Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Tuesday Roundup

News
The CyclingNews this morning provides two items of interest. The first being Christian Prudhomme's assertion that since Astana's past doping problems have damaged the image of the TdF he cannot assure the team, and thus defending Tour de France champ Alberto Contador, an invitation to participate in it this year. CONI's reopening of the OP can of worms surely didn't help. Also, Frankie Andreu speaks out on Rock Racing and the Kayle Leogrande lawsuit filed against USADA. Andreu asserts that RR knew of the impending actions USADA might take against Leogrande and felt RR did not react appropriately:

When asked how much this specific instance of the Rock & Republic sponsored team affected his decision to part ways with the team in December, Andreu responded that it was more the reaction by the team owners – or more specifically the lack of reaction – that gave him a sour taste. "There were a combination of things [in my decision,] but the non-reaction by Rock & Republic was certainly part of that. I knew [the investigation] was in the development. I didn't know about the lawsuit, but I knew there were rumors of the test. "


In more CyclingNews ACE, the Agency for Cycling Ethics, has announced a new anti-doping program for smaller teams with fewer funds, and the first team to implement the program is BMC:

The new program announced Tuesday is called the "Blood Passport Program" and offers "slightly more blood testing at a small cost," according to the company's press release. "ACE's Blood Passport Program includes an average of 15 random collections per rider per year, both in and out of competition, and provides longitudinal analysis of biological markers, including testing for hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, reticulocyte count, and off score (stimulation index). As a result, this program provides for blood testing and analysis equal to or greater in frequency than the UCI's 2008 program.


The Village Voice gives "Bigger, Stronger, Faster ", the documentary about steroids in which Floyd Landis is interviewed, a thumbs up.

Blogs
Cyclelicio.us correctly notes the "told you so" we'll claim if a Slipstream rider shows up as a false positive after being clear on the team tests. We've predicted trouble like that when we heard thought about resolving disputes between Team/ACE testing, "Passport" readings, and WADA doping control tests. It'll be ugly.

Bugs and Cranks snarks that Roger Clemens should go bowling with Floyd Landis since they are both guilty and have been convicted in the court of public opinion. That doesn't sound fair given Clemen's shoulder, arm and wrist strength. How about billiards?

Dink and Flika, who appear to be Fox News fans, seem to have a running joke in giving "Floydie" awards to people who make comments on their site.

10 comments:

bobble said...

General qustion about FL's CAS appeal... Hopefully the CAS finds for Floyd but I'm curious exactly what will happen if they do? Does a finding for Floyd vacate or overturn all the previous judgements against him except for the ruling that ripped the title?

Hopefully this isn't a repeat...

Thanks ya'll!

Laura Challoner, DVM said...

A CAS finding in Landis' favor would immediately lift his suspension and free him to ride professionally and also sign with a UCI team. Such a ruling would also restore his title as 2006 Tour de France winner.

The CAS may also, without negating the AAA Panel's award, alter the date his suspension started from the puzzling January, 2007 date the majority adopted to the end of July, 2006, when he stopped competing.

The AFLD ruling against Landis is not subject to CAS review and presumedly stands until January, 2009. That decision renders Landis unable to ride on French soil until that date. Thus, he would not be able to ride in the 2008 Tour de France or any other French race until after that date unless that decision is altered somehow independant of the CAS review of the AAA Majority Panel's award

bobble said...

Thanks for the prompt and concise answer Judge.

I forgot to ask also, and you would be the right guy to answer, can either party bring up new information in the CAS hearing or are they stuck with all the information already on the record?

Thanks!

Laura Challoner, DVM said...

beeble,

Theoretically, the parties could present their case de novo, or anew, to the CAS. But, as a practical matter, they have agreed to present their case through briefing, using the record they created in Malibu.

They will meet with the Panel in New York, probably to make oral argument and respond to the Panel's qustions. The Panel may ask that they amplify the record in New York as well. I am not aware that any such request has been made.

Cub said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cub said...

Bill,

Could the CAS reduce Floyd's suspension to time served?

Do you think it's possible they will want to send a strong message to the anti-doping agencies to get their acts together (stronger than that sent by the AAA), and if so, how might they go about it? Assuming they don't overturn the previous decision, that is.

~ Cub

Laura Challoner, DVM said...

cub,

If CAS does not change the result, there won't be a reduction from the 2 year suspension. Even if there was, FL still couldn't ride with a UCI pro team for an additional two years. That is a UCI rule and it isn't affected by the CAS case.

Assuming the results won't change but the Panel wants WADA labs to "get their act together" the decision could spell out a number of ISL violations but conclude that they did not cause the adverse analytical result. It could also list a bunch of errors and warn the lab "next time" those errors might actually mean something.... like the AAA majority did.

Yokota Fritz said...

One wonders when the false positive accusations will begin with the ACE controls?

daniel m (a/k/a Rant) said...

Fritz,

Interesting question. But since the ACE controls monitor various biological markers, rather than test directly for the presence of any banned substances. So I suspect that it's not nearly as likely to happen as with actual anti-doping tests.

The ACE program, from what I understand of it, is aimed more at discouraging anyone from starting down the doping path, and counseling those who might have done so about the dangers of what they're doing.

And, when an athlete's tests have unusual results, the ACE program investigates all of the possible reasons for the results. In one instance, a rider in 2007 had consistently odd results when training at altitude. It turned out to be the way his body happened to respond to the challenges and stresses of training in such an environment.

daniel m (a/k/a Rant) said...

Of course, if I'd read the link to Cycleico.us, I'd have realized what Fritz was really talking about. My bad.