What’s better than one doping headline on a TdF rest day?
Roar Guru By Tinea Pedis, 12 Jul 2012 Tinea Pedis is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Cycling, doping, Lance Armstrong, Tour de France
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Two? Nope. How about three? Incidentally, none of these included the Bradley Wiggins episode. Back to the three yesterday.
Incidentally, none of these include the Bradley Wiggins episode – which the dropping of expletives aside, now looks incredibly ironic. That Sky also has the doctor Geert Leinders in their employ notwithstanding.
The day kicked off with news that the Cofidis team hotel had been raided. Remy di Gregorio was taken into custody, provisionally suspended by his team (Cofidis) whilst there were two other persons also taken into custody. All of which relates to an investigation by the French Central Office against Environmental Damage and Public Health (OCLAESP) stretching back to last year (when di Gregorio rode for Astana).
Cofidis are on record to say they believe it was an “isolated case”.
However, there were reports that di Gregorio was the subject of a phone tap, so if there were other parties there is the chance they will be identified.
Secondly, we had Lance Armstrong re-filing an amended complaint to the United States District Court after his initial 80 page lawsuit was dismissed in a timeframe that left all cycling fans (and probably Lance himself) reeling with not only its speed but ferocity.
The amended lawsuit is now only 25 pages long. However, interestingly enough, it does not contain one single declaration from Lance. The original did not either.
Which means Lance has still not gone under oath (this time at least) to deny any wrong doing. However it does mean his lawsuit boarders on being baseless.
Either way, if judge Sam Sparks first reply is anything to go by, we should have our answer soon enough.
Last, but by no means least, was the news that the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) had given a lifetime bans to consultant team doctor Dr Michele Ferrari, team trainer Jose Marti, and team doctor Dr. Luis Garcia del Moral.
All as a result of the same investigation that Armstrong is presently appealing and all in relation to their actions during their time with the US Postal/Discovery Channel team.
This prevents all three from ever again having any involvement in sports that are a signatory to the WADA code and was accepted by all three men without contest.
It is also probably the most significant ‘saga’ of the day (trumping the poor French) as it represents one of the first major efforts to remove the men responsible for supplying, educating and administering doping products to riders.
The significance should not be underestimated and the USADA should be applauded for such a positive step.
The only other question remaining for now is how much bigger could the headlines get for the second rest day?
It’s going to take quite a lot to beat what happened during the first.
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The Crowd Says (8) | Page 1 of Comments
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- Explore:
- Cycling, doping, Lance Armstrong, Tour de France
July 12th 2012 @ 5:22am
Darryl Kotyk said | July 12th 2012 @ 5:22am | Report comment
It’s very unfortunate that this topic has to be such a big part of the sport. It’s also unfortunate that officials feel that the best time to focus on this and beef up the allegations is during the TdF.
July 12th 2012 @ 6:38am
Herbie said | July 12th 2012 @ 6:38am | Report comment
…and they’re all non-stories: Armstrong – old news being dragged on; de Gregorio – recreational drugs pushing by association; Report sport not sensationalism, unless its sport of course! So it’s not a big part of the sport – no bigger than any other sport that actually tries to catch cheats – which at least cycling does. Its just a big part of the news, because journalists have a vested interest in a sensational story, and its easier to have a snipe about drugs than it is to actually do any research on the sport proper!!
July 12th 2012 @ 10:00am
Tinea Pedis said | July 12th 2012 @ 10:00am | Report comment
Herbie, thank you for your reply.
I’m curious to hear from you how; removing three men from the sport who have significantly helped alter years of results through their doping programs, investigating a past rider under huge doping suspicion (thus looking to show, cheaters will get eventually caught) and removing a rider presently suspected of cheating all do affect the sport?
How are they all separate from “the sport proper”?
As it is these precise issues why fans are now so suspicious of Sky and Brad Wiggins. We want a clean sport with clean hero’s that we can believe in and cheer on.
I am curious to know. As I’m really not into sensationalism – although one could argue the ‘di Gregorio/recreational drugs’ you’ve dropped is more sensationalist and the most baseless ‘fact’ mentioned. I do however want to see my sport cleaner and me not seem like a complete hack of a commentator.
July 12th 2012 @ 6:40pm
Herbie said | July 12th 2012 @ 6:40pm | Report comment
I just get weary of the timing of these ‘revelations’, and am cynical that they are timed by journalists and the French legal system to coincide with the Tour every year. Statistically cycling is not much worse than football for the % of athletes caught for drugs, and very similar to most other main stream sports. During Football’s Euro 2012 competition we didn’t hear John Terry continually interviewed about his upcoming ‘racist’ lawsuit, and during the World Cup we didn’t hear Mexican footballers continually asked about their recent failure of drugs tests for Clenbuterol, for which FIFA accepted their stories of food contamination – it’s a different playing field for cycling, which is doing something to clean its act up.
July 12th 2012 @ 9:48pm
Tinea Pedis said | July 12th 2012 @ 9:48pm | Report comment
As I was told yesterday, it’s a journalists job to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable”.
Maybe cycling journalists are, comparatively, prepared to ask more tough questions of their athlete’s. As I don’t think the lack of tough questions in the other examples you used should be taken as the norm that cycling should adopt.
July 12th 2012 @ 7:19pm
Pall4lance said | July 12th 2012 @ 7:19pm | Report comment
I find it perplexing when peopple write things like ‘As it is these precise issues why fans are now so suspicious of Sky and Brad Wiggins’
Are you claiming to know and understand the sentiment and feeling of a collective – ‘fans’? If so, with all due respect, how could you possibly know?
The sky doping thing was a question put up by a journalist expressing a view or opinion, in my view it was not ‘fans’ – sorry to be snappy, but growing tired of journalists and or pundits expressing their own views and attempting to give those views greater salience or credibility by suggesting they are voicing the sentiment of a broader group, in this case ‘fans’ in political commentry it might be ‘the public’.
July 12th 2012 @ 7:30pm
Tinea Pedis said | July 12th 2012 @ 7:30pm | Report comment
I can understand being frustrated that what is being to be purported as the “fans view” isn’t your own. However given the amount of press on the matter in addition to fans views here on The Roar, twitter and other cycling forums I think it’s actually a fair assumption that the present lack of transparency from Sky, coupled with their dominance, has lead a lot of ask questions.
Paul Kimmage was additionally interviewed yesterday and gave his views on the matter. There’s also many other pieces on Sky and questions around how clean they are.
As such I think there are a lot of questions being asked by the public. Not that they (or I even) feel Sky are dirty, rather we’re all looking for reassurance that they are clean hero’s we can believe will not have their win retrospectively taken away in the future (as has been the case for the past 2 decades).
July 12th 2012 @ 12:13pm
Tinea Pedis said | July 12th 2012 @ 12:13pm | Report comment
It’s L’equipe who were the one’s who broke the Cofidis story. They’ve always done it. Rest day “saga’s” are now almost as intertwined in cycling as mountain stage battles and tales of glory.
The other two were simply a case of poor timing. I don’t think they were intended to be during the same time as the Tour.
The ‘leak’ last week about the five riders apparently testifying against Lance, now that is a different story…