The Gusev case - makes a good case for transparency but misses a few key points, like Valverde's DNA

There are many good points made in this long piece in support of transparency on the UCI's part, something the governing organisation has not shown great desire for - or even talent at - up to now. Accusations are made (see below) about Bruyneel's influence over the UCI (debatable, I'm sure, but moot) and his manipulation of the media (surely something everyone tries to do?). Another point made is that some riders are pursued to the effect that they are rendered almost unable to get a job, even if they have not been tested positive to a banned substance (eg Rasmussen). Whereas several others do their time and are re-admitted to the fold in good teams. Whilst I can agree with the general sentiment (it seems unfair at times but... sometimes life is unfair) it does overlook matters of detail: Rasmussen, like Basso and Vino has served his time and is available for employment (and currently working as a rider to my knowledge). It's up to him to market his obvious talent. Rider selection is up to the teams themselves, not the UCI. And in Basso's case he also did not test positive but admitted to 'intent'; whereas in contrast Rasmussen has not admitted any more than getting his location wrong, despite a continental-sized location 'error' that he ostensibly lied about.

And then there's Valverde. Yes, he is being pursued where others implicated in Operacion Puerto ride on, case close. But not everyone is convinced of his non-involvement and, unlike other riders his DNA (taken by Italian authorities from a test during a stage of Le Tour that visited Italy) is available and has been (allegedly) positively linked to DNA found in blood collected from Operacion Puerto. Whilst I'd like to see every rider who was implicated in Puerto give up their DNA for matching, it's only the Italian authorities who have the motivation and the determination to see this through. Should we criticise them for this apparent vendetta or celebrate their perseverance?

Bottom line is that we need transparency and clear evidence of fairness in the process. At the moment it's a dog's breakfast. That at least is certainly clear.
       

Daily Peloton - Pro Cycling News

Martin Hardie views the Gusev case is yet another example of the tendency which has bothered riders, managers and cycle reporters for a long time: It reveals that some riders can do anything without being punished and other riders are being punished even if they are acquitted.

For example, the International Cycling Union works actively at expanding the prohibition to the whole world which the Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde has recieved against riding in Italy. Valverde was allegedly involved in the case of blood doping known as Operation Puerto in 2006, but he has never been banned by the Spanish Cycling Union. However his compatriot Contador who has worked for Bruyneel until recently whose his initials allegedly were found on some of the many blood bags in 2006 is still free to ride. UCI is not running any campaign against him nor are they pursuing Fränk Schleck from Bjarne Riis’ CSC Team although he also was in involved in Operacion Puerto because he send money to the doctor who is charged with running the illegal program.

Colom gets 2 years for EPO

Colom Suspended For Two Years | Cyclingnews.com

Antonio Colom has been suspended for two years by the Spanish Cycling federation for anti-doping violations, the International Cycling Union has reported. He has also been ordered to pay a fine of 46,958 Euro.

He tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition control in April 2009, and had been targeted under the biological passport programme, according to the UCI.

Ballan back to racing after cleared of involvement. Handy rider to have back on the BMC team, eh?

Ballan Back To Racing | Cyclingnews.com

BMC Racing Team president Jim Ochowicz indicated that Ballan "has fully cooperated with the Italian authority and has provided the investigation authority with all requested information and even more. Apart of that, no sporting authority has opened a proceeding against Alessandro Ballan so far. Given all these aspects, the BMC Team has no reason at all to not respect the presumption of innocence and will no longer withhold Alessandro Ballan from competition."

Lucky first for De Bonis - inaugural Biological Passport suspension is a prize of 2 years off

Two Years For De Bonis | Cyclingnews.com

Francesco De Bonis has been handed a two-year suspension and fine by the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI). The Italian was one of the first five cases opened by the UCI last year with the backing of its Biological Passport. The suspension runs from June 18, 2009, to June 17, 2011.

Support for Landis grows as his detailed account provides insight into doping 'best practice'

I don't think this is particularly new, but it confirms - if true - what has been suspected for a long time. The Landis allegations point to a combination of EPO microdosing with a balancing degree of autologous blood doping.  As I understand it the blood transfusions in effect mask the otherwise imbalanced percentage of newly-formed red blood cells by adding old ones that were kept in a handy refrigerator... Operacion Puerto anyone? 

Biological Passport Expert Taking Landis Seriously | Cyclingnews.com

Landis, in confessing to practices he used during his time with the US Postal Service and Phonak teams, not only detailed the techniques he used but also said the practice was condoned by team management and adopted by his fellow teammates. He revealed that riders combined small doses of the drug with undetectable transfusions of the rider's own blood to boost performance, giving anti-doping authorities important details on how cheaters continue to evade positive tests.

US dope scope widens to consider doping, if proven, to constitute fraud by teams and riders

The Landis allegations continue to generate investigative activity but how provable will any of this be? (Has anyone got hold of that US Postal team bus driver yet?) Who (if anyone) will dare come forward and back up these damaging claims? I guess we'll find out soon enough, when the smoke clears a bit more.

Meanwhile the defence lawyers will be warming up in earnest. And all of this dopage talk must signal an early start to the annual TdF speculation fest, mustn't it?

Scope Of US Doping Inquiry May Be Widened | Cyclingnews.com

Speaking to the New York Times, Columbia University law professor and former federal prosecutor Daniel C. Richman said of potential fraud charges: “Federal fraud charges are fairly straightforward; they apply to any scheme to acquire money or property through deceit or misrepresentation. In this case, the authorities would have to prove that Armstrong was misrepresenting himself to sponsors by saying that he was clean but was actually using performance-enhancing drugs and profiting from it.”

UCI owns up to conflict of interest over $100K from Armstrong, admits it reminded LA of promise

It's nice to see the UCI finally come clean and admit that it should've thought twice about accepting a donation from a rider; and nice also that they sent Armstrong a friendly reminder when he overlooked paying up. Such a nice thing all 'round, ain't it?

That Lance made the promise in 2002 and only paid in 2005 perhaps suggests that (a) $100K is small beans to LA and easily overlooked; (b) the UCI was too polite to ask at first; and then (c) the UCI got a bit desperate about it later and reminded him of the promised donation.

I'm sure we can all read the details and draw our own conclusions. Good to see that investigations into the Landis allegations are underway. I'm sure it'll all be cleared up before July 4 - or sometime within the next 2 and half years, anyway.

McQuaid Acknowledges Accepting Armstrong Donation A Mistake | Cyclingnews.com

The President of the UCI Pat McQuaid has revealed that Lance Armstrong is the only rider ever to have made a donation to UCI and has admitted that in hindsight, the decision to accept $100,000 while the Texan was still racing was regrettable.

Szczepaniak brothers stripped of medals

Jouffroy Confirmed As U23 'cross World Champion | Cyclingnews.com

Szczepaniak brothers stripped of medals, issued with heavy bans

Frenchman Arnaud Jouffroy has been officially confirmed as Under-23 World Cyclo-cross Champion following the disqualification of Pawel and Kacper Szczepaniak. The brothers have been stripped of their medals and been handed heavy penalties by the Polish Cycling Federation (PZK).

Jouffroy had finished third behind the Polish brothers in the World Championship race on January 30 in Tabor, Czech Republic. On March 11, the International Cycling Union (UCI) announced that Pawel, 20, and Kacper, 19, had tested positive for EPO in targeted tests carried out after the event.

Colo and Larpe positive; Dekker and Astarloza sanctioned

UCI Suspends Larpe, Coló For Drug Positives | Cyclingnews.com

Cycling's governing body lists fines, sanctions handed to Dekker, Astarloza

Mickael Larpe (Roubaix Lille Metropole) and Alessandro Coló (ISD-Neri) have been provisionally suspended by the International Cycling Union (UCI) after respective positive tests for EPO and clenbuterol. The UCI have also confirmed sanctions and fines issued by four national federations to eight individual riders, including Thomas Dekker and Mikel Astarloza.

Armstrong rejects claims by Landis

Armstrong makes some good points in his defence. Clearly more to come but there are great doubts about the veracity of the claims. It remains unverified and probably unverifiable.

Armstrong Rejects Landis Allegations | Cyclingnews.com

It is very sad. At one point or another, all of us implicated have cared about Floyd, that is one things that we have shared in common. We might be on different teams, come in different backgrounds or be at different places in our lives but at some point we share this bond that we all gave him ladder at some point in his life when he dug himself a hole. We gave him the ladder to dig out of the Mercury situation. Andy Rihs came on and gave him a ladder to dig out of that hole. People aren’t throwing him ladders anymore. I don’t want to make a personal attack on Landis. I don’t think he is a good guy or a bad guy, he certainly has some issues.

Untested Landis allegations implicate Hincapie and Dave Z as well as many others

addicted2wheels

Landis dobs on ex-teammates. If true - and proven to be true - what happens next?
Why confess after so much effort was expended on denials? Why implicate just about everyone he has ever ridden with? Armstrong, Hincapie, Leipheimer... and Bruyneel of course. Is it revenge, or a need to clear his conscience? It's an amazing co-incidence, to have Dave Z leading the ToC right now and to be named by Landis along with the all-star cast of past colleagues.... mind you, at least one of these emails reportedly date back to April 30.

Landis confesses, implicates Armstrong and Bruyneel? If true and can be proved... big ifs

Big "ifs" indeed. Is it really an email from Landis? Does it hold water? Can it be proven?

Landis Confesses To Doping, Implicates Armstrong And Bruyneel | Cyclingnews.com

Floyd Landis has confessed to doping during his professional cycling career in an e-mail to USA Cycling chief executive officer Steve Johnson, which Cyclingnews has obtained a copy of. The e-mail, which was sent to Johnson on April 30, details Landis’ history with doping, starting from his first experience with testosterone in 2002 through to 2006 when he won the Tour de France, before abnormalities from a test on stage 17 saw him stripped of the title years later.

David Clinger pinged 2 years for testosterone

In cycle sport bulking up doesn't help much at all, unless perhaps you are a track sprinter. So when a roadie or MTBer gets pinged there's usually a different story; often it's a desire to come back quickly after an injury. The alternative explanation is that a testosterone patch helps post-race or heavy training load recovery, something that is unproven but widely believed. Unproven it may be, however if you do believe it works, for you it probably does. It's that old mind-over-matter thing.

Clinger Given Two-year Suspension For Doping | Cyclingnews.com

Positive test at 2009 US elite road nationals

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced today that an American Arbitration Association/Court of Arbitration for Sport (AAA/CAS) panel issued its decision that David Clinger receive a two-year suspension for doping violations.

Whilst Valverde continues to race and win the noose tightens

Well he denies everything and will contest this for ever more, but either way it doesn't look good, does it?

Valverde Case Gets Further Support | Cyclingnews.com

Spanish court backs CONI's use of Puerto evidence

Madrid's provincial court has ruled that the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) was within its rights when, in 2008, it obtained bags of plasma that linked Alejandro Valverde to the Puerto investigation. This ruling follows a similar assessment by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in March.

Larpe lucks out?

Nothing like having the police search your home to get you motivated for a long spell off the bike. Mind you, there's always the B-sample so we must not judge.

Larpe Positive For EPO | Cyclingnews.com

Mickaël Larpe from the Continental team Roubaix-Lille-Métropole has tested positive for EPO, the French professional league announced today, just 10 hours after the police raided his house in Angoulême. The Frenchman faces a two-year ban and an inquiry is ongoing about trafficking of doping products.

Pellizotti, Prado, Valjavec named under biological passport profiling

A blood profiling 'apparent violation' is detected when an unusual, unlikely or particularly indicative pattern of blood variations occurs. It could be sudden changes in values, higher values than expected for that individual or some other outlier in that data that suggests something unusual is happening and bears further scrutiny. It's basically a big blip in otherwise 'normal' data and warrants a 'please explain'.  The athlete can either own up or dispute it, and it goes onward from there...

UCI Names Riders Snared By Biological Passport | Cyclingnews.com

The UCI has confirmed it has requested disciplinary proceedings to be opened against Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas-Doimo), Jesus Rosendo Prado (Andalucia-Cajasur) and Tadej Valjavec (Ag2r-La Mondiale) for apparent violation of the Anti-Doping Rules on the basis of the information provided by the blood profiles in their biological passports.