Alberto Contador Is Toast

Whew! One day away from the computer leads to the most interesting results! "Baby Contador" is suspended for one year! Kudos to Strbuk, who predicted this outcome! (I have added one of her blogs to my blog list as a reward for her perspicacity.) Now we wait for the UCI to lower the boom and order the Amauary Sport Organization to rescind Alberto Contador's 2010 Tour de France title!

A one year suspension by the Spanish Cycling Federation suggests that the clenbuterol was taken by accident. Maybe so, maybe Alberto Contador ate a contaminated stake raised by some hack Spanish farmer. There have been reports of sickness due to tainted Spanish meat; but not for a number of years...

Ah well, nothing to be concerned about as the suspension allows for an appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport...probably nothing more than a rubber stamp formality of the Spanish Cycling Federation ban. A more interesting question: If Alberto Contador does appeal will the UCI insist that the ban be increased. Most doping cases carry a two year ban. The jurisdiction for management of the case has been transferred to WADA at UCI request, so will WADA appeal for an increase in sanction? Is WADA intervention in this case legal?

So many questions, and such a different approach from the days of yore, when the anti-doping establishment loved to hand out excess banishment. The UCI pro-tour teams were precluded from hiring a rider with a doping related suspension for four years; until Liquigas upset the apple cart and hired reformed doper extraordinaire Saint Ivan Basso to a contract! Take that Pat McQuaid, you nitwit! Old innocent, without intent to cheat, Floyd Landis, a guy we should be willing to excuse because everyone is guilty of some transgression: why cast stones when living in glass houses! got a two and a half year suspension for synthetic testosterone. True, Floyd Landis did race the Leadville 100 after testing positive, and the Leadville 100 is sanctioned by NORBA, and the UCI probably thought that Floyd was rubbing their noses in excrement. Add six months more of punishment!

My, how things change! The Alberto Contador case is so complex because you can't really determine what happened; tainted meat or transfused blood? And nobody cares enough to inquire among the team to ascertain the possible existence of a second Doctor Blood.

Christiane Prudhomme and Amauary Sport Organization are playing their cards are very close to the vest with typical French indifference, waiting for everyone else to play their cards first!

Alberto Contador To Be Suspended?

The Christian Science Monitor has reported that a rumor is afloat that Alberto Contador will be officially suspended by the Spanish Cycling Federation for his positive test for clenbuterol during the second rest day of the 2010 Tour de France, and as a consequence his 2010 Tour de France title will be rescinded. Is Alberto Contador a scapegoat, a victim of an over zealous doing establishment bent upon a policy of no tolerance; or a doped cheater who would drop the maillot jaune with a dropped chain in clear violation of cycling etiquette?

WADA code states a policy of no tolerance even if substances listed on the prohibited list were mistakenly taken; apply a topical solution without first checking on the ingredients will result in a two year suspension; because WADA reasons that presence indicates culpability and intent. Clenbuterol was present, this is a violation, thus a suspension.

But WADA code provides for an appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS). The Court of Arbitration of Sport is a bizarre organization where the case starts anew from scratch; where old opinions do not set precedence; where rules are made up as they go along. The arbitrators have unlimited power. Arbitrary and capricious rulings are allowed. There is no legal appeal to any court outside of Switzerland where the CAS is domiciled. Most of the time the arbitrators are scientifically unqualified to render a competent decision. Expert opinion and testimony from WADA laboratory experts that question laboratory methods and procedures are prohibited if they favor the defense of the athlete. Independent experts who are deemed qualified to interpret highly technical or complex scientific issues are selected by the arbitrators: one arbitrator representing the prosecution, one the defense, and one "independent" arbitrator: the selection usually is a WADA laboratory director who is constrained from presenting a unbiased opinion of the evidence. CAS testimony is conducted in secret; apparently with the motive of protecting the athlete. The entire International Olympic Committee (IOC) structure of anti-doping management would be jeopardized without a continuous string of guilty verdicts. If Pat McQuaid and the UCI had any sense they would abandon the IOC once and for all! Until they do, the ends justify the means, regardless of fairness.

There should be reform of the process; but where do you draw the line? The Floyd Landis case was a disaster for the anti-doping crusade, because the most basic standards were ignored. The measurements were questioned because the laboratory made dozens of fundamental mistakes; ignored WADA code; LNDD refused to maintain a credible chain-of-custody; calibrate the equipment properly; employ people capable of understanding the equipment they were operating. WADA maintained a laissez faire, arrogant, laboratory can do wrong cavalier attitude, above the law, subject to oversight by no legal authority. Yet, in spite of running a disastrous operation, the GC/C/IRMS measurements were correct! Floyd Landis later admitted his doping behavior after spending his entire fortune fighting the anti-doping establishment! So where do you draw the line?

Should the system base everything on the amount of a prohibited substance detected being enough to increase performance? What about the theory that plastics were detected in the blood that indicates a blood transfusion? Should this evidence be ignored even though it may indicate traces of contaminated blood taken from the rider during a training period and re-infused during the Tour de France? There are no easy answers here!

WADA and the UCI are not investing enough money and the code needs reform; how to reach reasonable goals remains a serious question. Perhaps a panel of scientific experts should convene; and the problems solved by committee!

Lance Armstrong: Roberts and Epstein Article: Nothing New

Sports Illustrated has a new article which deals with the never ending Lance Armstrong investigation. There was also an interview of Selena Roberts on All Things Considered.

Reading through the Sports Illustrated article was disappointing, old rehashed accusations, innuendo, nothing of interest except Don Catlin. Good old boy Don Catlin, pioneer, anti doping crusader, expert in detection of doping, accused of cooking the books for Lance Armstrong? Indeed?

There were some old [Lance Armstrong] records of testosterone/epitestosterone ratios above 6:1 that David Epstein and Selena Roberts declare "a positive?" Not so. Testosterone/Epitestosterone ratios are not "positive" tests, they merely suggest suspicious values that should be investigated further: for possible abuse of synthetic testosterone, precursors of testosterone, analogues of testosterone, etc. Before the development of mass spectrometry (MS), a test developed by Don Catlin, suspicious testosterone/epitestosterone values were verified with longitudinal studies. The notion that an athlete could maintain a constant rate of high testosterone/epitestosterone over time by artificial means was considered very improbable. If it was determined over time that the testosterone/epitestosterone value declined to a baseline value and remained constant; say 1:1 only then could the measured "peak" above 6:1 be considered an analytical positive. Later, of course, high testosterone/epitestosterone levels could be examined by carbon isotope ratios to determine if a Carbon 13 synthetic testosterone supplement was present; a clear violation of the WADA prohibited substance rule. In this case, the presence of the synthetic testosterone; constitutes the violation; the testosterone/epitestosterone level merely supplements the violation with additional evidence; additive but not essential to confirm an adverse analytical finding. Later WADA changed the normal testosterone/epitestosterone range to 4:1. Nevertheless, the statement made by Selena Roberts and David Epstein that the old "high [Lance Armstrong] ratios had not lead to sanctions," is misleading, for the above mentioned reasons and should be discarded as sheer nonsense.

One other thing should be mentioned. In the Floyd Landis case, a notorious example of incompetence of testosterone/epitestosterone testing occurred, a single urine sample returned four different results! This wanton disregard by a WADA accredited laboratory proves that confirmation by carbon isotope ratio tests are absolutely essential. Since the old Lance Armstrong testosterone/epitestosterone tests have no longitudinal or carbon isotope ratio confirmations they are essentially useless as evidence. There is an option of opening the urine sample safe, extracting the frozen urine sample, and doing the carbon isotope tests post facto. If the old urine samples do not exist: nothing can be proven!

What is not nonsense is the fact that Don Catlin tried to cover up positive drug tests of Olympic athletes, according to old witness testimony. If true, this could prove to be very problematic for Don Catlin! If a lie, this could prove very problematic for his accusers! Floyd Landis's opinion that Lance Armstrong was Don Catlin's favorite athlete and that this suggests a motive for cover up is insane babble by Landis; his favorite occupation of late; and proves nothing! It also should be noted that Floyd Landis had an insane hatred of Don Catlin, because Catlin refused to bend from his opinion that Landis had used performance enhancing drugs! Foo! What nonsense!

Last point: investigators found e-mail messages from team Radio Shack to "Doctor Blood" Michele Farrari, dated in 2009. Lance Armstrong employed Michele Farrari as a consultant, but, claimed to have severed all ties in 2004? Doctor Blood claimed that rEPO used properly was as dangerous as drinking orange juice? Very interesting. However, even if Radio Shack did have contacts with Michele Farrari in 2009 this does not prove that Lance Armstrong had any contact.

So nothing new. No bombshells. Nothing of importance here that would be of concern to Lance Armstrong. A dud. No new evidence of prohibited substance use. Yawn. A bore.

Floyd Landis Advocates Universal Doping?

What? Floyd Landis calls for universal doping? Man that guy creeps me out. I mean the object is to end doping for all sports, in all athletes, not to promote a race to the bottom in innovative, creative, drugs and methods to promote exponential increases in performance!

Floyd Landis retires according to Rant Your Head Off. Rant explains Floyd Landis' behavior, an interesting summary. True, the cycling community treated Floyd Landis in the worst possible manner...indecently. Floyd Landis was portrayed as the worst of villains, a serial cheat, how else do you explain his incredible run of success? In 2006 Floyd Landis was an unbeatable machine, The Tour of Georgia, the Tour of California, the Tour de France! Doped to the gills in every race too, which, is an unfortunate thing, that doping. Floyd Landis had an expectation of never being detected, the laboratories were so incompetent! After all Lance Armstrong and the entire US Postal Service team doped with impunity and Jacques DeCeaurriz and LNDD so stupid! AFLD for all their bluster, their braggadocio, the detested Pierre Bordry, the clowns, were in such a hurry to vacation, rushed the testing, with nothing to fear from Dick Pound and WADA! Ah, but we can't stop there, because Travis T. Tygart and his over zealous USADA brood were hunting the peloton for dopers and Floyd Landis skated by right in front of their noses!

There are people who help these greedy good for nothing dopers cheat and they are never investigated or caught or arrested with rare exceptions. This is not a justification for cheating or doping or encouraging people to dope or cheat. But the practice continues unabated in spite of the fact that Pat McQuaid shouts imprecations for reform down from the ivory tower he has barricaded himself in. Action not words are required for reform; even though the UCI does not act. Arrests and jail, not empty rhetoric are required to incentify honesty, Mr. McQuaid, you infernal buffoon!

No...no...no...synthetic hemoglobin is unacceptable, DNA manipulation is unacceptable, athletes who are laboratory rats is unacceptable! Floyd Landis you are insane, you were forced out after a sensational drug induced year, we don't need you around cycling, clear out! Retire back to your cabin as a recluse; fend off your lawsuits best you can. You are a cancer, a bad example for the youth of America and the World.



Good thing they caught you in time or juniors or category three guys would want to follow your example, and risk all for the Grand Tour glory. If they listen to your insane advice the road to ruin will not be far behind. Go away!

Alberto Contador On The Verge of Death?

Last post wondered with incredulity as to the state of Alberto Contador's health atop the Tourmalet col; smiling and chatting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy like a celebrity, instead of feigning symptoms common with clenbuterol poisoning. But, perhaps it is bad etiquette to show suffering anywhere but on the bike? Looking at the film, Alberto attacks out of the saddle, without any sign of discomfort; with a closed mouth and even breathing, he hardly breaks a sweat! Signs more of bronchial dilation and increased oxygenation of the blood by artificial means, than from symptoms of acute clenbuterol poisoning...

Alas, a quick Internet search reveals the symptoms of clenbuterol poisoning: increased heart rate, muscular tremors, headache, nausea, fever, chills. From a deductive evaluation of the evidence, the presence of French President Nicolas Sarkozy on the podium could account for all of the symptoms independent of clenbuterol! But, how to explain those explosive attacks, a look over the shoulder at Andy Schleck, then sprint for dear life! Very strange behavior of an emaciated man on the verge of death!

The AFLD Gets Creative

The Spanish Cycling Federation afraid that people will interpret a verdict of innocence in the Alberto Contador case as a blatant form of patriotism by the Spanish doping authorities: have requested the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to join in a unified verdict. This would eliminate the most inconvenient expedient of a protracted appeal, examination of evidence, and trial of Alberto Contador by the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS). Perhaps the Spanish are concerned that the case will drag on past the start of the 2011 Tour de France. UCI president Pat McQuaid has suggested such a possibility, confounded idiot! When, one wonders, will the UCI learn to keep quiet in these matters; instead of stirring up the hornets!

Sure, the 2011 Tour de France will be a wonderful race to watch, with or without Alberto Contador! Pat McQuaid please refrain from telling us what we already know; you are embarrassing yourself again; which you promised not to do ever again; remember?

2011 has gotten off to an outstanding start. Encore!

2011: A Clean Year In Cycling?

Deja vu: we have all been here before, lamenting the year and pleading for sanity. 2010 has to stand as one of the worst since 2006, a second Tour de France champion in disgrace! Cycling in disgrace! The anti-doping crusade on the verge of disgrace if not adamant in enforcing the rules! Madame Defarge will you accept the challenge or cringe in cowardice?

Who would ever suggest that Pat McQuaid could be so stupid as to encourage behavior that reeks of conflict of interest? The UCI in accepting money from Lance Armstrong, currently under investigation for doping, in the form of a bribe, as asserted by supreme disgrace Floyd Landis: is a unacceptable breach of conduct and inexcusable! The UCI should ensure that this sort of thing never happens again, the oldest and most trite cliche ever penned by man! Conflict of interest with such people as notorious, suspected dopers--what were you thinking?

On bended knee, weeping, I begged the peloton to stop doping! A slap in the face followed. At the Tour of Utah riders threw water bottles over my head, filled with energy drink! I cheered them on with enthusiasm! No number of positive tests makes me waver. Addicted to cycling, there is no cure. I ask once again, 2011 is here: make it a clean one.

The Spanish Cycling Federation has one chance: conviction. Anything else will permanently damage cycling and the anti-doping crusade forever. There are no apologists for Alberto Contador here.

The UCI biological passport is a failure as predicted. Gianni Bugno claims that Franco Pellizotti is being blackmailed by the UCI. Riders are being excluded from racing contracts based upon suspicion. Blame yourselves, there are too many variables to explain the variance, biological ranges are much too large and do not account for individual differences, without a positive test nothing can be proven. The UCI biological passport has morphed into an abusive practice that is being applied unfairly to riders; excluding those who should have a right to a fair process of clearing defamatory conclusions; based upon tendencies not concrete facts!

Foo! Another year of this nonsense, nonsense that should have ended this year! We still have the Lance Armstrong case, the Floyd Landis allegations, and the Alberto Contador fiasco to contend with, shameless.

Cynical people refrain from your jest, someday this madness will end. The eternal optimist has spoken.

Update: Does Alberto Contador look like he is suffering from clenbuterol posioning to you?

Floyd Landis and Pat McQuaid Feud Into Irrelevance

The Floyd Landis and Pat McQuaid feud is dwindling away into irrelevance. Floyd Landis accuses McQuaid and the UCI of covering up positive tests of prohibited substance use by star riders like Lance Armstrong in exchange for bribes; in the forms of donations. Pat McQuaid accuses Floyd Landis of being a liar and has threatened to sue him in court for libel because of an interview Landis did in a German periodical. I love the German sense of humor; attention, dopers! with a syringe being plunged into an imaginary athlete with dramatic sound imagery. Current stories of doping miscreants Floyd Landis and Alberto Contador are featured in doping webmagazin; Landis makes an assertion that the Postal boys were doing blood transfusions on a regular bases and therefore it would be quite impossible to avoid detection by WADA accredited laboratories. So hence the cover up, with promises of money to the UCI by doped riders in exchange for silence, corruption and conspiracy. Ironically, Landis seems to forget that he spent two years and millions of dollars challenging not only the motives of the UCI; but the laboratory methods and competence of WADA accredited laboratories that detected testosterone in his samples! Why did Pat McQuaid and the UCI refuse to make a deal with Floyd Landis if the desire of the UCI is greed only? Very improbable that Pat McQuaid would strike a deal with Lance Armstrong and the US Postal team and ignore a goldmine opportunity with Floyd Landis.

In the spirit of the season; bah humbug! a plague on both of your houses; Floyd Landis and Pat McQuaid!

The United States Government seems to take the Floyd Landis testimony of doping by Lance Armstrong and the US Postal Service Team quite seriously. For now. We duped fans are still waiting for an indictment, trial, and conviction of the criminals. Meanwhile 2010 is near death and 2011 looms large, with another year of misdeeds fading in statute of limitations oblivion.

Slow torture works faster than the United States federal government. Lance Armstrong might escape and then sue Floyd Landis from sheer ennui, and lack of interest. But Floyd Landis is a poor man who owes money to the Floyd Fairness Fund donaters who were duped into making contributions to his cause; and Lance Armstrong probably might have to wait until doomsday to collect his damages.

Pat McQuaid will have to wait until other players extract a pound of flesh from Floyd Landis; no need to mention the French government and the outstanding warrant for computer hacking; before he can carve the beast. The UCI should call the Landis nonsense absurd and stop there.

As for justice: if a judge asks Pat McQuaid if anyone believes that the UCI took money from riders to cover up doping misdeeds and McQuaid says no, the case will probably be immediately dismissed as outrageous. Which it is.

The Alberto Contador Doping Allegations Drag On

Breaking news! The Alberto Contador case will drag on until middle January when, no matter what the decision, the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) assures us that there will be an appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport!

Incredible! I was thinking that maybe, by some miracle, Alberto Contador would plead guilty and we would be done with this charade!

No, no. Saxo Bank gave Alberto Contador eight million euro reasons to deny doping, much to the disgust of pure cycling advocates everywhere.

Pat McQuaid assures us that all is not lost, the UCI has transferred authority of the Alberto Contador doping allegations to the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA). The World Anti-Doping Authority is an adamant anti-doping organization that insists on strict liability. Clenbuterol is not an endogenous substance found in either man or livestock. The case is clear, Alberto Contador tested positive for clenbuterol. The "B" sample confirmed the "A" sample. The meat allegedly served to the Astana professional cycling team for dinner was not contaminated. Clenbuterol is still a WADA prohibited substance. Two years! What is there to appeal?

No need to bother to mention the presence of common plastics found in blood transfusion bags in Alberto Contador's urine samples, or to the blood transfusion theory asserted by most doping experts, because the test for these plastics does not have one-hundred-per-cent validity and reliability that proves culpability. As a purist, science demands one-hundred-per-cent validity and reliability in all doping tests that are subject to an extensive literature of peer review; not to tests that invite theoretical challenges that are subject to hypothetical bunk and speculation!

I have maintained all along that the guillotine is a better punishment than a firing squad; remember my references to Madame Defarge on the Floyd Landis Topix forum? Madame Defarge, the crazy lady from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, who knitted names of the French aristocracy and clergy who would be executed during the Reign of Terror, into her shrouds! I accused Christiane Ayotte, the head of the WADA lab in Montreal, of being the reincarnation of Madame Defarge when she went full speed ahead against now confessed doper Floyd Landis. Put Christiane Ayotte in charge of the Alberto Contador case, let her sharpen the blade! After all, Christiane Ayotte said that she would be appalled if WADA dropped the strict liability doctrine adopted by Richard Young! If a few innocent athletes are ensnared in the process, well WADA is investing money into research to assure that this does not happen. Unlike the AFLD, who don't care about anything, especially how there worthless laboratories operate.

I respect and admire Christiane Ayotte as a true scholar of doping science and I trust her opinion implicitly. I have cited her statements on numerous occasions and I truly believe that she would be the be the best possible WADA prosecution representative available.

Alberto Contador must be suspended for two years. There is no other option.

Pierre Bordry Resigns!

The anti-doping crusade is rid of Pierre Bordry at last!
This is a most ironical development, because, if one recalls, Pierre Bordry used strong arm tactics to force Floyd Landis after he tested positive for synthetic testosterone to sign a separate agreement stating that he would not race on French soil even though the basis for this agreement had no legal bases in French law.

In 2006, people like Pierre Bordry talked tough about doping and people like us were shouting about a rigged system and fairness. In 2010, in order to protect wonder boy sensation Alberto Contador, his Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) is flaunting the rules; pretending that nothing is amiss. So are Bjarne Riis and Saxo Bank. Query: where is the French AFLD and their notorious separate agreements?

Looks like Pierre Bordry was thrown out with the rubbish just in the nick of time. No need to embarrass suspected dopers with an improbable argument that the sanctity of the Tour de France and the French classics should be protected against miscreants! Not in 2010, unlike the past. Not with clenbuterol positive tests, or with Spanish cyclists.

Anti-doping agencies have evolved from the shoot first and ask questions later logic espoused by crusaders such as Pierre Bordry. If given his way, Pierre Bordry and the AFLD would have illegally forced Lance Armstrong to sign a separate agreement not to race in France: when the 2005 "scientific" tests of the 1999 Tour de France prologue samples showed perfect one-hundred-percent isoforms of rEPO. Pierre Bordry would have insisted that this was a proper method, ignoring the problems of the time, sloppy laboratory methods and no confirmation tests. The UCI probe into LNDD by Emile Vrijman exposed numerous problems with the French laboratory: no chain-of-custody and lack of security, among the most egregious. Vrijman came to the conclusion that the tests constituted nothing, and recommended that the UCI take no action. Christiane Ayotte argued that the one-hundred-per-cent isoforms found in the 1999 prologue samples "surprising" and "improbable" because rEPO is a biologically active substance and is prone to degrade over time, even when frozen at -40C.

Nevertheless, Pierre Bordry insists that the 1999 prologue isoforms is conclusive proof of doping by Lance Armstrong. However, Pierre Bordry forgets that if all four of the prologue samples tested positive for one-hundred-percent perfect rEPO isoforms, they could have been tampered with by LNDD personnel. Remember that the sample aliquots tested contained labels providing the date samples were taken and the doping control form numbers. L'Equipe reporter Damien Ressiot had a UCI provided list of all of signed doping control numbers that Lance Armstrong provided during the 1999 Tour de France, and contacts with LNDD personnel. So, it would not take a rocket scientist to refute the nonsensical argument that tampering with all four 1999 Tour de France prologue samples by LNDD personnel was impossible. No margin of error for the prologue: no matter what what Pierre Bordry thinks. Retests of the samples in 2010 will have the same results as 2005 if they were tampered with; but this may not reflect the state of the samples as they existed in 1999. Pierre Bordry and AFLD present weak logic!

Better to blame the association of Lance Armstrong with Nicolas Sarkozy; who in a secret combination conspire to cover up obvious drug use. Sarkozy and Armstrong are powerful men, Pierre Bordry and the AFLD are weaklings. Instead of showing will to combat doping in sport, Nicolas Sarkozy in a great act of cowardice: dumped honest anti-doping crusader Pierre Bordry into the garbage container.

Makes you want to laugh at this madness!

Doping in Cycling: Sickness Unto Death!

Aha! Agents of the Federal Government are being very creative in rounding up witness testimony in the Lance Armstrong doping allegation case. Yaroslav Popovaych was approached outside of Mellow Johnny's bike shop after signing autographs by black suited, jack booted thugs serving a federal grand jury subpoena: appear or be imprisoned! Mr. Popovaych was duly sworn and testified to the grand jury, although the contents of his testimony are secret!

Good to see that the wheels of justice are in movement. The mysterious testimony of the participants will not be know unless the Federal Government files an indictment. Stephanie McIlvain confuses us more than ever. But make haste gentlemen, the statutes of limitations will soon make it impossible for you to take away one malliot jaune from the miscreant Lance Armstrong; if this is your stated desire.

Because, Americans, like Amuary Sport Organisation, go after former Tour de France champions with a vindictive hatred that is enhanced by the fanatical Lance Armstrong doubters: of which there are legion. Yes, the courtroom will be filled with fanatics, who with inquisitorial self righteousness will be more than willing to torture; with the rack; heretics standing in the dock. Greg LeMond acting as Torquemada will extend his finger toward the accused while pontificating his purity: "I am without sin, so I shall cast the first stone!"

Perhaps, the Spanish who originated the Inquisition in the first place, should follow the American example and attempt to determine the truth of the Alberto Contador association with Operation Puerto. In 2006, the Spanish Civil Guard arrested and imprisoned former Liberty Seguros sport director Manolo Saiz: who was accused of being a kingpin associate of Dr. Eufamiano Fuentes, a man who was convicted of a conspiracy of illegal manipulation of blood of athletes, for a fee. Alberto Contador who was riding for Manolo Saiz, was implicated in Operation Puerto when his name was found in Dr. Eufamiano Fuentes office records as a client. The Spanish judiciary cleared Contador of any involvement in Operation Puerto: in spite of overwhelming circumstantial evidence to the contrary: but this certainly could not preclude a re-examination of evidence, based on witness testimony of Manolo Saiz, et al.

But, the Spanish defend their sons even if they appear to be serial offenders: unlike their American counterparts. But, as Lance Armstrong says, with some justification, the American government would be better off spending their money on something other than baseless accusations, if indeed, they are baseless! But, what would the mob do without their bread and circuses! Everyone would be so disappointed, deprived of a bloody spectacle! The Armstrong doubters want to be justified that they were correct all along. After all, buckets of ink have been written on the topic: so many people in agreement with your viewpoint can not be wrong!

Finis!

Hurrah For Alberto Contador!

Hurrah for Alberto Contador! avowed victim of Spanish serendipity! Tainted beef is not, at this point, a plausible excuse; for as the Spanish agricultural trust will exclaim indignantly, in every instance of testing of beef for clenbuterol this year, there has not been one positive test!

Nevertheless, the joyful people of Pinto, Spain who offered Alberto Contador new citizenship, defend his honor most voraciously, in spite of the agriculture inspections. The Spanish culture loves champions, unlike past American Tour de France champions, who sprint to the microphone in a heated rush to judgment. But a Tour de France champion is something to be proud of in Spain; unlike America.

Saxo Bank, if it survives unsold or an investigation, assures Bjarne Riis full support after signing Alberto Contador to a two year, nine million euro contract. Saxo Bank is under the belief that Alberto is innocent and fully supports the embattled Tour de France champion. Saxo Bank was ready to terminate the team after Frank and Andy Schleck defected to a pro tour team that is being formed in Luxembourg. But, with the Alberto Contador contract, Saxo Bank decided to venture on, with or without their newly signed star.

Bikezilla, with his mouth agape in astonishment at the thought that I would support laboratory findings that indicate prohibited substance and illegal blood transfusion abuse rather than preposterous fabricated alibis, is shocked at my conclusion. Under WADA code; under strict liability; a mere presence of a prohibited substance implies culpability; no exceptions! Clenbuterol is not an endogenous substance, the mere presence of which may be disputed by simple fluctuations in carbon atoms. No, indeed, clenbuterol is an exogenous beta-2 adrenergic agonist that works on receptors of the smooth muscles of the nasal passages to dilate obstructed airways.

Clenbuterol is a substance that is abused to increase performance in athletes and has been banned by WADA. Cyclists who suffer from asthma or other health related problems have an opportunity to apply for a Therapeutic Use Exemption; if approved by a creditable physician. International standards pertaining to Therapeutic Use Exemptions should be harmonized; therefore, they should apply to all cycling entities affliated with WADA or the UCI. The understanding of the rules and the punishment for violations are clearly delineated. People who work with athletes should review new updates of rules if they are confused...poorly contrived de facto excuses of ignorance are unacceptable!

But, to be fair to Alberto Contador and his inventiveness, ingestion of clenbuterol tainted meat has had "outbreaks of acute illness in Spain, France, Italy, China, and Portugal 0.5-3 hours after individuals ingested liver and meat containing clenbuterol residues." The symptoms of acute clenbuterol poisoning from eating tainted meat was usually "resolved in two to six days." As a defense lawyer it would be advisable to gather testimony from the Astana teammates of Alberto Contador: dispositions stating that team Astana was suffering from symptoms of acute clenbuterol poisoning; but deus ex machina recovery was instantaneous enough for the Astana team to pilot Alberto Contador to a virtual tie in time with Andy Schleck on a tough mountain climb the very next day!

Very unlikely that the entire Astana team made such a remarkable, immediate improvement in health. "Pish-posh," indeed.

That excuse should provide some very entertaining, though unconvincing testimony!

The UCI Ensures Fair Play

It is good to know that UCI president Pat McQuaid is assuring the skeptical cycling public that the wheels of justice are in progress; without any favoritism to three time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador.

Why would anyone doubt otherwise? The UCI has always been very forceful when dealing with suspected doping violations: especially when dealing with Spanish riders. You laugh? You question this assertion? What about Alberto Contador and Operation Puerto? Operation Puerto was a raid on the offices of Dr. Eufamiano Fuentes conducted by the Spanish Civil Guard. Fuentes was suspected of doping blood to increase athletic performance among several sports; including cycling. During the raid, several bags of doctored blood were seized along with medical records of athletes written in code. One code name was "son of Rudy," a reference to long time coach of Jan Ullrich; Rudy Pevenage. The Civil Guard investigated the records and compiled a very large list of suspected cyclists, including Liberty Seguros rider Alberto Contador.

Although Eufamiano Fuentes was charged with illegal blood tampering, Spanish judge Antionio Serrano dismissed the case arguing that the prosecution argument did not prove any violations of Spanish law. At the same time Alberto Contador was cleared by the Spanish judiciary of any link to Operation Puerto. Of course, the Spanish cycling federation felt no compulsion to investigate or suspend Alberto Contador for a possible involvement in Operation Puerto after the Serrano decision. The UCI did not interfere with this affair even though action seemed warranted.

The Strange Case of Alejandro Valverde

Alejandro Valverde was another name found in the medical records of Eufemiano Fuentes. The case would have probably gone the route of Alberto Contador: swept under the rug, if not for the Italian Olympic Association (CONI). During a Italian race Alejandro Valverde was requested to provide a routine in-competition urine sample. There was a suspicion that a code name found in Eufemiano Fuentes office referenced the name of a dog owned by Valverde. CONI did a DNA sequence of the sample provided by Valverde during the race and compared the results with DNA profiles of blood bags found during the Spanish Civil Guard Operation Puerto raid. The DNA results were an identical match: proof that the tainted blood belonged to Alejandro Valverde.

This is simply remarkable. The Operation Puerto raid was conducted in 2006 but nothing was done to restrict Alejandro Valverde from racing for four years. The UCI did nothing to prevent Valverde from racing even though the Italian government banished Valverde from racing in Italy. Italy was so upset from the lack of action from the Spanish and the UCI that they insisted that if Amaury Sport Organisation did not prevent Valverde from racing the Tour de France which crossed into the Italian territory: that the Italian government would erect barriers at the frontier. Not until 2010 was Alexander Valverde banned from cycling, the Spanish complicated matters by allowing Valverde to compete in and win the 2009 Vuelta d' Espana.

The UCI: bastion of fair play.

Paper tiger Pat McQuaid inspires fear and loathing in dopers. This is evident by his prompt plan of action; his acumen of the science; his insistence that riders play fair; his insistence on transparency. Pat McQuaid insists on lecturing his inferiors by claiming that any conclusion reached in the Alberto Contador case is inaccurate: the plastic residue finding that indicates tainted blood rather than a tainted steak is incorrect. Nevertheless, with the history of the UCI in dealing with Spain there is no doubt what-so-ever that the UCI will insist on fair play by appealing to the Court of Arbitration of Sport any outrageous suspension of Alberto Contador that the Spanish cycling federation might award due to the clenbuterol positive.

Alberto Contador if you are so innocent provide us with a copy of your Lab Document Package: post the information on the Internet, I guarantee you that this information will generate a very lively discussion on the cycling forums. You will have as many supporters as detractors. But if you are counting on a Chatenay-Malabry style of incompetent slop to support your position: be advised; the Germans are a very precise people!

Alberto Contador: A Serial Doper?

Alberto Contador was given a free pass during Operation Puerto, because, as some claim, he has a link to royal blood. Perhaps, he thinks, like other convicted dopers, that he has a right to use performance enhancing substances. He was excused by a Spanish judge of involvement in Operation Puerto without a slap on the hand, like royalty. Perhaps, he thinks that he will always be excused from undesirable consequences of his behavior by a sympathetic government. Perhaps, he thinks that Pat McQuaid and the UCI are too weak to interfere.

Pat McQuaid: do you have a set of cajones?

Alberto Contador: The Noose Tightens

The Associated Press has reported that the WADA accredited laboratory at Cologne, Germany has found metabolites of a common plasticizer found in bags used in intravenous transfusions in the Tour de France urine samples provided by Alberto Contador. If true, the claim by Alberto Contador that he ate a clenbuterol tainted stake provided by a friend to the Astana cycling team seems nothing more than a preposterous fable.

Metabolites of plasticizer di-(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) were found in samples provided by Alberto Contador on July 20, 2010 at eight times the normal limit. On July 21, 2010 during the second rest day of the Tour de France, Alberto Contador tested positive for minute amounts of clenbuterol; a finding that anti-doping expert Rasmus Damsgaard claims could possibly have been a result of a transfusion of tainted blood stored during a out-of-competition period between races. A blood transfusion used during the race would boost oxygen supply (red blood cells transport oxygen) a common tactic employed by cyclists to gain a competitive advantage. Autologous transfusions of stored blood of one cyclist transfused into the same cyclist has no known laboratory test.

The perfect crime: or one would surmise, unless the criminal was a very careless person? Apparently, Alberto Contador was a very careless person. The WADA accredited laboratories are perfecting the detection of deception by searching for analogues of storage vessels like plastic bags; metabolites of plasticizers; illegal substances! One would surmise that Alberto Contador and those who possibly assisted him would have examined the purity of the blood prior to transfusion!

Indeed, the tainted meat fabrication, as such, seems more incredible by the second. Experts in meat contamination claim that if clenbuterol was introduced into an animal that most of the drug would be stored in the liver, that the amount of clenbuterol used in the animal to produce the positive test found in Mr. Contador would have killed the animal outright, and that it would be impossible to test positive for clenbuterol by eating a contaminated stake!

Not knowing all the circumstances of this case and not wanting to sound like Dick Pound; I will not expostulate guilt and guillotine. But the facts do tend in a direction probably not to the liking of Mr. Contador and his legal team. The results of the plasticizer test results could be challenged as unreliable or as invalid; and some people have suggested that that the urine could be stored for the next seven years as insurance in case some new test is developed; what rubbish!

Sounds to me like another case of denial, denial, denial! Alberto Contador should come to his senses and think! millions of dollars in legal fees! two years fighting the anti-doping agencies! Bad Karma! If you are guilty, confess! The Ivan Basso road is much easier than the Floyd Landis trail. Do you wish to be regarded as persona non grata for the rest of your life?

Confess and most of us will forgive you; lie and we will never forgive. Ask Floyd Landis.

Alberto Contador Tests Positive For Clenbuterol

Well now, the mysterious ways of WADA and the UCI continue. Alberto Contador winner of the the 2010 Tour de France tested positive for clenbuterol during a rest day of the race.

The date of the final Alberto Contador positive test results done at the Cologne WADA accredited testing laboratory is unknown; but it has been asserted from numerous press releases that a "B" sample confirmed the "A" sample. Therefore, WADA and the UCI cannot be accused of a premature release of the laboratory results as was the case during the Floyd Landis case. In fact, when Pat McQuaid was questioned as to the validity of the Alberto Contador positive result, he denied the rumor as unfounded. Some speculation exists as to whether the UCI withheld public information to provide Alberto Contador and his legal team more time to improve a credible defense. This astounding about face by Pat McQuaid and the UCI is directly apposite of the furious "rush to judgement" that Floyd Landis experienced during his "A" sample positive test for testosterone during the 2006 Tour de France. Judgements to the guilt of Floyd Landis were forthcoming from the mouths of anti-doping authorities before Floyd Landis or his legal team even had time to see the Laboratory Document Package or before a confirmatory "B" test could be run. Current critics of the anti-doping crusade should not be too condemnatory about an abundance of caution in the Alberto Contador alleged doping case; indeed, this cautious approach should be commended.

Clenbuterol is a beta-adrenergic agonist and is used as a decongestant and bronchodilator. Clenbuterol has been used in cycling since the middle sixties. Clenbuterol is listed on the WADA prohibited substance list. Clenbuterol is also used illegally in meat production to increase protein syntheses and to promote leanness in cattle.

Alberto Contador insists that his test results were caused by a friend giving him tainted meat imported into France from Spain. Of course, this reasoning is speculative because there is no way to prove that the meat was tainted; other members of the Astana cycling team did eat the same meat but none were randomly tested that day for prohibited substances; so there is no independent confirmation of Alberto Contador's claim.

Notable anti-doping expert Rasmus Damsgaard believes that Alberto Contador tested positive for clenbuterol because he received a blood transfusion from stored blood taken before the Tour de France then transfused during the race. If Damsgaard is correct: Alberto Contador would be guilty of two separate doping violations, not one, and the suspension period could be extended.

The amount of clenbuterol detected in Alberto Contador was so small as to be almost undetectable. Never mind the argument that such insignificant amounts do not increase performance. This argument under the WADA strict liability provision of WADA code will not be efficacious. The mere presence of a prohibited substance; by definition; implies an intent to cheat and culpability. Even in cases where athletes were caught with a prohibited substance in their systems due to a chemical reformulation: say a topical solution (example: a topical solution in Europe is clean while the "identical" American version contains a prohibited substance) warrants a one year suspension. This is the least amount of suspension that Alberto Contador could expect from the Court of Arbitration of Sport; even if he ate the tainted meat by accident! Of course, the 2010 Tour de France title and prize money will also be voided.

Floyd Landis was the first and we hoped the last person to be stripped of a Tour de France title for doping. Now this hall of shame may include other notable miscreants such as Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong!

Gentlemen: listen to reason. You may think that your cheating ways will escape detection by the laboratories; but no matter how sophisticated your methods, the gas chromatic spectrogram employed these days are very accurate. Your certainty of being caught is almost one hundred percent. Quit your nefarious ways; you are undermining our sport and making me ill in the process!

Floyd Landis; New Age Lunacy In Cycling

It is curious that the amount of doping has diminished so quickly this year. There is really very few stories of interest. The Lance Armstrong doping investigation is moving at a glacial rate, Greg LeMond and his deranged wife Kathy are still making allegations; The New York Times has reported that witnesses are inconsistent in their testimony and this indicates perjury! Lance Armstrong, in his Tour de France championship period, was so intimidating that he could pressure people to lie or their careers could be terminated; or so claims Greg LeMond.

It would be great if a witness recalled the same thing; but as any good attorney will tell you this may not happen. A consistent witness does not create havoc with flip flops. If you testify to the fact that you did not hear Lance Armstrong tell doctors that he used performance enhancing drugs at Indiana University Hospital; and then confide to Greg LeMond in a telephone conversation later that Betsy Andreu was telling the truth; well what are we to make of these inconsistencies?

No matter, the Lance Armstrong probe is dealing with lunatics who are examples of what athletic prowess should not be; greedy people who cheat and then lie about it. Floyd Landis is a summa cum-laude member of the fraternity of greedy creeps who know no bounds of cunning and deceit. Tyler Hamilton also must be included as a supreme deceiver; a man who cheated his way into a Olympic gold medal and then refused to relinquish it because of a stupid laboratory error. Very credible witnesses. The cross examination of these people; under oath; should provide some very interesting information into the psychological bases of doping, the pathological bases of lying; and the motivational aspects of risk/reward behavior. Why would a person risk taking performance enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France when the possible consequences of being caught portends such awful consequences; such as suspensions and permanent ostracism?

But ask Floyd Landis; he rationalizes everything as much ado about nothing, because everybody was doing it. Floyd Landis even claims that Lance Armstrong encouraged performance drug use during the U. S. Postal Service days. Really? Floyd Landis seems challenged; maybe he suffers from mental incapacity and is not responsible for his behavior. After all, when Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso were escorted back to the team hotels from the Tour de France depart after being implicated in Operation Puerto; and when the UCI and WADA were hyper vigilant about detecting dopers; and when the cycling public was at a hysterical pitch demanding doper blood; you would think that Floyd Landis and Team Phonak would get the message to ride clean. But no, the temptation of winning! the accolades! the money! outweighed common sense; because as Floyd Landis would reason everyone else did it! Riis did it! Ullrich did it! Pantani did it! Armstrong did it! And they were never caught or punished for their crimes.

This is the sort of people that the government investigation must rely upon: obvious psychopaths and lunatics who use deranged arguments to support their bloated egoistic desire for money and fame. Then there is a certain person; Greg LeMond: who would resort to any tactic to support his legendary status; even though at this date he is nothing more than a washed up old hack!

It has occured to me recently that this whole Lance Armstrong probe would be nothing more than old lady gossip and not very interesting; except for the fact that there are so many crazies involved. Does the sport of cycling really attract this sort of people?

Former Tour de France winners do have an unnatural tendency to commit suicide, do they not?