They're all dopers, so what does it matter?

Potholes and Roadapples writes about hometown boy Floyd Landis' upcoming CAS hearing to begin on Wednesday in NYC. B Harris notes that this hearing will not be covered live either by web stream or blogging.

Velo Vortmax has much more to say about the Dugard drubbing of Floyd Landis' reputation as he notes Dugard's defensive response to outraged "quasi" cycling fans, VV included:

So, Martin, you are entitled to your opinion and I am entitled to mine. I don't believe you. I don't believe that Floyd Landis told you in confidence that Lance Armstrong used PEDs. Also, I do not believe that Floyd Landis told Greg LeMond that he used PEDs in the 2006 Tour de France. In America a man has the opportunity to confront his accusers. This is called due process. This opportunity was denied Floyd Landis in the kangaroo court of an AAA hearing. LeMond was whisked out of the court room in a rush before anyone could cross examine his motives and agenda. What a farce.

Phantom Reflections thinks that if the UCI says it will back Alberto Contador in a court fight against the ASO why not back Levi Leipheimer too? Why not Floyd Landis who PR feels has been the victim of a smear campaign? Why not indeed!

20 Million Minutes gives us a tribute to Richard Burke, the founder of Trek Bikes, who passed away earlier this week.