Irregular Report 46

We'll have more news on the conclusion of Landis v. USADA as it becomes available...

Velonews picks it up, and steals our image. No comments yet from Landis, and VN reports:

No details of the settlement were released and a USADA spokesman declined comment as to whether Landis’ decision to withdraw the suit involved any concession on the part of the agency.

We understand Landis to be intensely training and not being particularly responsive to calls or mail, so it may be a while before anyone hears more. We'd expect MSM stories first if and when he has anything to say. That he's training hard likely means he's intending and expecting to race as soon as the suspension is over.

Velo Vortmax ruminates on the settlement, and it leaves him filled with loathing.

Rant notes the end, and ponders

I wish I could be confident that despite the outcome for Floyd Landis, the whole anti-doping system will change for the better. But the reality is that most of the players have the same jobs they had when this whole saga started — or they’ve been promoted.

That would include Travis Tygart and Richard Young.

Those watching calendars can note that the OJ Simpson robbery case went from incident on 13-Sep-2007 to sentencing on 6-Dec-2008. That's one year and 11 weeks from event through a full jury trial. The Landis case went from 26-Jul-2006 to an arbitration award on 20-Sep-2007 - one year, seven weeks; then to 30-Jun-2008 for the CAS appeal award, another seven months and a week. Now we're in December 2008, making it two years, four months and a week to get to something of a conclusion.

It's hard to argue that the "streamlined" WADA ajudication process has really sped anything up compared to actual court, or reduced costs to anyone. Independent of the many other hurdles in the WADA Code, depositions would have helped everyone - but there is no provision for them in The Code, even when they would be more effective than bringing everyone to a single hearing.

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Racejunkie gets a jump on the holiday awards with her own collection for the year, including:

Crap Verdict of 2008: I love you, Iban, but this one's for Floyd Landis, whom even the brilliant underappreciated loyalists at trustbutverify and a crack legal team couldn't save from the scumly vendetta-driven selectively-prosecuting due-process-abusing lowlife press-yapping hypocrites over at UCI, WADA, and the Most Incompetent Chimp-Staffed Lab On Earth. Hell, even if you think he *did* do it, this was a freakin' travesty. And am I the only one going absolutely insane thinking of who's still zipping around happily in the high-paid Grand Tour-racing Classics-taking ProTour while poor Landis only just managed to scrape up a deal with an artificial-hip manufacturer? Oh well, at least he'll be racing domestically where we can see him...

According to Podium Cafe's "average age of cycling race winner" analysis there is real hope for Floyd Landis' comeback.