Wednesday Roundup

Landis' CAS hearing begins in the New York City law offices of Debevoise & Plimpton, behind closed doors. Information about who will appear to testify, and how long exactly it will last, has been scarce. We have heard both five and six day durations, and it is unknown whether there will be a weekend session and or any break for Easter. Our Q&A can be found here. Don't expect much news to come out any time soon.


News
ESPN's Bonnie D. Ford writes an excellent preview of the CAS hearing which began today in New York City. She outlines the case and profiles the participants. Some interesting tidbits: no gag order has been placed, but both sides are being tight lipped as to testimony and witnesses, Easter Sunday will be a day off (this implies that there will be a Saturday session), USADA will once again be represented by Mathew Barnett and Richard Young, Landis will be represented by Maurice Suh with no mention of Howard Jacobs who was part of the team in May at the initial USADA hearing. One last thing, the CAS ruling may take from weeks to months to be announced.

Legal groupies will be thrilled to learn that Matt Barnett has gone (nearly) solo, starting his own practice with Vanessa, forming Barnett and Barnett PC. Ford says she's Mrs. B; we'd earlier guessed sister, oops. No CV is online. He's an NYU Law and Dartmouth man. It's a small firm, but there are those who love it.

The NY Times previews the Landis CAS hearing which begins today in New York City. The proceedings are not open to the public, as was last May's Landis/USADA hearings, and may contain new evidence and witness testimony:

Unlike an appeal before a criminal court, which must focus on points of law and procedure, this hearing will allow lawyers for Landis to present new or additional evidence. The appeal is being conducted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the final stage of appeal for doping cases.“It’s like a completely new trial,” said Katy Hogg, a spokeswoman for the court, which is based in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Exactly what Landis’s legal team will present to the three-member panel is unknown. A spokeswoman for Landis and his lawyer, Maurice Suh, said that neither was available for interviews.

The CyclingNews also mentions the beginning of Floyd Landis' case before the CAS today, as well as WADA's disappointment in the UCI who has refused to step up and pay some of the expenses. This is particularly strange in light of the fact that the case is being held under UCI rules, perhaps the UCI has strained its coffers in the recent fight with the ASO.

In a special news feature the CyclingNews says Eric Boyer , president of AIGCP, might be the one most in the UCI's cross hairs over the UCI ASO battle for pro cycling control.

The Boulder Report talks about the Mario Cipollini/Rock Racing "break up" , and in the discussion Lindsey revisits the controversy that had Paul Scott leaving A.C.E. Lindsey asks if any of this really matters, and gives his own response, who knows.

Blogs
Monetize This provides a gratuitous snark that frankly seems to be just the kind of thing posted merely to get hits. He reports it worked. Glad to help. "We'll always have Paris."

WADAwatch begins with the intriguing title,"WADA trial, de novo with a twist: WADA sandbags Landis" and in his own inimitable way he summarizes what we will ultimately see in a few weeks time:

On trial today, is a defendant, yet an entire system is also at risk. When the decision falls, we will voraciously read the logic of a reversal*, in which Floyd is exonerated due to 'errors of procedure', or 'incapability of staff in a lab to follow clear rules, and use precision tools' (up to more than 500 thousand Swiss francs, or similarly in dollars).

OR, we will read an affirmation* that the substantive evidence, in spite of the known, acknowledged, and minimized errors found therein, are still sufficient proof of a digression from purity in sport.

WADAWatch is also not impressed by WADA's now financial investment in the prosecution, thinking it calls into question neutrality, objectivity, and commitment to justice. We think it is magnanimous to suggest WADA was ever interested in those things.

Gene Bisbee writes about the start of Floyd Landis' CAS hearing which began today. Gene then posts a summary of the Landis case contained in ten points from the past 20 months. It just goes to show how one can change one's mind, many times.

Chris @Podium Cafe says he hasn't the heart to cover this Landis hearing, he'll let us do the scrounge work of digging up any details we can. Thanks for the confidence.

Kurier.at has a piece with a picture of Landis that we haven't translated, but the headline got our attention: "Dumm und dümmer". We think they aren't talking about Armstrong's phrase for the pair of Landis and Zabriskie.


Indiana Daily Student posts an opinion by a runner who is tired of cyclists training for the Little 500 blowing by him and not sharing the road nicely:

[R]ight when I hit perfect stride, some Floyd Landis comes up next to me, signals his next move and totally throws me off the road while jetting by in his Schwinn.

"Share the road" works more than one way, fellow bikers.

Forums
Cutting Edge Muscle has a thread of dubious veracity and fascinating detail about how some people think doping in cycling has worked. The "scoop" here is that Landis was doing T and Epi-T, that he owed his blood doping doctor money so the Doc messed him up. And people accuse us of conspiracy theories.