Astana to be tainted by the doping brush thanks to Kloeden

Astana's Andreas Kloeden

A report to come out on Monday from German publication, Der Spiegel, is set to implicate German riders Andreas Kloeden and Matthias Kessler in illegal blood transfusions, citing the findings of an independent commission investigating doping.

The commission spent two years looking into doping allegations against two doctors who allegedly put a doping system into place at Freiburg University Clinic between 1995 and 2006 for the former Team Telekom, later known as T-Mobile.

Doctors Lothar Heinrich and Andreas Schmid, fired by the university in 2007, have admitted providing and administering doping material until 1999. But the commission concluded they continued until at least 2006, Der Spiegel reported.

Kloeden who now rides for Astana and has always denied doping. Kessler is currently serving a doping ban.

Astana have just managed to get some good press on Lance being allowed to ride the Tour de France and now this little bombshell is going to hit them hard. It will be interesting to see how the team responds to it and what the future wll hold for Kloeden within the team. I’m hesitant to speculate just yet, so won’t

Armstrong vs. Kimmage

Am sure most of you will have seen this already, but for those of you that haven’t, you have to check it out.

In the pre-race press conference for the Tour of California, Armstrong responds to a question from Sunday Times journalist and former professional rider Paul Kimmage. I have to say after seeing this video, you can see that Paul does himself no favours and just makes himself an outcast. That said, Lance responded like a true professional. You have to admire him for keeping it together and still giving Paul a good answer.

Challenging doping controls

Saw the following article this morning on the New York Times website and just have to wonder what the reaction from the sporting community would be if a professional cyclist had stood up and been as vocal against this ruling from the Belgium High Court? Take a look:

MELBOURNE, Australia — More than 60 Belgian athletes have formally challenged stricter antidoping rules that require athletes to keep testers apprised on a daily basis of their location.

The athletes are contending in Belgium’s high court that the rules are an invasion of privacy, and Rafael Nadal made it clear at the Australian Open that he agreed.

“These are things that have to be changed completely,” he said in Spanish on Wednesday after his quarterfinal victory over Gilles Simon. “The voice of the players is unanimous in the locker room. We’ve shown that we are a clean sport.”

Nadal called the revised rules “intolerable harassment.” As of this year, the world antidoping code requires top athletes, including leading tennis players, to let antidoping authorities know their exact whereabouts for one hour each day to facilitate testing.

“We are humans,” Nadal said, adding that athletes should not be made to feel like “delinquents” for playing sports.

It just doesn’t seem fair at all. If a tennis player (from a globally accepted sport) can be vocal about drug testing, then he must be just concerned about his privacy.  But if a cyclist (from a not so globally accepted sport and one that has regrettably been damaged by the use of drugs) is, then chances are that he must be a user of some sort and is trying to make the situation better for himself. Why else would he/she be outspoken about it.

Interesting nonetheless! Thanks to Lance for the heads-up on this one!

French say British cyclists were taking drugs

Can you believe it? Already all the negative reasons as to why Team GB have done so well at the Olympics have started to flow in.

If you don’t win – you didn’t try hard enough. If you do win, then you must have been using drugs. What is it with people nowadays? Why can’t they just accept that someone could actually be better than what they are?

It seems the French have been making insinuations that  that Great Britain’s cyclists superlative medal haul may be due to “performance-enhancing drugs”.

Wow – what a sore bunch of losers. Seriously! Why don’t they just sort themselves out, look back at what they’ve done wrong (training, selections, etc) and make sure they fix it for the next Olympics. Why go and attack the team that made a huge impression upon the world?  What will their comments really achieve? Nothing. It won’t help them get a medal now will it.

Anyway – I just find it interesting what people resort to when someone else wins.  What do you think?

Iban Mayo banned two years

Iban Mayo

Spanish rider Iban Mayo was banned for two years after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld an appeal by the sport’s world governing body the UCI, the Lausanne-based CAS said on Tuesday.

The statement said: “The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld the appeal filed by the International Cycling Union (UCI) in a case involving the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) and the Spanish cyclist Iban Mayo. Accordingly, the CAS disqualified Iban Mayo from the Tour de France 2007 and imposed a two-year ban as from 31 July 2007.”

In a complex matter, Mayo initially tested positive for blood-booster EPO on July 24 during last year’s Grand Boucle. The A-sample had been analysed by the Anti-doping laboratory of Chatenay-Malabry (LNDD) in France.

The B-sample was then tested in Ghent, Belgium, as the LNDD had its annual closure, which referred it to a laboratory in Sydney which claimed it was “inconclusive.”

In December, the LNDD confirmed the initial positive test but the RFEC had previously concluded the B-sample was not positive and had dropped proceedings. That brought about UCI’s appeal to CAS which was lodged the same month.

Fourth Rider Positive in Tour de France

Dmitri Fofonov (AFP/Getty Images)

Dmitri Fofonov of Kazakhstan has tested positive for a banned stimulant, according to his Credit Agricole team yesterday on the final day of the Tour de France.

The 31-year-old, who learned of his positive test after finishing 19th overall in the race on Sunday, explained to his team he bought a product over the internet to fight cramps. He has been suspended and is now facing the sack.

Having been a professional for only 10 years this year, Fofonov has only picked up three wins: the national time trial title (2000), a stage on the Tour of Catalonia (2002) and a stage on the Dauphine Libéré earlier this year. This is such a basic  and stupid error to make and now his career is at stake. Tell me – was it really worth it?

Saunier Duvall quit cycling

Following my posting on the 19th about Barloworld pulling their sponsorship from professional cycling, news has just come in that Saunier Duvall is also withdrawing its sponsorship in the sport.

Saunier Duvall, part of a German company specialising in domestic heaters and air conditioning units, has pulled out of cycling blaming the drug scandal that engulfed its team at the Tour de France. It acted after its Italian rider Riccardo Ricco failed a dope test on stage four, prompting the team to pull out of the race last week.

Both Ricco and his compatriot Leonardo Piepoli, who had won the prestigious Bastille Day stage but had not failed a dope test, were sacked last Friday.

A statement issued by Saunier Duval today confirmed: “This decision by the company was taken following the recent case of doping involving one of the team’s cyclists, Riccardo Ricco, and the suspicions against another cyclist.”

The news also represents a major blow for Spanish cycling, which will be left with just two Pro teams – Caisse d’Epargne and Euskaltel-Euskadi.

My only hope that this is the last team/sponsor to leave the sport because of the drug scandals. Another sad day indeed!

Riccardo Ricco Tests Positive

Riccardo Ricco taking glory on stage 9 of this year's Tour

This year’s Tour has just scored a hatric – for doping that is. Today, Riccardo Ricco – who won two climbing stages last week – was taken into custody by French police after testing positive for banned substances.

The substances in question include blood booster erythropoietin (EPO) as well as banned substance CERA (Continuous Erythropoietin Receptor Activator).

His Spanish team, Saunier-Duval, have now pulled out of the race, and all other cycling activities, until they get to the bottom of the affair.

A truly sad time for the sport. It’s just unfortunate that the world’s media are all focussed on the Tour right now. One thing is for certain though, the tests carried out for the AFLD seem to be working. So if it means a few more guys get caught to help clean the sport, then so be it.

We all love this sport and if we keep showing our support for it (through think and thin) then we’ll make it to the other side.

Tour hit by second doping positive

News just in:

Cyclingnews.com

Spanish rider Moisés Dueñas has become the second rider to register a non-negative test for banned blood booster erythropoietin at the Tour de France. The results came from a sample taken from the Barloworld rider after the Grand Tour’s first time trial, Stage 4 on July 8 in Cholet, according to head of the French Anti-doping Agency (AFLD) Pierre Bordry.

French authorities reportedly spent two hours searching the rider’s room at Le Rex, the team hotel where Barloworld and Bouygues Telecom were staying in Tarbes, France. Only one room is believed to have been searched by French authorities during the morning, number 604 – that of the Spanish rider.

Just as I thought things were starting to look good for the Tour (of course, taking into account that there has only been one positive test so far) then this happens. I just hope this is the last we hear of doping in the TdF this year as the sport cannot endure the negativity that this type of news generates anymore.

Bollocks! Riis reinstated as ’96 Tour winner

Riis

It looks like Tour de France race organisers are reinstating Bjarne Riis as the winner of the 1996 Tour de France.

Due to the fact that his admission came eleven-years (a year after the ten-year limitation period) after he won the event, according to race rules it cannot influence the end result. Plus, Riis was never stripped off his title officially by the International Cycling Union.

What a load of bollocks!! The guy cheated his way to victory – how can he be called a winner? The TdF organisers should be using this as an opportunity to make an example of him and show riders that even after the event, if they are caught cheating, they will be stripped of their title, should they win.

He might be ‘clean’ now and the Director of Team CSC-Saxo Bank, but he has lost all my respect as a fellow cyclist!