UCI: A Culture of Omerta

Man, it is impossible to reform cycling, the old scumbags refuse to depart, even in the face of universal condemnation, and that is despicable.  Because let us face it the whole point of the monstrosity that is titled The Reasoned Report was to inspire deterrence from doping, not forgetfulness of dopers, nor amnesty, nor an article designed to inflame public opinion or prejudice upcoming arbitration cases, or to create a culture of fear and intimidation among professional cycling teams, nor a validation of the UCI biological passport, nor the validation of an exemption to WADA laboratory positive test results: but to deter dopers from cheating plain and simple.  Pat McQuaid who refuses to step down in the face of a pending "ethics committee probe" fosters the old culture that everyone agrees should be discontinued, the steroid era.

Man, this old anti-doping gig is stale and it generates allot of repetitive thoughts, based, of course, on a topic that should have died on the vine long ago.  Just when you want to lay down the pen forever new revelations come to light, even though in some cases the revelations included conduct that happened fourteen years ago, and perhaps should have remained dormant.  Nevertheless, this redundant scenario would not be considered hopeless, if and only if, the persons who should be setting an example on how to behave properly would only set an example by embracing a new code of truthfulness and honesty instead of embracing the old outdated code of omerta. It boggles the mind that there existed a culture of omerta not only among the drug crazed cheaters of old but among the very organizations that were founded to police the dopers.

Listen, cycling is simply wasting time trying to hold on to the old scumbag refugees that should have had a "T" branded on one shoulder and a "P" on the other.  [See: Marquis de Sade, 200 Days of Sodom or Honor de Balzac, Le Pere Goriot for examples of old world French branded convicts.] Perhaps we should brand the letter "B" on Pat McQuaid and a "D" on Lance Armstrong; "B" for bribery and "D" for doping.  But: we should not brand the letter "A" on ex-doper foreheads for amnesty [nor the Scarlet Letter A for adultery: after all, what are we, a bunch of puritan extremists?] nor the letter "F" for forgetfulness; the idea is to remember the past not to forget as an reminder to others as to how not to act.  But: perhaps this subterfuge by Pat McQuaid and Hein Verbruggen was an attempt to make the cycling community forget their involvement, and to extend the amnesty to themselves along with the reformed dopers, in an attempt to whiteout the past and to set an example for the future.

Velovortmax riddle of the day:

How does a wind chime chime if there is no wind? 

UCI: Unabashed Corrupt Individuals

Cycling is a shambles and the main culprits are not deranged dopers willing to testify against the culture of doping. No the problem originates in alphabet soup organizations who seem to have no useful purpose other than to skim money off the top, charging race organizers with senseless fees to sanction races, and racing teams to fund questionable anti-doping efforts.  Once, the UCI (International Cycling Union) represented honesty and integrity; now UCI stands for Unabashed Corrupt Individuals.  Men who accept bribes from riders to alter allegedly test positive for drugs on the prohibited list, men who would go as far as to cover up their malfeasance through a comprehensive program of lies and denies.  These men, Pat McQuaid and Hein Verbruggen refuse to heed the call of Greg LeMond to confess and quit, preferably in eternal shame.  Pat McQuaid and Hein Verbruggen refuse the honorable course and insist on pursuing the dishonorable course even though their conduct has been considered so egregious that the UCI executive committee has called for an independent committee to clarify allegations raised against them in the USADA investigation of rampant use and distribution of performance enhancing drugs to the U.S. Postal Service Professional Cycling Team by Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel; as graphically outlined in the Reasoned Decision.

It will be a hard slog for the independent committee. There is no paper trail and no way to verify through  scientific analyses the Lance Armstrong 2001 Tour of Switzerland stored urine samples for possible traces of recombinant EPO, because the samples have been destroyed. This is a significant point that is suggestive of foul play and this should be thoroughly be investigated by the committee.  There are other problems with the reliability of certain witness testimony as to the allegations raised that the UCI engaged in a systematic conspiracy to alter test results of favored cyclists.  Floyd Landis admitted to federal agents that he lied not only to Irish journalist Paul Kimmage, but probably to Travis Tygart and USADA as well.  Floyd Landis subsequently was found guilty of libel in a Suiss court and ordered to pay damages to Pat McQuaid and Hein Verbruggen.  Paul Kimmage wrote an investigative journalism article detailing the allegations raised by Floyd Landis against the UCI in a newspaper and was subsequently sued for libel by Pat McQuaid and Hein Verbruggen.  Then the bombshell allegations raised against the UCI in the USADA Reasoned Decision by ex-teammate Tyler Hamilton that Lance Armstrong admitted to testing positive to rEPO during the 2001 Tour de Suisse and that the UCI accepted bribes from Lance Armstrong in payment of a falsification of the laboratory results to purchase blood diagnostic laboratory equipment, and as a contribution for UCI operations; prompted the UCI to drop the lawsuit against Paul Kimmage.  This prompted Paul Kimmage to file a counter suit against the UCI seeking damages for filing a baseless, pernicious legal action.

This nonsense cannot be invented!  Now be reasonable, someone is lying here.  Either Floyd Landis told the truth to Paul Kimmage, and lied to federal agents when he admitted that his previous statements implicating the UCI altering positive test results for favored riders were lies: or Tyler Hamilton is lying about the admissions made by Lance Armstrong; or the USADA Reasonable Decision is a fabrication based on lies of ex-teammates of Lance Armstrong; or Pat McQuaid and Hein Verbruggen are lying: but they all can't be telling the truth.

 It will be up to the Independent Committee to sort out this nonsense in a worthless investigation that is touted to last into June, 2013; well past the Giro d' Italia.  This is unacceptable considering the fact that the entire cycling community is sick of the UCI, sick of this subterfuge.  Pat McQuaid and Hein Verbruggen awake!  we are sick of you!  we want you to resign! spare us this comedy, we want people in charge of cycling that we can trust and respect, not charlatans!

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Tejay van Garderen: Lose or Be Annihilated

Wada makes it official, Lance Armstrong; C'est la mort!  Thus ends the Lance Armstrong doping saga, sans arbitration, positive tests, and due process.  Thus evolves the anti-doping crusade into an era of paranoid suspicion; where confessions trump science and where coverups trump truth.

Of what possible use are redundant WADA anti-doping tests that fail to detect the use of performance enhancing substances when the UCI already has a series of tests; the UCI Biological Passport?  Why pay additional needless expenses to an agency that specializes in blackmail and extortion?  Why pay additional fees for service to a worthless organization that does not produce results?  WADA seems to have no useful function in sport except to cash checks from signatories that are required to use their testing facilities.  The WADA redundancy in testing is a stupid and wasteful expenditure of precious resources that could be spent in more productive areas.  Here is an example of the stupidity of redundant testing.  If an athlete wanted to cheat the system and fly under the radar, to dupe the tests, to establish a false physiological baseline range, would not these methods also defeat detection of performance enhancing drug use measured by an additional test performed in a accredited WADA laboratory?  WADA, like Pat McQuaid and Hein Verbruggen, represent failures of responsible stewardship to maintain order during cycling's torpid steroid era and they must be replaced.  Why?  Because it has become universally accepted that WADA tests are superfluous.  John Fahey rationalized WADA's viewpoint; a positive test is not required to ban an athlete permanently from sport competition.  Sadly, this viewpoint seems a belated agreement with the general consensus that WADA tests have been regarded with incredulity and scepticism for years, not only by the UCI; but by the scientific community and by public opinion.   There are too many examples of failure to justify further faith in the system.  There must be changes.  WADA as a testing agency, like Pat McQuaid and Hein Verbruggen, must go.

Now to the most pressing topic, the future of cycling, and a warning to the talented American prospect Tejay van Garderen.  Do not win the Tour de France!   If you are in contention, back off and let Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, or Alberto Contador win.  Because, let us be honest, the UCI blinders will remain on for Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, and Alberto Contador no matter how many links to doping or red flags these riders raise, but the UCI blinders will be removed for you.  Your medical data will be examined with a microscope and flouted before the whole world.  Travis Tygart will make a phantom case out of these random variations and convince the whole world that they represent "overwhelming evidence" of doping.  USADA will anoint your scalp with a crown of thorns and bind you to a stake, your feet will rest upon a pile of tinder dry faggots.  A raucous crowd of drunken vigilantes carrying flambeau will ignite your funeral pyre as Grand Inquisitor, Decider, Travis Tygart dressed in his most splendorous pontifical robes will smile approvingly and spread his arms invoking the prince of darkness to bless this ravenous spectacle.  WADA and the UCI will deposit your ashes into a cesspool.  The mainstream media will laughingly applaud your public execution as warranted and justified.  Your former sponsors, parasites, whom you enriched in the days of yore will abandon you to your fate.  Remember!  A positive test is not required to ban an athlete permanently from sport competition!  Remember!  Arbitration and due process are no longer required as conditions to enforce a lifetime ban!  Remember!  That you will be economically devastated from an endless  legal costs, and after you are deemed guilty, lawsuits!  It is very simple to avoid all of these problems, finish on the podium, be a perpetual contender, but don't win any of the Grand Tours or Classics and you will be safe from the persecution that is sure to follow.