Lance Armstrong backs out of Don Catlin anti-doping protocol

Lance Armstrong announced he will be butting out of UCLA doping guru Don Catlin's custom made anti-doping program.  Armstrong announced -- amid huge fanfare at a Bill Clinton conference last fall -- that he would undergo Catlin's state of the art anti-doping program to prove he was ahead of the curve in dope testing, and to prove he was clean.  Does this mean he is neither?  What spin will be weaved on this announcement.  To the Sydney Morning News:

LANCE ARMSTRONG may have scrapped plans to put himself through an independent anti-doping program run by world-renown expert Don Catlin but he will undertake the control system in place for his Astana team.

Armstrong's management was quick to clarify the status of his testing protocols after news reports said Catlin and Armstrong's management had been unable to put their proposed testing regime in place.

Armstong's agent and lawyer, Bill Stapleton, said: "After a thorough review of the efficiency of a separate testing program, the decision has been made to transfer the comprehensive program we had planned to do with Don Catlin to Rasmus Damsgaard, a renowned anti-doping expert who runs the Astana team's internal testing program."

Armstrong will go with Astana's anti-doping program...Astana which withdrew from the Tour de France in 2007 when Vino Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for blood doping.

More on Armstrong and Catlin after the jump...

As Velo News notes, Armstrong withdraw from Catlin's company, however will continue to post his (public) results online:

After starting an independent anti-doping program by taking samples at the Tour Down Under last month, Lance Armstrong and Anti-Doping Research, Inc., agreed to end the program, Oliver Catlin, the company's CEO and program manager, told VeloNews Wednesday.

Catlin, the son of company founder Don Catlin, said expense was a factor, but administration of the program, coordination with other testers and communicating the results to the public also were challenges that led to the "mutual decision to end the program."

In a statement, Armstrong's attorney and agent, Bill Stapleton, said the racer will "transfer the program we had planned to do with Don Catlin to Ramsus Damsgaard." He also said that Armstrong's detailed test sample results would be posted on his Livestrong.org Web site immediately

W\hat does Catlin say about this:

"It was going to be difficult," Catlin said. "There were so many issues in trying to get this going - legal issues, financial issues, and we sort of tried every which way."

Apparently the well-publicized testing program was too awkward to carry out, or did Armstrong gather in the publicity then flee the responsibility?  Oliver Catlin says this:

"With Armstrong's every-three-day concept, there was a high likelihood that we would run into other testers (from the UCI or other programs)," he said. Attempting to gather multiple samples on the same day could be time consuming and possibly invalidate the samples, he said.

"There were countless challenges to deal with in the program. It was not any one of them (that led to the decision to end the relationship), but en masse, collectively, it led to the decision."

Oliver Catlin declined to give his opinion of whether race fans can be confident in Armstrong's  performance without his organization's testing.

"From what I know, there tends to be polarized camps when it comes to Armstrong, and I don't think there is anything in this situation that will  change either camp's opinion."

Great dodge man...read between the lines...

Comments

[Euro Peloton]

Man, well said. If Armstrong isn't called to the carpet at the Amgen Tour of California Press Conference by someone in the media, then due diligence has not been performed. To benifit from all the positive publicity and then not have to face any negative press for backing out would seem unfair.

[Budd]

Hi...I read your blog often, and find it very informative, well written and thoughtful. I'm a fan.

However, in this article I feel you unfairly linked the current Astana team with the one that Vinikourev rode for. They are not the same, save for the sponsor. Also, there are enough Qs about the current team and its practices to make that reference unnecessary.

In my opinion this is not up to your usual standards, and I just wanted to comment...hope you don't get mad, as I emphasize, I am not a hater or a jock-er either...just an old man who likes to ride bikes as hard as he feels like on whatever day it is.

Thanks!

[FromLancetoLandis]

In spite of what this blog is about I urge everyone to read this article, the oldest Olympic male medal winner passed away at the end of January. Too bad, there is not a blog on just real sports heroes.

http://www.burytimes.co.uk/news/radcliffenews/4103768.Goodbye_to_a_true_cycling_superstar/

"At the age of 80, Mr Hill attempted to equal his own world record by seeing how far he could cycle in an hour. He completed 23.5 miles, falling just 1.5 miles short of the distance he had achieved as a 21-year-old. "

And there are other good quotes in the article, I know bicycles have evolved a bit since 1937 but still a track cycle is a track cycle. That seems phenomenal what Hill did. The rest of the story is just as interesting as he was in the same Olympics Jesse Owens ran in, the Olympics held in Berlin. I doubt if Hill ever could have juiced.

Now, you all go see how good you can match Harry's riding!

[Steroid Nation]

Thanks for your comment about the Astana team. Although we know something about steroids and PEDs, writing on pro cycling is not entirely 'natural' for us as basketball, football, and baseball would be.

Your comments are valuable. We hope we didn't paint Astana with an over-reaching broad brush. We will go back to examine what we wrote.

Thanks again

[Budd]

Hi...I really appreciate that you did not take offense to my comment, and I appreciate hearing what you said that your main expertise is in the other sports. That explains a lot about your post, which seemed out of character with the long history of accuracy and fairness that I visit your blog for...you keep me coming back with information, insight, humor, and cutting edge "prophetic" calls for honor in sport.

It would be very easy for any but the fan of cycling to not realize the change in team...but having said that, I emphasize again that there are plenty of questionable riders and managers on the current team, questionable in the sense of past allegations and practices. On that basis alone there is some "smoke". If you were to do research similar to what you do in your other areas, you would quickly discover the whys and wherefores of what I am saying, and it is not something only cycling geeks would get, it is pretty straightforward regarding the questionable things.

As I do not know any of the riders personally, I am not saying that they are dirty, but I am saying that based on a long history of following cycling avidly both on and off the bike, witnessing denials turn into admissions, reading extensively on the subject, it is clear to me the genie is out of the bottle, and nothing will get it back in unfortunately, especially when it is fueled by the flow of fame and fortune.

I have similar thoughts about professional football, major NCAA football, and virtually any other sport that has money in it...the things available for use will be used, sad but true.

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