Another Grand Tour, another round of questions, with none to zero answers. The internet forums are yet again ablaze with mudslinging and denial, counter attacks and indignation.
‘How can a 41-year old win a Grand Tour?’ some ask.
‘It’s a sad day for cycling when someone who wins a Grand Tour is automatically suspected of doping,’ replies another.
And then this happens: Chris Horner misses a doping test.
Or, if you listen to Radioshack-Leopard, the Spanish anti-doping authorities screw up and go to the wrong hotel.
First off I just want to say that we definitely do not need this kind of a mess right now.
I mean, seriously? The winner of the 2013 Vuelta a Espana misses an out of competition test on the last day of the race?
How it was missed is obviously important here, but not as critical, in my mind, as that it was missed.
Apparently, this is what happened. The US Anti-Doping Authority (USADA) decided in their infinite wisdom that they wanted to do an out-of-competition test on Horner the morning after the Vuelta finished.
However, not having any testing teams in the area, they asked the Spanish authorities to do the tests.
Yet unbeknownst to the Spanish folks, Horner, it seems, had decided to leave the hotel he was registered as staying in on the UCI whereabouts list, and headed to the hotel where his wife was staying before heading back to the States.
The Radioshack team and, more importantly for Horner, the USADA, have stated that the 41-year old had in fact updated the whereabouts list correctly and that the problem arose due to a time lag between the USA and Spain.
Sound Benny Hillesque enough for you? Good, because it truly is a joke.
First of all, why did USADA decide to test to a rider that they knew was more than likely to win the Vuelta after he’d been tested several times in the last days of the race?
Don’t trust the doping officials at the race?
Believe Horner may have something to hide? Or just standard procedure?
I am suggesting not that Horner is doping, but these three possibilities are all exactly that now, possibilities, thanks to the revelation that Horner’s home anti-doping authority sent in a team to test him just right after the event.
The whereabouts system I think is a necessary thing as is the OOC testing, but this just smacks of irresponsibility and disrespect, at best, and a witch hunt at worst – and that, coming from me, says a lot.
Secondly, consider Chris Horner and whomever at Radioshack-Leopard allowed him to change hotels and update the whereabouts system just 24 hours before the morning after the race.
Doesn’t that sound a tad irresponsible also?
The time lag may be the cause of this ruckus, but I feel that in a sport where so much is doubted (because so many have cheated in the past) that an athlete that earns a living and more from that sport has a responsibility to suck up the system and its attendant rules.
A bit like Contador and that beef, which illustrates that an athlete has to be, in this modern era, responsible for every single morsel that goes down his gullet, so too does a cyclist and his team management have to pre-guess the possible cock-ups by the authorities, such as this.
“I want to change hotels and stay with my wife.”
“Er, you know what they’re like Chris, just stay here and you can head home with her tomorrow.”
Simple enough.
But here we are, thanks, I believe, to two irresponsible acts.
The Spanish testing team also screwed up, releasing the story of the no-show of Horner to the Spanish press.
They did state though that after finding another rider asleep in the room at the hotel they believed the Vuelta champion to be in, they went to another hotel and found Horner to be not there either.
RadioShack blame it on the Spanish and are now seeking compensation for the releasing of the story to the media. USADA says Horner did nothing wrong.
Great work fellas, great work. Just what we need.
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