Steroid Nation

One day in the life of Ivan Basso: Fined for role in Operation Puerto

Earthtimes carries the story on Italian pro cyclist Ivan Basso, the elite cyclist who found Operation Puerto and Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes injected into his illustrious career.  Interesting that when Lance Armstrong won the string of Tour de France races Basso and Germany's Jan Ullrich put put up the strongest challenges; both are now considered disgraced dopers.

Cyclist Ivan Bassoi on Tuesday received a six-month prison sentence, which was converted to a fine of 10,800 euros, for his involvement in the Spanish doping scandal known as Operacion Puerto. Basso, who wasn't present in court, received the punishment after reaching an agreement with Italian authorities to avoid a drawn-out prosecution. The 30-year-old reached the deal because he wanted to put the scandal behind him and return to racing, said his lawyers.

Basso was banned from the sport for his links with Spanish Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, the man at the centre of the Operacion Puerto anti-doping investigation carried out by Spanish authorities. The cyclist confessed to giving blood to Fuentes and was subsequently banned for two years on June 15, 2007 by the Italian Cycling Federation (FCI). The time he had already spent under team suspension whilst riding for CSC and temporary suspension since leaving Discovery were taken into consideration

It was reported last month that Operation Puerto produced little or nothing in results;  apparently not true.

Australian physician who 'exposed' Lance Armstrong expresses concerns about the LA Comeback

The Australian physician who guided the lab which found the Lance Armstrong 'controversial' positive EPO in 1999, harbors deep concern about the LA Comeback Tour.  To the Herald-Sun.

Dr Michael Ashenden, whose analysis of Armstrong's urine samples from the 1999 Tour de France allegedly revealed that the cyclist used the blood-boosting drug EPO during the race, said too many people in Australia had been "dazzled" by Armstrong's "star power".

"It surprises me that the Tour is willing to embrace such a controversial figure," Ashenden said.

"It surprises me in the wider context that there hasn't been more adverse reaction to his proposal to come back."

There has been adverse reaction to the LACT (Lance Armstrong Comeback Tour), which is muted.   However note that LA stands to make a little currency and enjoy alot of publicity off the LACT.

The International Cycling Union last week ruled Armstrong could take part in the Tour Down Under, despite the cyclist not complying with a six-month drug testing program in the lead-up to the January event.

"People are dazzled by the star factor and they are not pausing to really reflect on what this is all about and whether or not it would be good for the sport," Dr Ashenden said.

He also questioned Armstrong's motives in appointing prominent anti-doping scientist Don Catlin to his team.

This is the first major medical professional to question Catlin's role in the LACT.  Of course Catlin is violating a major tenet of science -- objectivity.  Sadly he points to his reputation -- which although good -- is not a part of the standard of objective lab testing.

"Everyone recognises that this is prone to abuse. If Don Catlin finds EPO he can't do anything about it," Dr Ashenden said.

Tour de France champion Greg Lemond also questioned the point of self-policing by cycling teams, and said Armstrong must do more if he was to prove he is 100 per cent clean.

"It's like a wolf guarding a hen house. You've got to have a group with no self-interest," Lemond said.

Cyclist Tammy Thomas given 6 months of time out at home for lying in BALCO case

Tammy Thomas the current law student and ex-doping cyclist received 6 months of home confinement for her lies under oath in the BALCO investigation.  The sentencing judge decided Thomas should not receive a longer sentence that the steroids distributors from whom Thomas secured the drugs.  (Steroid Nation search here)

Of major concern is a law student convicted of lying.  Not the type of attorney needed today. To CBS5.

A former championship cyclist was sentenced in federal court in San Francisco today to six months of home confinement, but no prison time, for lying to a grand jury in a sports steroids probe.

Tammy Thomas was convicted in April of three false statements and obstruction of justice before a 2003 grand jury investigating sports drug distribution by the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO.

Prosecutors had sought a sentence of two and one-half years in prison for the lies, which included Thomas's statements that she never took anabolic steroids and never took any products given to her by steroid chemist Patrick Arnold.

But U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said it would be "excessive" for Thomas to receive a heavier sentence than those convicted of distributing the drugs, whom Illston termed the "pushers" in the case.

Illston noted that BALCO president Victor Conte was sentenced to four months in prison and Arnold and sports trainer Greg Anderson each to three months.

Remember how Thomas went nuts in the courtroom at the verdict announcement?  Apparently didn't affect the sentence.

All three pleaded guilty before Illston in 2005 or 2006 to conspiring to distribute anabolic steroids to professional athletes. Their sentences were within federal guidelines then in effect.

Illston said, "It would be inconsistent to impose a sentence ten times longer than Mr. Arnold's."

The sentence could be an indication of the general range of penalty that home-run champion Barry Bonds might receive if he is convicted in a trial next year on similar false-statements charges.

The former San Francisco Giants slugger is due to go on trial in Illston's court on March 2 on 14 counts of false statements and one count of obstructing justice in 2003 grand jury testimony. Illston will hold a hearing Nov. 5 on his bid for dismissal of 10 of the counts.

Illston today also sentenced Thomas to five years of probation and 500 hours of community service.

She said another factor in the no-prison sentence was that the cyclist is suffering from several undisclosed medical problems that couldn't easily be managed in prison.

Wonder if the medical problems aren't the results of anabolic steroids abuse?  Or could be depression.

Thomas, who has recently been attending law school in Oklahoma, will be able to leave home during the home detention to go to work, school or medical appointments.

Thomas won a silver medal in the World Track Cycling Championship in Belgium in 2001, but was banned from competition for life in 2002 after tests showed she had used norbolethone, a then-obscure steroid.

She was one of 11 people indicted in the BALCO probe and was the first to go to trial. Eight others, included Conte, Arnold and Anderson, pleaded guilty to charges of drug distribution or lying.

The only other to go to trial thus far is Olympic track coach Trevor Graham of North Carolina, who was convicted in May of one count of a false statement to an investigator. He is due to be sentenced by Illston on Oct. 21.

The remaining defendant is Bonds, who is accused of lying when he told the grand jury he never knowingly received anabolic steroids or human growth hormone from Anderson, who was his trainer.

Bending the rules: Lance Armstrong goes over the top to race down under

The UCI today cleared Lance Armstrong's first comeback race in Australia at the 'Tour Down Under'.  Armstrong's late entry into the anti-doping protocol held up the LA comeback. (AP)

Cycling's governing body is relaxing its rules to allow Lance Armstrong to make his comeback at a road race in Australia in January. The International Cycling Union said the seven-time Tour de France champion can compete in the Jan. 20-25 Tour Down Under, his first race since coming out of retirement after three years.

A strict application of testing rules would not have allowed the 37-year-old Texan to compete until Feb. 1, 2009, six months after he filed paperwork with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

But the UCI said Wednesday that Armstrong could return early because its drug-testing standards have improved since the rule was drawn up four years ago.

The Armstrong mystique must trump the rules.  LA did not have to enter into the protocol for the required 6 months.  Thus the old boy network of privilege continues on; if a cyclist is an elite world superstar he doesn't have to play by the rules.  (Isn't this what got the Dow Jones and the stock market into trouble in part?  Now if only the poor cyclists could get subprime anti-doping testing).

Wonder if LA tests positive for doping, do the rules get bent again?

"Riders are now subject to a much-reinforced system of monitoring compared to that of the past," the governing body said in a statement. "Lance Armstrong has and will be the subject of very strict monitoring throughout the period running up to his return to the peloton."

Armstrong's comeback is meant to draw attention to his global campaign to fight cancer, a disease he survived before winning seven straight Tours from 1999-2005.

It is also a defiant stand against critics who doubt he could have achieved those victories without the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Now he is liable to be tested at any time without notice and will have his own biological passport as part of a UCI-backed initiative to monitor possible doping offenses.

Riders must give a series of blood and urine samples that allow a World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited laboratory to establish a baseline. Fluctuations from those readings afterward could indicate doping.

So th rules will be broken if you are Lance Armstrong.  Not an auspicious start to a comeback meant to show LA did it/will do it the right way.

The International Olympic Committee will retest 2008 Beijing samples for new CERA EPO

First the Tour de France retested (and not finished) cyclists in the 2008 for CERA EPO, and now the IOC will also retest 2008 Beijing samples.  Breaking news at ABC CBN:

Blood samples taken at the Beijing Olympics are to be reanalyzed for the banned blood booster EPO using a new detection system developed for the Tour de France, the IOC announced Wednesday.

The retroactive controls are designed to seek out the presence of the new generation of EPO known as CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator).

The IOC must have looked at the results of the Tour de France's retest, which encouraged the anti-doping police to retest Olympians:

The IOC's announcement comes 48 hours after reanalyzed samples from the Tour de France using the latest technology unearthed two drug cheats - Germany's Stefan Schumacher, a double stage winner on this year's race, and Italian Leonardo Piepoli.

IOC spokesman Emmanuelle Moreau told AFP: "This is part of our normal procedure. We keep the samples for eight years and whenever a new test arrives we carry out new tests."

The CERA form of EPO was detected for the first time at this year's Tour in the sample of Italian cyclist Riccardo Ricco with a full test developed to combat it by the French laboratory at Chatenay-Malabry.

The laboratory is currently retroactively checking 15 samples from this year's Tour with two of those producing Schumacher and Piepoli's positive tests.

It was that double success that "prompted the IOC to retest samples from Beijing," explained Moreau.

The IOC is now in the process of moving all the Beijing samples to its headquarters in Lausanne before finalizing the conditions and timing of the new tests.

"A joint IOC/WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) commission is going to decide the procedure," Moreau said.

Over 1,000 blood samples were taken at the Games as part of over 5,000 anti-doping controls.

The 2008 Games were held up by the IOC as proof that they were winning the war on drugs with only a handful of positive cases compared to 26 at Athens in 2004.

Wonder who is at risk for detection?

More drug cheats expected to emerge from Tour de France CERA EPO retesting

The new post-race EPO CERA testing now processed by the Tour de France will produce more positives, according to Reuters.

The new CERA EPO apparently was thought to be undetectable by Tour riders in 2008.  Not so; 6 pro cyclists spit out" tainted urine thus far, and more are expected.  Two riders were nailed with the new CERA EPO.

French drugs testers are continuing to screen samples from riders who competed in this year's Tour de France and expect to announce more positive results despite the race ending three months ago.

"The tests are still underway, they are not all done yet," French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) head Pierre Bordry told Reuters on Wednesday.

"I imagine there could be one or two more cases," race director Christian Prudhomme added, in a week when two Tour riders were exposed as drugs cheats.

On Monday, Italy's Leonardo Piepoli and Germany's Stefan Schumacher were both revealed to have tested positive for CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator), a new generation of banned blood-booster.

    The positive tests are the result of the AFLD retroactively testing blood samples for the new type of erythropoietin (EPO).

The Chatenay-Malabry laboratory has developed a more effective blood test to find CERA, which had been difficult to detect through urine samples.

                   

New doping positives at 2008 Tour de France: Stefan Schumacher now tests positive for EPO

Reports today out of Europe say that there are 2 'new' cyclists testing positive in the EPO retest at the 2008 Tour de France although was reported earlier.  The new name is Stefan Schumacher who won time trials at the 2008 Tour.  The old name is Riccardo Ricco's teammate Leonardo Piepoli.  To Cycling Extreme:

Make it six riders who have now returned positive drug tests from the 2008 Tour de France.  The latest two riders’ positive test results were announced Monday.

German Stefan Schumacher, who surprisingly won both Tour de France individual time trials, has tested positive for a new generation of the Erythropoietin (EP0) called CERA (Continuous Erythropoisis Receptor Activator), according to the web site of French daily sports newspaper, L'Equipe, and as reported by Agency France Press (AFP).

The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) also announced Leonardo Piepoli, who won the race's 10th stage to Hautacam in the Pyrenees, tested for positive for CERA.Piepoli, climbing specialist, was a key helper of former Saunier Duval teammate Riccardo Riccò, also a double Tour de France stage winner this year. Last week, Ricco was banned for 20 months after testing positive for CERA at the Tour.

Piepoli was kicked off the tour for murky reasons which were unclear; those reasons are clear now.

Italian Riccardo Ricco was expelled from the Tour after testing positive for CERA, while team-mate Leonardo Piepolo twice tested positive for the blood booster.

Schumacher won both time trials during this year's Tour and Hans-Michael Holczer, director of the Gerolsteiner team, told Belgian newspaper La Derniere Heure: "The director of the Tour, Christian Prudhomme, has confirmed [that Schumacher has tested positive] - I have no doubts about it."

Holczer confirmed Schumacher has been suspended by the team, but the German denies any wrongdoing.

"I am hearing it from you for the first time," Schumacher is quoted as telling German news agency SID. "I can only say that I have not doped. This is complete nonsense."

Four cyclists - Manuel Beltran, Moises Duenas, Ricco and Dmitri Fofonov - failed drugs tests at this year's race and were subsequently thrown out of the Tour.

Tour de France boss Jean-Etienne Amaury says Lance Armstrong 'embarressment'' Armstrong says 'last time I checked' he was clean.

The new boss of the Tour de France minced few words to disguise his unhappiness with American pro rider Lance Armstrong.  Jean-Etienne Amaury referred to Armstrong (in a double negative) as an embarrassment.

Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong has been an embarrassment to the French race, the new head of the Tour's organizer said in an interview Saturday.

L'Equipe quoted Jean-Etienne Amaury as saying that Armstrong has not always been good for the Tour.

"We can't say that he has not embarrassed the Tour de France, as he has had a quite a complicated history with it," Amaury said.

The 32-year-old Amaury was named president of the Amaury Sport Organization earlier this week, replacing Patrice Clerc, who was known for his hard line against doping. Some observers interpreted the change as a sign that the ASO intended to soften its position on doping.

Amaury, however, insisted the fight against doping remains a top priority.

"The Tour de France's position has always been very strict and that will not change in the years to come," he said. ASO "is quite conscious of the fact that doping undermines cycling's credibility."

Asked whether a comeback by the 37-year-old Armstrong, who retired in 2005 after winning his seventh consecutive title, would throw suspicion on the race, Amaury said that "today's tools in the fight against doping are different."

Armstrong, long know for his aggressive defense, took a swing back at the French.  To the BBC:

Lance Armstrong has hit back at Tour de France organisers who claimed the seven-time Tour champion's return to cycling was "embarrassing".

The American, who has always denied allegations of drug use, said: "I won the Tour seven straight years and was never found to be guilty of doping.

"Not to mention that my team of 25 riders over those seven years was also never found to be positive.

"The last time I checked, I won the Tour seven straight years and was never once found to be guilty of doping despite seven years of intense scrutiny," Armstrong said in a statement.

"We won clean and fair. Where's the embarrassment in that?"

The 37-year-old added in a statement: "Also, according to industry standards, the TV ratings, worldwide media impressions, spectators along the route, and global sponsorships (of the Tour) were at an all time high.

"It comes as an issue of distraction. While I love the event and France's people, I cannot accept this sort of grandstanding."

That controversial 2005 EPO sits out there like the 1000 pound doping gorilla in the locker room.

Suday steroid injections

1.  Dr. Charles Yesalis on PED use in the NFL.  (Wall Street Journal)

2.  Bangladesh bans weightlifter Satheesha Rai for life (The New Nation)

3.  Will VInokourov return to pro cycling after doping ban?  (Podium Cafe)

4.  Pro cyclist and Tour de France stage winner Ricco b anned for 2 years.  (The Star)

Cycling Friday: Ullrich, Schleck, EPO, and doping

1.  Jan Ullrich says he will not resort to doping follow Lance Armstrong out of retirement. (The LA Times Blog)

When Lance Armstrong was winning his seven consecutive Tour de France titles, seemingly every year the easygoing Jan Ullrich was a co-favorite. Until somehow, in some stage, Armstrong would blow by the German cyclist on some massive mountain climb. Or Ullrich would fall in the rain in a time trial. Or something.

After Armstrong retired, Ullrich was almost universally granted status as the new peloton leader, but instead, Ullrich got caught up in the doping scandals and retired in disgrace.

In an interview with VeloNews, Ullrich says he would not be surprised if Armstrong won the Tour again after his return from three years in retirement. And, no, Ullrich is not planning his own comeback so that he can finish second to Armstrong again.

2.  Cyclist Frank Schleck suspended by CSC.  (IHT) (Update too at Cheat or Beat)

Frank Schleck was provisionally suspended by his team Friday after admitting he transferred money to a Swiss bank account held by a doctor at the center of a major doping scandal.

The Luxembourg rider had appeared before his country's anti-doping agency on Wednesday for a hearing into his alleged involvement in the Operation Puerto doping scandal in Spain.

Danish team CSC Saxo Bank said Schleck had transferred the money to the account of Eufemiano Fuentes in March 2006 "to receive training advice by experts who presumably worked with some of the biggest names in the sport."

Schleck admitted making "a serious blunder" and regretted the contact with "these people," the team said. However, he denied having had direct contact with Fuentes and reiterated his claim that he had never engaged in doping.

The team manager, Bjarne Riis, said Schleck would be suspended from racing "until we have had the chance to evaluate the outcome of this."

A German prosecutor contends that Schleck paid almost $9,850 into a Swiss account held by Fuentes, who is at the center of the Puerto case.

Armstrong rejects French EPO retest offer; French doping czar regrets Armstrong rejection

Things become so complicated.  Earlier this week, the French anti-doping agency 'offered' to retest that nasty 1999 Lance Armstrong disputed alleged EPO positive urine test.  And now Armstrong answers in Cycling Weekly:

Lance Armstrong has rejected the offer by the head of the French Anti-doping agency, Pierre Bordry, to retest his urine samples from the 1999 Tour de France.

Bordry yesterday offered to retest the samples according to L'Equipe newspaper as of a way to prove Armstrong's good faith and dispel accusations made by the L'Equipe newspaper that the samples may contain traces of the banned blood booster EPO.

In a written statement, Armstrong sidestepped the offer by claiming that an independent investigation instigated by the UCI had said the 1999 samples “have not been maintained properly, have been compromised in many ways, and even three years ago could not be tested to provide any meaningful results.”

“There is simply nothing that I can agree to that would provide any relevant evidence about 1999,” Armstrong added in his statement.

Armstrong also pointed out that the “the Independent Investigation concluded that the French laboratory, the French Ministry of Sport, and Dick Pound, the former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, all behaved improperly with respect to the 1999 Tour de France samples.”

Obviously Armstrong will reject an offer to retest his sample. What does he have to gain?  Not much whatever the new outcome; there will continue to be doping accusations against the 7-time Tour de France winner.  What can he lose?  He could lose more of his reputation if the sample turned up positive.  However the French answer (BBC Sport)

The head of the French anti-doping agency believes Lance Armstrong has missed a chance to prove his critics wrong over allegations of drug use.

Pierre Bordry gave him the opportunity to have samples taken during the 1998 and 1999 Tours de France retested.

But the seven-time Tour champion refused to consent to the new tests.

"If the analysis is clean it would have been very good for him. But he doesn't want to do it and that's his problem," Bordry told BBC Sport.

"It was a good opportunity for him to answer positively to my proposition, because if he is clean, as he says, I am ready to follow him."

The American, who has always vigorously denied any wrongdoing, has announced he will return to the sport in 2009 after an absence of more than three years.

Armstrong, who would have to give his permission for tests on any sample older than eight years, gave a terse response to Bordry's invitation to prove he had "never cheated in his brilliant career".

As a reminder, here is the collection of samples that reportedly turned out an Armstrong positive for EPO:

The urine samples in question have been the subject of speculation ever since French newspaper L'Equipe reported in 2005 that six B samples contained the banned substance EPO - a blood-boosting hormone that enhances endurance.

Drug-testing protocol dictates that blood or urine is divided into A and B samples and both must show traces of the banned substance for a test to be declared positive. Cycling did not have a robust test for EPO until 2001.

And nothing settled...

Cycling Weekly calls for Armstrong to bypass the Australian 'Tour Down Under'

Now rivaling the Brett Favre annual comeback for 'most popular comeback story' Lance Armstrong makes the news during the night:

Cycling weekly says Lance should not enter the Australian 'Tour Down Under' because he would need an exemption from the 6 month doping registration rule.  And why start a revitalized career already bending the rules?

Lance Armstrong has appealed to the UCI to show common sense over the rule that could prevent him from making his comeback at the Tour Down Under.

The governing body's rules state that a rider wishing to come out of retirement must register the intent six months in advance, so they can be available for out-of-competition dope tests. It's a plain enough rule, necessary to prevent a loophole that could be exploited by a rider wishing to use performance-enhancing drugs in the run-up to a competitive return.

Thing is, Armstrong only registered on August 1, meaning he cannot race in a UCI event until February. The Tour Down Under starts on January 21, 2009...

Armstrong is returning to cycling with anti-doping guru Don Catlin in his entourage. Part of his return ticket is to show he is clean. So, absolute adherence to the rules from the very start.

It may only be 'a few days' but a very important principal is at stake.

Common sense dictates that the rules should be observed. If that prompts the Tour Down Under's organisers to delay the race, then that is their prerogative, but the rule should not be bent to suit one individual.

Armstrong is not bigger than the sport. It may be 'good for business' for Armstrong to make his comeback at the Tour Down Under, but it is not good for the sport if a rule has to be broken in the process.

Anti-doping legislation relies on being applied equally to every athlete. Forget the Cipollini precedent, apply the rule as written now and in the future.

If Armstrong wants transparency and if he wants to dispel the rumours and the doubt, a good starting point would be not to contest the rules.

Interesting argument.

French offer to retest Lance Armstrong's 1999 Tour de France urine samples

The French agency responsible for testing Lance Armstrong's disputed positive (EPO) 1999 urine sample wants another go at applying the doping test, only with Armstrong's permission.

Armstrong, staging a well publicized comeback, wants to assure the world his cycling will be clean.  One of the thorns in Armstrong's side continues to be the 'alleged' positive 1999 urine sample; (again allegedly) Armstrong's stored samples tested positive for EPO, a test not available at the time of the sample collection.  However Armstrong disputes several issues including chain of custody of the samples.

Now the French agency AFLD is offering to retest the '99 samples for EPO, in an attempt to clear Armstrong's name (to Cycling Weekly):

The French Anti-Doping Authority (AFLD) has offered Lance Armstrong a chance to retest his urine samples from the 1999 Tour - which, according to French newspaper L'Equipe allegedly contained traces of EPO.

“Mr. Armstrong is a great champion,” AFLD boss Pierre Bordry told French newspaper L'Equipe on Wednesday, “Everybody can understand how someone like him would want to come back to the Tour again."

"I would like that comeback to be in the best possible conditions, so I would suggest that we do a complete analysis of the six urine samples taken in the 1999 Tour.That would perhaps give him the chance to affirm he never cheated during his brilliant career.”

L'Equipe alleged back in 2005 that the 1999 samples, taken during the first of Armstrong's seven Tours victories, contained traces of EPO. Armstrong has always categorically denied all allegations of doping.

Bordry added that the Paris laboratory which had carried out the testing had confirmed to him that Armstrong's samples had been conserved in the correct conditions, and that if Armstrong wished the new tests would be carried out in the presence of an expert nominated by the Texan.

The French agency seems to have Armstrong in a bit of a pinch.  If Armstrong agrees to the testing, he risks the chance that the samples test positive (?again).  The same chain of custody, sabotage, and storage issues remain as with the first test, although DNA testing could prove the samples are Armstrong's.  If the samples are not positive would the world accept the result?

If Armstrong does agree to re-testing then he will be accused of a cover-up.

Only Armstrong knows the chances of an EPO positive.  Is he willing to run the risk of a positive doping sample in 1999?  If clean he could prove it.  If dirty, he will try to avoid the re-test.  This could be interesting.  However we are betting an attorney will advise not to volunteer a retest.

Lance Armstrong's Australian comeback not a sure thing

Controversy exists down in Australia about the targeted comeback race for Lance Armstrong -- 'The Tour Down Under'.  The cycling governing body -- the UCI -- rules say an athlete must be registered for anti-doping at least 6 months in advance of a major sanctioned race.  Armstrong may or may not qualify under the rules.

The Age expresses some doubt that Armstrong meets the 6 month anti-doping rule.

Tour Down Under organisers are anxiously awaiting official word on whether cycling star Lance Armstrong can compete in next January's race.

Cycling's world governing body, the UCI, has raised doubts that the seven-time Tour de France champion will be legally eligible for the January 20-25 event in Adelaide.

Last Wednesday, the Tour Down Under triumphantly announced Armstrong would start his high-profile competitive comeback at the race.

But now there is a potentially-decisive hitch.

Speaking at the world road titles in Varese, Italy over the weekend, UCI boss Pat McQuaid said Armstrong had to show he had registered with an anti-doping program within six months of the Tour's start.

"The rules state that he must be in the anti-doping system within a six-month period," McQuaid said.

"I don't know on what date Armstrong asked to be registered on the programme. But the UCI will apply these rules, regardless of the athlete."

There are reports that Armstrong is not eligible to start competition until February 1.

"We've done all we can do, we're waiting for an official opinion on the situation," Tour Down Under race director Mike Turtur said.

However Monsters and Critics says Armstrong is good to go.

United States cyclist Lance Armstrong is on track to make his official comeback to professional road racing in Australia in January, organizers of the Tour Down Under said Sunday.

The 37-year-old announced his retirement after winning the Tour de France a record seven times in 2005 but has said he will try for an eighth triumph in the world's most prestigious road race.

The Tour Down Under, the first stage race outside Europe to be accorded the cherished ProTour status, attracts some of the world's top teams to Adelaide Jan 18-25.

Race director Mike Turtur said he believed Armstrong would have been registered in an International Cycling Union (UCI) anti-doping programme for the requisite six months before competition.

'That was mentioned by the (UCI) president some time ago in a press release when he announced the comeback, so we were in the understanding that everything was in place,' he said.

   

 

Franck Schleck object of police raid during cycling world championships

Several reports say Frank Schleck, a Luxembourg elite pro cyclist, fell under a doping suspicion because of a payment receipt to Dr Fuentes, the Operation Puerto doping doc.   To Cycling Weekly:

Luxembourg's Frank Schleck is the latest rider to be linked to Operacion Puerto as doping investigations again began to cast a long shadow over the world championships in Varese on Saturday.

Sixth in the Tour de France this year and the winner on Alpe D'Huez in the same race in 2006, Schleck has admitted that he is going to meet the Luxembourg anti-doping authorities, but is adamant he has done nothing wrong.

However reports in Germany newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and other media have said Schleck's name has emerged in connection with the Operacion Puerto doping scandal in Spain.

The shadowed gathered over Schleck on Friday night after Italian police searched the Luxembourg team hotel. According to the Italian La Repubblica newspaper, at least 15 officers from the Italian NAS, the police responsible for doping and drugs investigations, searched the hotel from eight o'clock in the evening until four thirty in the morning. It is unsure if anything was taken away.

Top News Sports goes further with the evidence:

Schleck's name has been mentioned in connection with Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, the doctor at the centre of the Operacion Puerto blood-doping ring.

Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) reported on Saturday that Schleck sent money to Fuentes in 2006, saying that Luxembourg authorities now had a copy of the transaction bank slip.

However the Team CSC manager, Bjarne Riis says everything is OK for Schleck:

CSC team manager Bjarne Riis fully backed his rider's claims, saying that they had talked to Frank Schleck and that he had “confirmed that he hasn't done anything wrong, hasn't violated any anti-doping rules, and has not had the intention of doing so.”

Greg LeMond interrupts the 'Feel Good' LA tour; peppers the Armstrong team with doping questions

Cojones.  That is what Greg LeMond displays in spades.  LeMond attended yesterdays press conference in Las Vegas, at the Interbike trade show.  If Armstrong wants publicity, then he should deal with the tough issues too.  To Bike Radar:

A day after officially announcing his comeback to professional cycling, Lance Armstrong made an appearance at the Interbike trade show to give the cycling media and industry an opportunity to hear more details of his plans, including the special testing by Don Catlin of the UCLA anti-doping lab. Catlin joined him on stage along with American Taylor Phinney, who will lead Armstrong's new U23 developmental team.

Sitting in the front row, asking the first question was another Tour de France champion and outspoken critic of Armstrong, Greg LeMond. Cyclingnews was on hand to hear the plans and questioning from the industry, including LeMond.

LeMond, seated in the front row, led off the questioning with some pointed ones, all surrounding the theme of questioning the reasonability of the planned special testing of Armstrong by Don Catlin of the UCLA lab.

Very topical questions for Team Armstrong.  Or should we say Corporate Armstrong.  If an athlete is going to trumpet state of the art doping testing, then make it state of the art.  Look at more than the 'forensic' lab tests (drug level, or T/E ratios).   Look at physiologic functions and blood parameters for irregularities.

"I see Mr. Greg LeMond is here," Armstrong said somewhat wryly, but allowed him to have the first question.

LeMond pressed Armstrong and Catlin about the type of testing they had planned. He levied some reasonable critiques, essentially calling into question the proposed testing, arguing that it is not comprehensive enough, such as using T/E ratios and tests for specific EPO drugs as opposed to measuring physiological variables such as power output changes over time. LeMond inferred that a spike in power output would better indicate the use of something compared to trying to test for particular substances.

"That is not my area," responded Catlin. "He will be subject to testing by everyone under the sun. I think that will be all sorted out."

Catlin is a good guy; we hope he is not seduced by the Armstrong mystique and the Armstrong financial power.  For too long stars tend to intimidate people; even in Congress, members were asking Roger Clemens for autographs rather than grilling him about his doping agenda.  LeMond is not easily intimidated as we can see below. This exchange proved pretty testy:

Catlin said that the actual program is still taking shape. "[Lance] has agreed to a couple of a few very fundamental points. One is his data, like T/E ratio and all that kind of stuff that a doping control is allowed to do will be on the web, so you can see it. 'Ah, your T/E ratio changed today, what happened?' Like to see if he is taking EPO – all the actors to make it a very public campaign.

"The other thing is samples will be kept frozen for a good long time so that if next year, five years a new test comes out and someone says Lance was doing something five years ago, we can pull out the samples and test them. This is longitudinal testing whereas the usual type of testing is taking a stop in time. This is where you connect the dots and is much more powerful kind of program to understand the physiology."

"That is all irrelevant," LeMond responded. "It doesn't matter about T/E ratio but watts and power output..."

"I don't think it is irrelevant," said Catlin. "I dare say you know this business pretty well! Come with your ideas of what we should do!"

At that point Armstrong stepped in tried to move things along. "You've done your job," Armstrong said to LeMond. "We are here to talk about a couple of things, like the Global Clinton campaign and my comeback to cycling. It's time for us, everybody in this room, to move on. We are not going to go there, I appreciate you being here – next question."

Come on folks.  If an athlete holds a press conference to trumpet his complete transparency to anti-doping agenda, and if the athlete expects to be state-of-the-art, then the athlete needs to answer all questions completely without cutting off the questioner because the issues are too tough, or he doesn't like the path the questions are going.

This is not scientific agenda here, it is public relations.  and perhaps to sell some SRAM bicycle components.

Lance Armstrong deals with SRAM bicycle parts; Joins Lehman Brothers investment strategy

Does anyone understand the world of high finance?  If so, a room in the White House could use a little help this weekend working on the details on the 700B bailout of the investment banking industry.  Apparently trying to add his patriotic share, recently unretired Lance Armstrong will ride in advertisement for SRAM, a 500M cycle parts company. To Bike Radar:

While a lot of recent news about Lance Armstrong has overshadowed the wheeling and dealing happening at the Interbike trade show, one aspect of his return actually has relevance specific to the industry. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Armstrong is investing millions of dollars into component maker SRAM, as part of the deal with Lehman Brothers Merchant Bank, subsidiary of the recently collapsed investment bank Lehman Brothers.

While the two entities are relatively separate, the infusion of cash from Armstrong is expected to have a positive impact. Lehman had actually courted Lance prior to any knowledge of his comeback, beginning as far back as 2007. And the fact that Armstrong will be riding SRAM as part of the existing sponsorship with Astana is apparently just coincidence. "The funny thing, when we did the deal with Lance we were unaware that he was planning to return to competitive cycling," Charlie Moore, a managing director of Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking told WSJ. "It's serendipitous."

And the agenda of cancer awareness?  Apparently a businessman can ride for cancer awareness as well as make a side deal as a consultant and adviser for a fine capitalistic firm.  Can these two goals co-exist?

"It's great to have that kind of intelligent money, really knowledgeable money to be part of the company," SRAM president Stan Day told Cyclingnews. "It's a small piece of the total investment but it is a meaningful piece to be sure. We are excited that Lance is interested in riding are components and investing in our components, and that is a great combination."

"We certainly weren't the first in the industry to hear about it, but it came onto our plate three weeks ago," said Day. "We were as surprised as the whole industry but also pleased. Lance brings great credibility and great draw to the industry and it is good to have him back."

The combination of Lance as a technical advisor, investor and now sponsored rider is quite a coup for SRAM in terms of battling for a share of the market with Armstrong's former component maker Shimano. Armstrong had been with the Japanese company for so long that he still rode their components at Wednesday night's Cross Vegas race at Interbike.

And that's about cancer awareness?  More:

"We couldn't switch his bike out and have him go into a race right away!" Day laughed. "But he's ridden our product a lot over the last several months and he is comfortable with it. He likes the weight, stiffness and the use of carbon. It will be interesting to work him closer and get his ideas. We will incorporate that with our other athletes' feedback."

Let's move some product. From Cycling News:

The success of SRAM's re-entry into the road market has paid off handsomely in the form of Grand Tour success with Team Astana, who race on SRAM Red-equipped Trek Madones. Now, with the news of Lance Armstrong returning to the pro peloton in 2009, there's a grand assumption it'll be with Johan Bruyneel's Team Astana. Armstrong has ridden Trek since 1998, but has been a Shimano-sponsored athlete his entire career.   Day is pretty excited about the prospect of working with Armstrong, although at this point it's pure speculation until Armstrong announces his plans at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City September 24.

"If Lance wanted an executive to train with, I'd be willing," Day said, "but he may need to find someone more capable than me! I commute to our downtown Chicago office every day. I also like to ride mountain bikes in the Northwoods of upper Michigan. Road riding is difficult in downtown Chicago, so it's a little more challenging. It's safer to put the bike on the car and drive an hour to get out of rush-hour traffic!"

The Wall Street Journal on the deal link here.

Neither God nor man can brake this ride: Lance Armstrong announces comeback plans

As the old saying goes, he is 'the big wheel'...in this case, the big cycling wheel that spins on and on and on.  Lance Armstrong, never quite out of the spotlight, completed the preliminaries of his startling comeback today.  The 24/7 nature of the modern CNN/Fox/ESPN news cycle assures us of more Lance Armstrong news over the next year than even Brett Favre spots.

Even though he retired after winning 7 Tour de France titles, Lance Armstrong never retired from the bright lights.  He dated any number of the world's more famous women.  He became a 'spokes'man of cancer awareness, a surefire way to gain support....push for animal welfare, Jerry's kids, and cancer awareness and you cannot go wrong.  However, here is a positive view of the Armstrong idealism.

Fans love the cancer survival story, and indeed it is a great one.  However the cycling story is not quite so stellar.  Armstrong mounted an impressive mid-career push to become the best.  He cavorted with the infamous dope peddler, Dr. Michele Ferrari.  And he retired at a time when the entire peloton doped to the max, before anti-doping testing matured to the point it has now.

It must be incredibly difficult for an athlete with galactic adulation from 1999 to 2005 to retire.  Now there are several issues with the Armstrong comeback:

1.  Armstrong will ride with Astana, home of 2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador  (from the New York Times today)

Armstrong said he hoped that Alberto Contador, the talented winner of the 2007 Tour, would not leave in a huff if Armstrong signed on, as Contador has threatened to do in recent days.

“If I’m not the strongest guy on the team, then I’m the domestique,” Armstrong said, somewhat tentatively.

Good luck to that. In 1986, the five-time Tour champion Bernard Hinault promised to serve as a domestique to an up-and-coming American, Greg Lemond. On the crucial ascent on the Alpe d’Huez, Lemond looked over his shoulder and saw the gritted-teeth smile of Hinault, whose nickname was the Badger. Hinault shrugged, as if to say, well, what did you expect, I am the Badger. Lemond held him off and won the Tour — but probably still has nightmares about Hinault. Armstrong, bless his heart, could induce a nightmare just by musing about being somebody’s domestique.

2.  Armstrong, dogged by doping accusations feels compelled to hire the best in the business to monitor his blood parameters (from the NY Daily News):

Armstrong confirmed that he will ride in the Tour de France for the Kazakh team Astana and claimed he will be "totally validated" by an aggressive screening program to be designed by world-renowned anti-doping scientist Don Catlin.

But Catlin, whose chemical sleuthing helped crack the BALCO doping ring in 2003, said "there are no guarantees," and conceded that the program he is establishing to monitor Armstrong will do nothing to clear the suspicions that linger over the cyclist's past accomplishments.

"I think it's going to be as airtight as I can possibly make it," Catlin told the Daily News. "Anybody who tries to beat it will be a fool."

Catlin said results of Armstrong's blood and urine tests would be posted online, and the urine would be frozen and stored for future re-testing. He said Armstrong's representatives approached him about the plan in the last two weeks, following Armstrong's announcement that he will return after three years of retirement.

Armstrong will pay Catlin for the work, but dismissed the concerns of "conspiracy theorists" who see a conflict of interest in that.

"There's not enough money anywhere to potentially buy out Don Catlin," said Armstrong. "For the conspiracy theorists out there that might think that, I would refer them to Don Catlin."

Armstrong spoke to the celebrity-laden crowd in New York today:

Armstrong was discussing his comeback Wednesday in New York, at the Clinton Global Initiative, the nonpolitical conference about the world’s problems. He linked his return for five races next season with the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which fights cancer.

He portrayed his comeback as more than the ego of an aging athlete who missed the spotlight, saying that he would race in nations that need either praise or prodding for their approach to cancer. Armstrong plans to race next January in Australia; he did not mind saying that Australia does not do enough to combat melanoma, a form of cancer prevalent in that sunny part of the world.

Armstrong told an audience that included two former presidents, Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush, and former Vice President Al Gore — as well as Muhammad Ali — that cancer patients should not think of themselves as victims.

Armstrong is a force for hope in the battle against a disease that will kill 8 million people this year. More than 50 million yellow Livestrong wrist bracelets have been distributed around the world, signifying donations to the foundation. And now Armstrong says he wants to ride for all the people.

Not one to hide his light under a basket, as Paula Duffy enumerates:

But there is a twist to this story that is of some note. To support Armstrong's contention that he will be clean and free of any banned substances, the team has hired Don Catlin, a noted anti-doping expert. Catlin has credentials that no one can question but there's just one hitch in all this.

He will be an employee of Armstrong's team. Armstrong believes that Catlin is beyond reproach and Pat McQuaid who heads up the sports governing body has no problem with it.  Both those men seem to believe there would be no circumstances underwhich Catlin wouldn't do the right thing, even if it means outing Armstrong. Might I suggest that it takes incredible fortitude and honor not to be influenced by the marketing juggernaut that is the Armstrong cancer awareness cause? Human beings are fallible and we have seen men and women in public life fail us after we have trusted them to tell us the truth. Everyone has his price, we all know that.

I am not predicting any cheating and I absolutely do not mean to say that Catlin and Astana have exchanged winks and nods on the topic of transparency. I'm just pointing out to Mr. Armstrong that if he really wanted to give the world some reason to believe he won't get any assistance from banned substances, he might have taken a different route.

For example, hundreds of blood samples taken from Australian athletes at the recent Beijing Olympics are being stored for study in the next decade. As a member of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority said, an athlete might be able to evade present-day tests for new substances, but these samples will be kept for eight years under the presumption that testing catches up a bit late with cheating.

But hey, then Armstrong wouldn't be able to make Mr. Catlin part of his marketing campaign this summer.The cyclist's test results will be posted on the Internet. What a world.

Lance Armstrong has become very good at marketing Lance Armstrong.  He is a lightning rod for major issues of the day: doping, cancer awareness, sports marketing, and even politics.

EPO implicated in stroke study deaths

From the AP comes a report of a clinical study treating stroke subjects with EPO which found a higher death rate in the EPO group.  There will be a line in here about the link to sports doping with EPO; however looking at side effects in an elderly population suffering a stroke is far different than looking at side effects in an athletic population.

A blockbuster anemia drug made by a Johnson & Johnson company has been linked to the deaths of some patients in an experiment testing whether it could help stroke patients.with

J&J's Ortho Biotech unit said late Wednesday that it had learned of preliminary data from a study in which participants were being given its drug Procrit within six hours of suffering an ischemic stroke, in which an artery blockage limits the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain.

In the study, which was designed and initiated by a German scientist, more patients treated with Procrit died than in the comparison group receiving a placebo.

Johnson and Johnson released a PR statement, possibly to stem the criticism that pharmaceutic companies cover up deleterious side effects.

"Ortho Biotech chose to publicly communicate the results ... because of what we feel are potential safety implications," said company spokesman Mark Wolfe.

He said it is J&J's understanding that the idea behind the study "was based on data suggesting that patients suffering from stroke might benefit from epoetin therapy."

Epoetin alfa is the chemical name for the Procrit brand. The drug is also sold by another Johnson & Johnson unit under the name Eprex outside the United States, and Amgen Inc. sells it under the name Epogen in this country.

The drugs are all approved for treating anemia in cancer patients, people with kidney disease undergoing dialysis and some patients with HIV. They are not approved in any country for treating ischemic stroke patients. 

EPO, although frequently abused by athletes, is dangerous.

Strong warnings have been added to the package information for these drugs in recent years, as they have been linked to growth of existing tumors in some cancer patients and, at high doses, to heart complications and death.

The drugs work by stimulating production of oxygen-carrying red blood cells. Other versions, known as EPO, have been linked to doping by some athletes and banned because they boost endurance...

According to Wolfe, the study had been completed and preliminary data revealed a higher death rate.

Considering the report a few days ago of the ability of EPO to alter neuroanatomic structure, in conjunction with the information given above, this is a very interesting drug which appears to stimulate growth in a number of cell types.

EPO is BMOC in doping world

Erythropoietin (EPO) appears to be assuming larger and more important role in medicine, and in sports doping.  EPO, a natural hormone produced in the kidney stimulates (regulates) the production of red blood cells (RBCs).  RBC, by utilizing hemoglobin, carry oxygen loaded in the lungs to all the 'peripheral tissues' like heart, brain, muscles, gonads, etc..  Hemoglobin then captures CO2 --  a waste product from cellular metabolism -- to be carried back to the lungs where the waste C02 is exchanged for oxygen.

EPO can be abused by cyclists, and track athletes, based on the improvement of oxygen delivery to the muscles, and even the CNS.  However the use of EPO is dangerous, causing blood clots in critical vessels (like heart).

EPO became useful for the treatment of kidney failure.  Kidney failure can be caused by many diseases: hypertension, diabetes, genetic metabolic conditions etc.  Those patients suffered from anemia, treated with EPO.  From Medscape:

The use of erythropoietin (Epo) in treating anemia of chronic kidney disease (CKD) has transformed the lives of millions of individuals.^[1] In the pre-epoetin era, patients had to live with the symptoms of severe anemia, multiple transfusions, and frequent hospitalization. Recombinant erythropoietin (rhEpo) was approved in 1989 for the treatment of CKD anemia. Widespread use of Epo in the management of CKD anemia ensued. Over the past 2 decades, the market for Epo has dramatically increased. It is now estimated that $22 billion worth of Epo has been sold.^[2] This vast market opportunity has not gone without notice in the pharmaceutical industry, and many Epo analogues and derivatives have entered the marketplace. These newer Epos are now grouped under the term erythropoietin-stimulating agents or ESAs. In addition, follow-on epoetins (FOEs), similar to the innovator epoetin, are now commonplace, particularly in emerging countries.

Here is a review of EPO's structure:

Epo is an acidic glycoprotein with a molecular weight of 30.4 kDa (Table ).^[3,4]       

The carbohydrate part of the molecule (approximately 40%) is composed of 3 N-linked and 1 O-linked glycan moieties. N-glycans are key to the biological activity of Epo; the addition of N-glycans into rhEpo increases the carbohydrate content and results in prolonged survival of the molecule. From a structural perspective, Epo has a basic structure like other cytokines (eg, the interleukins). It is composed of 4 amphipathic {alpha}-helical bundles. There are 2 domains located on Helix C and Helix D that are necessary for binding to the Epo receptor (EpoR). Following binding to the EpoR, a JAK2-mediated signal transduction cascade ensues (Figure 1). Epo's binding affinity is also critical to its action. Epoetin-alfa has a high binding affinity, whereas newer derivatives such as continuous erythropoietin receptor activator (CERA) have much lower affinities that are thought to contribute to the longer half-life of these molecules...

In the years following the launch of rhEpo, it became apparent that N-linked glycosylation increased the half-life of the Epo molecule. In 2001, darbepoetin, a longer-acting derivative of epoetin-alfa, was approved. In 2007, CERA, a derivative of epoetin-beta, received regulatory approval. Both darbepoetin-alfa and CERA have a prolonged half life compared with epoetin-alfa or epoetin-beta (Figure 2); these agents have been extensively tested in phase 2 and 3 programs and allow less frequent dosing of Epo in the management of CKD anemia...

If it means something to you, CERA is pegylated EPO:

CERA is a pegylated form of epoetin-beta. CERA is a 60-kDa molecule, approximately twice the molecular weight of epoetin-alfa.^[12,13] A large methoxy-polyethylene glycol polymer is incorporated into the epoetin molecule, essentially doubling its molecular weight compared with epoetin. This modification markedly prolongs CERA's half-life in humans to about 135 hours. In addition, CERA binds to EpoR more slowly than Epo. These 2 attributes result in CERA triggering the JAK2 Epo signal transduction cascade without being internalized. Consequently, CERA has more sustained biologic activity. CERA has been tested extensively and can be used less frequently than epoetin-alfa or darbepoetin-alfa -- it can be administered either once every other week or once monthly.^[14-16]

If you are a anti-doping agency you will not be happy to read that different ways to stimulate EPO are on the way.

Small-molecule Epo mimetic peptides (EMPs) provide a novel paradigm to stimulate Epo. EMPs are peptide sequences that bind and activate EpoR. For example, Wrighton and colleagues^[25,26] have identified a 20-amino-acid peptide (GGTYSCHFGPLTWVCKPQGG) that binds EpoR and has both in vivo and in vitro biologic activity. An example of an EMP that has entered clinical trials with much promise is Hematide (Affymax Inc., Palo Alto, California).^[27] This is a pegylated dimeric EMP that has no sequence homology to Epo but binds and activates EpoR. PEGylation enhances the stability and prolongs the half-life of the molecule (t1/2 of up to 60 hours). Hematide is now being evaluated in phase 2 studies both in renal patients and in patients with cancer.^[28,29] Other EMPs are also in the pipeline.

EPO can be a very effective performance enhancing agent.  Given the advances in the molecular pharmacology of EPO, it will be a formidable task to prevent EPO abuse in sport.

The Tour de France 2008 is not finished: More testing for CERA EPO

So we thought the 2008 Tour de France was finished and in the books.  Typically there were cyclists like Manuel Beltran of Spain testing positive for EPO, and Dmitriy Fofonov of Kazakhstan testing positive for a banned stimulant.  The winner is in the books, and we all move on....right?  No.

Authorities report that the Tour will re-test doping samples for a more careful examination of the new CERA EPO.  To the AP:

Several Tour de France riders are having their blood samples retested for traces of the banned blood-booster EPO.

The head of the French Anti-Doping Agency told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the testing involved riders who were already under scrutiny for suspicious urine samples. Pierre Bordry declined to name the cyclists.

The new blood tests will look for CERA, a third-generation variation of EPO. Italian rider Riccardo Ricco tested positive for the substance during the Tour.

"I have decided that we will retest — with blood testing — all those who showed up as suspicious during the urine samples," Bordry said by telephone. "When we did the urine samples of those athletes, we had a serious suspicion that there was CERA. The laboratory could not say definitively. The same analysis will be done, but in the blood samples."

Bordry asked for the blood samples to be sent from Lausanne, Switzerland, where they were tested during the Tour.

"All the blood tests have been repatriated to France," Bordry said, adding that they are currently being examined at the Chatenay-Malabry laboratory, outside Paris.

Testing has already begun and could take up to two weeks, Bordry said.

CERA EPO developed as a medical advance -- a molecule large enough not to be sucked out of the kidneys as quickly as the other versions of EPO.  Cyclists thought the new version would go undetectable, however anti-doping agents were apparently almost ready for the drug.

As mentioned, Riccardo Ricco tested positive in the original Tour testing, while several other cyclists have suspicious results.

Bordry also said that Spanish rider Moises Duenas Nevado's "B" sample came back positive for EPO, confirming the original finding.

Also testing positive during the Tour were Manuel Beltran of Spain, for EPO, and Dmitriy Fofonov of Kazakhstan, for a banned stimulant.

Ricco and his teammate Leonardo Piepoli were fired by the Saunier Duval team — which also lost its sponsor.

Even though Piepoli did not test positive, he was released for violation of the team's ethical code. Spanish media later reported that Piepoli had admitted to his team that he took the same form of EPO as Ricco.

French cyclist Jimmy Casper tested positive for a banned steroid, but has since been cleared on grounds that he forgot to renew a prescription for a long-standing asthma problem.

Research shows EPO may improve cognitive functioning...but what about the short memories of doped athletes?

Interesting results from a medical trial at the Max Plank Institute found that cognitive functioning in mice improved with EPO, long abused by athletes for endurance tasks -- especially track and cycling.  EPO stimulates more blood cells allowing a greater capacity of the blood to unload oxygen in the tissues.  Apparently the drug, or a downstream affect of the drug enhances neuronal circuitry of memory functions.  To Barchester Healthcare News:

A drug which has been linked to athletics doping scandals may have positive effects on memory, according to a new study.

Research published in the open-access journal BMC Biology suggests erythropoietin (EPO) may improve memory due to a direct effect on neurons in the brain, as opposed to any effect it might have on blood production in the body.

According to scientists involved in the study, the findings could prove useful in the development of treatments for diseases which affect the brain, such as Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis.

The researchers revealed that treatment with EPO appeared to "increase the number of inhibitory circuits, which actually increases the efficiency of transmission of excitatory nerve impulses in specific neurons, resulting in greater short-term and long-term plasticity in memory pathways in the hippocampus".

Could the beneficial effects of doping with EPO have also improved the cognitive functioning of athletes who abuse the drug?  Seems their memories fail them at times, especially when they try to recall their drug use.  Must be the hippocampus, huh?

Hannelore Ehrenreich, of the Max Planck Institute, compared the enhanced memory function seen in mice with the dramatic improvement in endurance and muscular performance experienced by athletes who have used the drug.

 

Tour of Britain about to finish: Controversial doping cyclists flame out

Back on September 7th, Scotland on Sunday was concerned about the upcoming Tour of Britain: the race was plagued with a multitude of former doping cyclists, including Tyler Hamilton and his chimera buddy twin.  Other opinions also stated the dopers should be banned.

THE TOUR of Britain, which starts today in London and visits Scotland on Saturday, is likely to be the most competitive of the five previous editions of the round-Britain cycle race, but also, before a wheel has turned, easily the most controversial.

A high-quality field has been attracted, including British double Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins, but it is the appearance of an American team, run by a fashion entrepreneur, that is set to divide opinion, and, in some quarters, spark outrage and indignation.

ock Racing, run by Michael Ball as a vehicle to promote his Rock & Republic fashion label, includes in its six-man line-up three riders synonymous with cycling's tarnished image. Tyler Hamilton, who just weeks after winning the 2004 Olympic time trial tested positive for blood doping, for which he served a two-year ban, is merely the most notorious.

With Hamilton, who has steadfastly, and in the face of compelling evidence to the contrary, protested his innocence, are Santiago Botero of Colombia and Spain's Oscar Sevilla, both of whom were implicated in the "Operacion Puerto" investigation into a blood-doping ring in Madrid. Hamilton was named in connection with that, too.

The British expressed outrage at Hamilton, however admit other cyclists like David Millar tested positive for doping, yet are allowed to compete:

...another former offender, David Millar, is riding; and Alberto Volpi, who manages the Barloworld team, is another with a sketchy past – but what has incensed most people is Hamilton's continued refusal to admit to his misdemeanours.

Millar is at the opposite end of the spectrum, having confessed fully and committed himself to leading the fight against doping, not least through his team, Garmin. The Scot has consistently criticised those such as Hamilton and Ivan Basso for their refusal to admit to their misdeeds.

Rock Racing won't be the only team at the Tour of Britain to raise eyebrows, with the Italian LPR squad containing last year's Giro d'Italia winner, Danilo Di Luca and Allesandro Petacchi, who recently returned from a doping ban, also invited.

So how did the race turn out?

Petacchi won the first stage of the Tour.

Hamilton repeatedly crashed the race, which took him out of competition.  The first crash was with Sevilla...wonder if dopers attract like magnets (Cycling Weekly)?

Rock Racing's day of pain began when Oscar Sevilla crashed after hitting a cat eye and brought Hamilton down with him. Rock Racing's team car does not carry any spare bikes because it does not have a roof rack and so Hamilton had to change bikes three times, using a neutral service bike and then a bike borrowed from Great Britain. He missed the decisive attack on Exmoor and finished the stage blooded and brooding. He refused to speak to the press and insisted the team bus door was closed.

So today with the last stage of the event to go, the dopers are not fairing well.  Karma?

As Armstrong stages comeback, scientific controversy entangles report of his remarkable exercise capacity; Original author sarcastically defensive

For years Lance Armstrong and his lawyers pointed to a scientific study purporting to demonstrate Armstrong's incredible physiological advantage over competitors.  Now it appears the author of the study erred in the calculations.  Doping the study? 

Armstrong's physiological parameters were followed longitudinally by University of Texas scientists.  Using exercise physiology measures the scientists claimed Armstrong's training regimen produced an astonishing  improvement in his exercise efficiency.  There developed a hangup though -- they used the wrong formula in calculating one of the measures.

To the New York Times:

As Lance Armstrong prepared to announce his return to professional cycling this week, a scientific debate about his past was also rekindled.

In a letter to The Journal of Physiology posted online for subscribers on Monday, Edward F. Coyle, a respected human-performance expert with the University of Texas in Austin, acknowledged making an error in his long-term study of Armstrong’s muscle efficiency. The paper, which appeared in the same journal in 2005, has been repeatedly used by Armstrong and his lawyers to fend off allegations that his cycling success came in part through doping.

Three Australian scientists and one mathematician pointed out the error in a separate letter to the journal. The mistake involves one of the two ways Coyle calculated improvements in Armstrong’s muscle performance. The experts argue that the error effectively makes Coyle’s widely cited study invalid — a charge flatly rejected by Coyle, who called the error a minor miscalculation. But the somewhat arcane exchange has again raised questions about Armstrong and his record seven consecutive Tour de France victories.

It is a stretch to raise questions about Armstrong doping, simply because a scientist miscalculated the cyclists's exercise capacity.  However, the paper attempted to explain Armstrong's dramatic improvement after his treatment for testicular cancer.

Until his just-suspended retirement, Armstrong had experienced two distinct phases of his career. Before developing advanced cancer at 25, he was one of many talented professional cyclists. Rather than being seen as a contender at the Tour de France, he was better known for quitting the race early. But after returning to racing in 1999, he was virtually without a peer in his sport.

Skeptics have argued that such a dramatic transformation was impossible without doping. Armstrong has repeatedly denied ever doping.

Coyle’s 2005 paper provided a clear response to doubters. From 1993 to his comeback year of 1999, Armstrong was tested on a special stationary bicycle in Coyle’s lab in Austin, Armstrong’s hometown. That data, Coyle said in his paper, showed that Armstrong’s dramatic improvement largely came from a long-term increase in his muscle efficiency combined with weight loss from his bout with cancer.

Australian scientists, concerned about the miscalculations in the paper, even raised the possibility of scientific fraud.

“They were really concerned, on a scientific level, that Coyle had been able to perpetuate this myth that cycling efficiency changes,” he said. “I was more concerned, to be frank, about why all these alibis were suddenly being put under scrutiny and shown to be false.”

After raising a variety of concerns directly with Coyle about his research methods and, according to Ashenden, being rebuffed, the group lodged a formal complaint of scientific misconduct against him with the University of Texas.

However the Univ of Texas group was cool to the idea, and the paper's author was less than cool...he was rude.

In his letter, several e-mails and an interview, Coyle acknowledged his mistake. But he said that it did not change his overall findings about Armstrong’s gross muscle efficiency improvements. He called the calculation error “a minor variation” that “doesn’t make a practical difference.”

Coyle charged that the Australians had “more than unbiased science in mind” in their work.

Characterizing their complaints as an “attempt to confuse issues and raise doubt about obscure issues,” Coyle said that the Australians were attempting “to spin clouds of doubt about me, my paper and thus Armstrong.”

He added: “This is a minor waste on my time. However, I don’t understand how they can afford to spend so much time on this. Don’t they have real jobs?”

Quite a sarcastic remark from a guy who was just scientifically embarrassed.  Any time a miscalculation is discovered the paper should be recalled or rewritten, rather than insults hurled at those who question the mistake.  As the Times points out, independent reviewers also cast skepticism on the results.  Interesting to see where this all leads.

It's a peddling reunion: Floyd Landis now staging a comeback

Elvis may join the party of comebacks, as Floyd Landis appears to be moving toward racing again in 2009.  He joins his BFF Lance Armstrong on the comeback peddles.  To Cycling News:

USA's Floyd Landis, 32, will make his return to professional cycling after a two-year suspension with the team currently sponsored by Health Net-Maxxis, under a new title sponsor for 2009, sources confirmed with Cyclingnews. The team, run by Momentum Sports Group, has also re-signed many of its current riders, including two-time NRC champion Rory Sutherland, current USA cyclo-cross champion Tim Johnson and Karl Menzies.

"I cannot confirm or deny it," said Momentum's sponsorship director, Thierry Attias, regarding Landis' signing. However numerous other sources familiar with the team confirmed that the agreement is in place, with the new title sponsor's agreement forthcoming. Sources have said the new sponsor is from the health care industry. This aligns with current speculation that Smith & Nephew, makers of Landis' artificial hip and sponsor of his mountain bike endurance racing, is a possible title sponsor.

As we all know, Landis is serving the most unjust 'outs' since Don Denkinger blew the call in the 1985 World Series.

Landis is currently serving a two-year suspension for a positive test of exogenous testosterone from stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France. Landis went on to win the overall, but was stripped of that title after his appeal of the US Anti-Doping Agency's suspension was denied by the American Arbitration Association. The ASO and UCI named runner-up Oscar Pereiro as the official 2006 Tour winner soon after.

Landis lost his final appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport CAS) in June, but the CAS did uphold that his suspension should run from when he officially stated his voluntary non-compete status – meaning that Landis will be free to race again as of January 30, 2009.

Rumours circulated early in 2008 that Rock Racing owner Michael Ball was interested in Landis, either as a racer or team director. Landis confirmed he was "advising" the younger riders and was seen with the team.

2009 shapes up to be a monumental year with Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis on the comeback ride.  Where is Jan Ullrich?  As pointed out below Tyler Hamilton is back for the trifecta, expect that actually makes 4 if you count his chimera twin.

Lance Armstrong is no dope: Planning a 2009 comeback

Update: Astana says there will be no Armstrong comeback with their team.  (AP)

In a development that will energize cycling fans, and will keep our weblog busy, Lance Armstrong appears to be staging a comeback to shake the ages.  To VeloNews:

Lance Armstrong will come out of retirement next year to compete in five road races with the Astana team, according to sources familiar with the developing situation.

Armstrong, who turns 37 this month, will compete in the Amgen Tour of California, Paris-Nice, the Tour de Georgia, the Dauphine-Libere and the Tour de France — and will race for no salary or bonuses, the sources, who asked to remain anonymous, told VeloNews.

Armstrong's manager, Mark Higgins, did not respond to questions.

However sources close to the story have told VeloNews that an exclusive article on the matter will be published in an upcoming issue of Vanity Fair, expected later this month.

Rumors of Armstrong's return swirled at last week’s Eurobike trade show in Germany and this week’s Tour of Missouri.

Vanity Fair?  Is that a preeminent cycling journal?  And Astana as a team?  Not like jumping into a once hopped-up, once doped-up cycling team.  Astana worked with the doping doctor himself, Dr. Michele Ferrari, who also worked with young Lance Armstrong.  From the NY Times (left link) on Ferrari, Astana, and Armstrong (And here too):

...Vinokourov had been the subject of intense questions since before the Tour, when he acknowledged that he had worked with the Italian physician Michele Ferrari, who has been linked with doping practices. Ferrari also worked with Lance Armstrong, who has defended Ferrari and said that Ferrari never provided him with or encouraged the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

With Armstrong back in the (sore) saddle, and Floyd Landis coming off suspension, 2009 could be an interesting year for cycling.  Armstrong plans on proving he is clean:

The rumor speculates that Armstrong will reunite with former team manager Johan Bruyneel at Team Astana — a viable option given Armstrong’s long-lasting relationships not only with the Belgian director but also Trek, Astana’s bike sponsor.

According to sources, the Texan will post all of his internally tested blood work online, in an attempt to establish complete transparency and prove that he is a clean athlete

If he comes back, Armstrong will need to rest his legs, and stop this 'sex god' tomfoolery...

Triathlon Olympian tests positive for doping: Dmitriy Gaag from Kazakhstan positive for EPO

Dmitriy Gaag, an Olympic athlete in triathlon from Kazakhstan  tested positive for EPO prior to the Olympics.  Interesting that Gaag tested positive at a meet in Des Moines Iowa on June 20th.  Apparently results banned the athlete from Beijing, although we are checking on this (He was listed in the pre-Olympic program).  (from Tri24/7)

The International Triathlon Union (ITU) today announced it has imposed a two-year ban on Dmitriy Gaag (KAZ) after committing an anti-doping rule violation in an out-of-competition doping control test in Des Moines, United States on June 20th, 2008. The ban begins June 20th, 2008 and prohibits Gaag from entering or participating in any competition or activity authorized by ITU, its National Federations (NFs) and/or any other signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code.

Gaag's anti-doping rule violation was a result of an adverse analytical finding of recombinant erythropoietin (EPO), a substance on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.

Following the notification of the adverse analytical finding of his "A" sample, Gaag exercised his right under the ITU Doping Rules to have the "B" sample opened. With the Olympic Games imminent, ITU opted to provisionally suspend Gaag, thereby forcing his removal from the men's triathlon competition start list.

The "B" sample was opened and analyzed using the ISO accredited methods. On August 19th, the analytical result confirmed the "A" sample and presence of recombinant erythropoietin (EPO) in the urine. In accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code, ITU imposed the two-year ban on Gaag after he waived his right to a hearing. All of his results from June 20th to present will be removed. His prize money from the Tiszaujvaros BG Triathlon World Cup was blocked and ITU administrative staff is currently contacting all affected athletes to make necessary prize money upgrades and adjustments.

Gaag was well thought of in Kazakhstan, maybe not any more.

Kazakhstan's primary Olympic sports are wrestling and boxing, so the 1999 world title in triathlon earned Gaag considerable recognition back home. He was named the "best sportsman" in Kazakhstan that year. His coach, Yuri Solovyev, was named the country's "best coach." Gaag received a special award, the order of "Parasat," by the Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev. With the award came a new car and a new apartment.

Triathlete Francisco Pontano reported to test positive in Spain; Won Lake Placid Ford Ironman

Francisco Pontano, a triathlete from Argentina, reportedly tested positive for ephedrine in Spain a few months ago.  He went on to win the Lake Placid Ford Ironman. From "Where is the Limit" ,  And Slowtwitch:

A doping test of the top 3 male and female finishers by the Spanish National Anti-Doping Commission at the Zarautz Triathlon in the Basque region of Spain, resulted in a postive A sample, 3athlon.de reports.

The event took place on June 14, 2008 and 3rd place finisher Francisco Pontano from Argentina was found to have ephedrine, a sympathomimetic amine in his system. The athlete was made aware of the fact and it is reported that people close to him pointed at cold medications as a possible source.

5 weeks later, Pontano won the 2008 Ford Ironman Lake Placid in a time of 8:43:42. The result and release date of the B sample is not known at this time and it is also unclear what the WTC, NA Sports and the US Anti Doping Agency know regarding this matter. Slowtwitch is currently digging deeper into this situation and along those lines is inquiring with various officials to find out whether they have been made aware of the Pontano A sample and what testing was done in Lake Placid.

We'll update this story as more information becomes available.

BMX Rider Michael Kapes rode on anabolic steroids

BMX competitor Michael Kapes (on the podium, right) accepted a 2 year suspension for using anabolic steroids.  The cyclist tested positive last spring.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency says BMX rider Michael Kapes has accepted a two-year suspension after testing positive for anabolic steroids.

USADA says a urine sample from the 20-year-old Florida rider tested positive March 15 at the National Bicycle League's Gator Nationals.

It was Kapes' first offense.

The sanction began July 7, when his provisional suspension was accepted.

Kapes is disqualified from all competitive results since March 15.

BMX is now an Olympics event, thus it was inevitable someone would dope up for the races.

The French taunt British cycling Olympians about doping a second time

Those witty Frenchmen, what will they come up with next.  It appears taunting the lumbering English cyclists about doping in the Olympics.  To The First Post:

An insinuation from France's former sprint champion Daniel Morelon, who now coaches the Chinese cycling team, that Britain's medal-winning team might have been using performance-enhancing drugs, has forced the British to declaim loudly that they have nothing to hide.

Morelon said that the British team had seemed to have a motorbike inside them. Dave Brailsford, performance director for the British team, responded yesterday by saying he was inviting the International Cycling Union to investigate "any area" of the team which won a record 12 medals on the track in Beijing - seven golds, three silvers and two bronzes.

"We are willing to pay, you can go and hire whoever you want, they can have access all areas," said Brailsford. "I've said before: come and live with us, see what we do, how we live, how we train, come and look at our training books, all the data we've got gathered and you'll see a slow progression over time and that doesn't happen if you're taking drugs. We're as open as can be, anyone can come and look at what we do."

Talking Chris Hoy here?

Chris Hoy the sprint cyclist who went into the record books on Tuesday when he won his third Olympic gold at these Games, had also made a point of clearing up any notion that the British team might not be clean.

Hoy said the gap between the British and the rest of the world was down to other cycling nations going backwards as much as to Britain's improvement. "We've stepped up to a whole new level since the world championships but what is more surprising to me is not so much that we have done that because there are reasons for that - our preparation, our training and our planning - but that some nations have underperformed and the gap has been exaggerated."

Daniel Morelon isn't the only Frenchman to have questioned Britain's amazing form in these Games. Jean Pitallier, president of French Cycling, is understood to have contacted cycling's international governing body to express his doubts.

However there appears to be an 'incident'. 

Britain's Brailsford, according to a report in the Guardian, said he understood people having doubts, given the sport's recent history, but claimed that his team was "absolutely clean".

To prove how assiduously the team was monitored, he admitted there had been once "incident" recently. "There was an incident - I won't mention names - but there was someone who disappeared for a little while although they turned out to have totally legitimate reasons, and so I phoned up to have them randomly tested. You need to protect the team and the authenticity of the results. That's a professional responsibility of mine."

Doping, hamsters and elderberries.

--------------------------------------------------------

ARTHUR:

If you will not show us the Grail, we shall take your castle by force!

FRENCH GUARD:

You don't frighten us, English pig-dogs! Go and boil your bottom, sons of a silly person. I blow my nose at you, so-called Arthur King, you and all your silly English k-nnnnniggets. Thpppppt! Thppt! Thppt!

GALAHAD:

What a strange person.

ARTHUR:

Now look here, my good man--

FRENCH GUARD:

I don't wanna talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

GALAHAD:

Is there someone else up there we could talk to?

FRENCH GUARD:

No. Now, go away, or I shall taunt you a second time-a!

[sniff]

Defending a doping case: Sue the state's witness

A California Judge dismissed a cyclists suit, apparently designed to intimidate a witness in the doping case.  (VeloNews)

A California Superior Court judge dismissed defamation suit against former Rock Racing soigneur Suzanne Sonye by Kayle Leogrande, a racer on the team.

Leogrande filed suit after a recording of her telephone conversation with an anti-doping activist was posted on the Internet. In that conversation, Sonye repeated allegations outlined in an affidavit she provided to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that Leogrande had admitted using performance-enhancing substanstes.

Judge Michael Harwin on Tuesday ruled in favor of an anti-SLAPP motion filed by Sonye’s attorney Thomas FitzGibbon. The motion was based on a California law designed to prevent so-called Strategic Law Suits Against Public Participation (SLAPP), in which plaintiffs use lawsuits or the threat of lawsuits to discourage public discussion of controversial subjects. In granting the motion, Hawin ruled that the case fell within the statute’s definition of such a suit.

Sonye provided an affidavit to USADA contending that Leogrande had confessed to doping while she was employed by Rock Racing. She later related some of those details to former professional cyclist and anti-doping activist Matt DeCanio, who recorded the conversation and posted it on his StolenUnderground website and on YouTube. Leogrande subsequently filed suit against both. Harwin’s ruling affects only the Sonye case.

Ah yes, the legal 'vigorous defense'.  Intimation.

Roid rage? Accused of doping years ago, cyclist Jemison punches team doctor

He should have known the 'roid rage' accusations would fly, especially from people like us.  Cyclist Marty Jemison wanted to settle an old grudge, so he punched out the doctor who hinted that he doped.  To the VeloNews:

It was over in an instant, but the altercation between a Tour of Utah race official and Garmin-Chipotle team doctor Prentice Steffen was years in the making.

During the stage 3 criterium in Salt Lake City last Friday, Tour of Utah team liaison Marty Jemison, a former U.S. Postal Service rider, punched Steffen after the team doctor made what Jemison considered to be an inflammatory remark about alleged doping dating back over a decade.

'Altercation'? Sounds like a sucker-punch.  And of course, the obligatory Lance Armstrong connection.

Jemison and Steffen worked together at U.S. Postal during the 1996 season; Jemison was a talented American rider on the upstart squad, and Steffen was an emergency room physician and admitted recovering heroin addict.

In 2001 Steffen told Irish reporter David Walsh that in 1996 U.S. Postal riders Jemison and Tyler Hamilton had approached him during the Tour of Switzerland looking for information about illegal doping products. Steffen said he reported the incident to then-director Mark Gorski, and at the end of that year his contract with the team was not renewed

“Two of my riders approached me saying they wanted to talk about the medical program,” Steffen told Walsh, adding that he understood the conversation as to be related to doping. Hamilton and Jemison both vehemently denied the accusations.

In October 2005, shortly after L’Equipe published a story alleging that EPO had been found in Lance Armstrong’s urine samples from the 1999 Tour, Steffen reiterated his earlier allegations in the French newspaper and staked new claims about the doping practices at top-level Tour de France teams, including Armstrong’s Discovery Channel squad.

Discovery spokespeople attacked Steffen’s credibility, dismissing the allegations as those of a disgruntled former employee. Under pressure, Steffen immediately retracted his statements about Armstrong and was compelled to resign from his position as team physician with the domestic TIAA-CREF team, but he returned with the team the following year.

Then the sucker punch.  This dude needs to back off the dose of nandrolone:

Fast forward to stage 3 of the 2008 Tour of Utah — the first time Jemison, a Utah native, had crossed paths with Steffen since the original allegations first went public in 2001. Steffen said that the first words out of Jemison’s mouth were “I hate you,” which Jemison did not deny.

“I thought he was going to follow it up with a little laugh or something, but he didn’t,” Steffen said. “He was quite serious, and I said, ‘okay.’ He said ‘you know, your comments were really damaging.’ And I said ‘yeah, but they were really true.’ And he said ‘no, they weren’t. And I said ‘of course they were,’ and I started to walk away, knowing that the conversation wasn’t going to go anywhere.

“I got maybe 10 feet away, and he said, ‘no, come on, I want to talk to you about it.’ I hesitated, but thought, ‘maybe we’ll resolve this once and for all.’ I went back. He said something, I’m not sure what he said, and I said something like ‘Twelve years later, we’re still trying to clean up the mess you idiots made.’ And that was when he punched me. It was over before I even knew what happened. I didn’t know someone could hit someone so fast.”

Steffen said that he simply picked up his glasses and walked away, and that BMC rider Scott Nydam, who was nursing a broken collarbone, offered to be a witness for a police report. Sporting a cut lower lip, Steffen spoke with the race’s operations director Chad Sperry on the morning before stage 4. Sperry told Steffen he “understood, and apologized, but that he needed Marty to make the stage happen safely.”

Always good when adults work things out in a mature way.

 

 

Morning Steroids Dose: Olympics, Mayo, Bulgarian lifters

1.  Jamaican sprinters needled by number of dope tests.  (Canadian Press)

2.  Spanish cyclist Iban Mayo banned 2 years for doping.  (Ottawa Citizen)

3.  The world misses those Bulgarian lifting champions who tested positive for steroids.  (PR-Inside)

Missing from the competition was world champion Ivan Stoitsov, one of 11 Bulgarian lifters who tested positive for steroids earlier this year.

Who would anyone ever think Stoitsov would dope? (pic above)

4.  Someone doesn't like the Chinese Olympics.  (American Chronicle)  (however we would say that if you didn't get shivers over the American victory in the 4x50 relay swim, you don't have a heart; that was fantastic...and not to be a homer either, or maybe a little)

Meanwhile, the Chinese, a fascist dictatorship that is sort of also capitalist, puts on a showcase glorifying their country. Much like the 1936 Nazi Games in Berlin, the regime in Peking (I refuse to call it Beijing), has hidden away its torture victims and slaves being held without trial.

Working list of doping-banned athletes Pre-Olympics 2008

Steroid Nation presents the unofficial working list of elite athletes banned from the 2008 Olympics due to doping. We compiled the list from a number of sources which we will credit soon (such as the IAAF site for track and field).

Such a list is imperfect because some athletes are presumptive -- banned before tryouts.  Previous media reports put the number of banned athletes at 'over 40' and now 'over 50'.  We count 78 athletes here.

This is a first pass.  We will try to clean up the fonts and the spacing however this is a monumental task to investigate all the athletes around the world.  Media: if you use this data, please credit the site.

The list-- found after the jump -- is ordered to nation, sport, gender.

Addendum:

Jaqson Kojoroski, M, Brazil, Handball

Ioannis Drymonako, Greece, Swimming

Morning Steroid Dose: WADA, lab testing, Olympics

1.  The Boston Globe covers the WADA conference at Beijing.

...tempered expectations from sports governing bodies and testing agencies represent a philosophical shift in the ongoing fight against cheaters. Officials are focused on the deterrent effect provided by frequent testing and scientific advances in designer drug detection. In Athens, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) oversaw 3,500 drug tests and turned up 26 positive cases. In Beijing, the number of drug tests will increase to 4,500.

2.   The San Francisco Chronicle discusses doping control.

No Olympiad has ever seen as intensive a drug screening program as the Beijing Games. The China Anti-Doping Agency alone will conduct 4,500 tests, according to a comprehensive review of the testing program by Marc Reisch in Chemical & Engineering News' online issue being released today...

"Drug users and their assistants are working around the clock to beat analytical scientists," Dr. Don Catlin, an anti-doping leader on the scene in Beijing, told the chemistry journal.

3.  Reuters points a finger at Spanish cycling.

4.  The head of the UCI Pat McQuaid is looking at Spain too.  (Earthtimes)

Spanish cyclist Maribel Moreno tests positive at Olympics

Spanish cyclists Maria Isabel Moreno tested positive for EPO at the 2008 Olympics, thus making her the first official Beijing positive dope test. The Guardian carries the story.  No word whether this is CERA EPO or not.

Spanish cyclist Maria Isabel Moreno has become the first competitor at the Beijing Olympics to fail a drugs test.

Moreno, better known as Maribel Moreno, had been entered for the women's road race and individual time trial and tested positive for the endurance-boosting EPO drug.

IOC spokesperson Giselle Davies said Moreno was tested on July 31 and left the city on the same evening. The IOC officially took control of drugs testing on July 27.

Davies said Moreno, 27, had been stripped of her Games accreditation and the matter had been referred to the International Cycling Union (UCI). The UCI confirmed the doping offence.

The drug-cheating isn't going away.  And right now, medicine doesn't monitor PEDs.  The only way to keep the Games 'clean' is this cat and mouse game of doping control.  The national agencies should keep cheating competitors from the world stage and the massive media attention given to drug-cheats that detracts from the competition.

The Spanish Olympic Committee said it was unaware of the positive test until being informed today. "We got this news for breakfast," Jose Maria Bellon, SOC Director of Communications, said.

"She arrived in the first group of Spanish athletes on July 31. It seems the same day she arrived, she had a drugs test and after that had a panic attack and asked the [cycling] Federation to be allowed to return to Madrid."

What an inglorious episode.  Got to be a better way...Weird state of affairs that these athletes who train so hard, then become so much fodder for public humiliation; there has to be a better way to ensure fair competition.

French cyclist Jimmy Casper might be the Tour de France steroid positive

The Canadian Press says the 5th Tour de France cyclist nailed doping is French cyclist Jimmy Casper.

French cyclist Jimmy Casper tested positive for a banned steroid during the Tour de France, the head of the nation's anti-doping agency said Saturday.

Casper did not have medical exemption for the use of steroids, according to Pierre Bordry. The Agritubel rider could be called before the French Cycling Federation.

The 95th edition of the Tour de France was again hit by doping cases. Riccardo Ricco of Italy and Manuel Beltran and Moises Duenas Nevado of Spain each tested positive for the banned blood-booster EPO. Dmitriy Fofonov of Kazakhstan tested positive for a banned stimulant.

Saturday morning steroid dose: More Russians and Emanuele Sella

1.  The Globe and Mail (and an older NY Times) says the Russians hold the early lead in doping.  The Independent adds one more name to the banned list.

2. Non-Olympian Italian Cyclist Emanuele Sella admits to CERA EPO to the Italian Olympic Committee.  (IHT). (Riccardo Ricco, who won two stages at the Tour de France, tested positive for EPO during the prestigious race and Marta Bastianelli are out of the Olympics for doping)

3.  There appears to be a 5th Tour de France positive...for a cortisol drug.  (Podium Cafe)

4.  Mark Zeigler's review of doping at the Olympics.  (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Continued story...Olympic doping violations II: Russian race-walkers and cyclists

The Mail On-line looks at the most recent Russian doping suspensions:

1. Russian cyclist Vladimir Gusev

2. Race walkers Vladimir Kanaikin and Valery Borchin tested positive for the banned drug EPO in out-of -competition tests in April, it was revealed.

The purge of Russian drug cheats continued when two walkers were kicked out of their Beijing team for failing dope tests.

Vladimir Kanaikin and Valery Borchin tested positive for the banned drug EPO in out-of -competition tests in April, it was revealed.

Also Russian cyclist Vladimir Gusev will not be allowed to compete in the Games after his professional team fired him last month on suspicion of doping - even though he has not failed a test.

 

Daily Steroid Dose: Shane Mosley, Systematic Russian Doping, etc.

1. Shane Mosley initiates defamation suit against Victor Conte.  Remember how far that got Marion Jones?  (NY Daily News)

2.  Lewis Black examines steroids and breast inplants.  Why is this news?  (M and C)

3.  Horses, races, demanding schedules, and recovery with anabolic steroids.  (ESPN)

4.  Italian Emanuele Sella, has been found positive in an out-of-competition doping control for EPO/CERA.  (Cycling News)

5.  The IOC's Dr. Arne Ljungqvist talks about Russian systematic doping.  (Dallas Morning News)

Daily Steroid Dose: More Russian dope bans

1.   Russian cyclist Vladimir Gusev (BBC)

Vladimir Gusev has been dropped from the Russian Olympic cycling team after a disputed drugs test.

The 25-year-old was set to compete in the individual time trial on 13 August and had been tipped to win a medal

2.  Steroid charges against Paki cricket star Mohammad Asif 'convincing'.  (Cricinfo)

3. Rwanda cautions their athletes against doping (All Africa)

4. Yahoo Sports talks intensively swimming and doping.

Couple minor leagues suspended for juice and other late Friday injections

The IHT says two more minor leagues dropped positive urine tests.

Two more minor league ballplayers were suspended for positive drug tests on Friday.

Cincinnati Reds minor league pitcher Renny Amador and Arizona Diamondbacks minor league shortstop Bernardino Jimenez each received a 50-game ban after testing positive for performance-enhancing steroids. Both players are in the Rookie level Dominican Summer League.

The suspensions, which are effective immediately, brought the number of minor leaguers receiving drug bans to 11 since last Friday, July 25.

Amador has only pitched 2 2-3 innings this season. Jimenez, in 45 games this season, is hitting .164, but with a .320 on-base percentage and five steals in eight attempts.

Five million dollars of drugs including GHB and steroids nabbed in Toronto..of course that is Canadian dollars (Toronto Star).  We are glad the detective below is not so experienced with heroin.

Police found six kilos of the drug, along with 31 kilos of cocaine, five kilos of marijuana, two kilos of crystal meth, four kilos of Ecstasy, a quantity of the date-rape drug GHB, steroids, Ketamine and Viagra. The street value of the drugs is estimated at about $5.5 million. Police also seized $400,000 cash.

Officers arrested 25 people yesterday and six others during the investigation.

"I personally have not seen that much heroin in one location," Det.-Sgt. John DeCourcy said.

There is a positive side to all this doping.  Joe Lindsey in Bicycling reports on the Garmin-Chipotle team.

This is part two in a series on anti-doping measures by the Garmin-Chipotle team (Click here to read part one). The issue of doping in sports, for a fan, boils down to a simple question: how do we know that the performances we see before us are real? The 2008 Tour de France seems to have provided two instructive answers to that so far between the mountain-top finishes of the 10th and 17th stages and Christian Vande Velde's fight for a podium finish. Are Vande Velde's results proof of a cleaner sport? Do the numbers from his team's testing program back it up? Read on and find out as the most-transparent team in the history of the sport has shared its testing numbers with Bicycling.com's Joe Lindsey for the world to see on page four.

The top controversies at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. (The Street)

Daily Steroids ban: Olympics gone wild; Italian fancer Andrea Baldini nailed with doping

1.  Italian fancer Andrea Baldini tested positive for furoside, a diuretic that is counted as a masking agent.  (RTE Sport)

2.  Azerbijian wants the Spanish field hockey team kicked out of the Olympics.  (SI)

Azerbaijan asked the Olympics' arbitration court Friday to remove Spain's women's field hockey team from the Beijing Games for doping violations and let Azerbaijan's team compete instead.

Azerbaijan's national Olympic committee and national hockey federation lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which has put a special tribunal in place in Beijing to rule quickly on disputes involving the Aug. 8-24 games.

Azerbaijan is challenging a decision by the International Hockey Federation, known as FIH, on alleged doping violations by two Spanish players at an Olympic qualifying tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan.

3.  Greece's Katerina Thanou says the world discriminates against women who dope.  (AFP)

4.  Did anyone answer the phone as Julien Dunkley's house when the Jamaican Olympic committee called to tell him he doped?  (Jamaican Observer)

5.  Sentana Sport say Italian cyclist Ricco should expect a long long ban.

Thursday evening steroids injection: taking it in the behind

1.  The Guardian reports UK officials are freaking out over doping at the 2012 London Olympics.  Incredible.

2.  UK cyclist Chris Hoy does not dope.  So there.  (The Guardian)

3.  Scientists to doping authorities: you lose.  (Couriermail)

4.  Lab in Beijing to distinguish boys from girls.  (NY Times)

Daily steroid injection: The doping suspensions come dripping in; top women's 1500M super-athlete Russian Yelena Soboleva goes down

1.  The Italian Olympic commission suspends cyclist Ricco.  (The Age)

2.  Romania drops 2 1500M athletes.  (Reuthers)

Two female Romanian 1,500-metres runners have been dropped from the country's Olympic team under suspicion of doping, the head of the national Olympic and Sport Committee (COSR) said on Thursday.

"Elena Antoci and Cristina Vasiloiu were dropped from the Romanian Olympic delegation as both are under suspicion of doping," COSR head Octavian Morariu told reporters.

3.  Five top Russian track athletes banned from Beijing.  (Yahoo Sport)

The athletes banned are Yelena Soboleva (pictured), Tatyana Tomashova, Yulia Fomenko, Darya Pishchalnikova and Gulfiya Khanafeyeva.

A sixth athlete, former Olympian Svetlana Cherkasova, has also been banned.

Soboleva had produced the fastest 800m and 1500m this season; Tomashova is a former world champion at 1500m and Fomenko won a silver in the 1500m at the last World Indoors.

Pishchalnikova is the European discus champion while Khanafeyeva is a former world record holder in the hammer....

Russian Federation president Valentin Balakhnichev explained to All Sport that the reason why IAAF suspended the athletes was because of possible tampering with the samples.

"Tampering with the samples".  Two days in a row...

   

Italian road racer positive: Marta Bastianelli tests for fenfluramine

Italian world road race champion  Marta Bastianelli will be gearing down now that she tested positive prior to the Olympics.  The young road race champ tested positive for the 'stimulant' fenfluramine on July 5.  CONI (the Italian Olympic Committee) declared her ineligible for the upcoming Beijing Games.  To VirginMedia:

World road race champion Marta Bastianelli has failed a doping test, the Italian cycling federation confirmed on Monday.

The Italian rider tested positive for illegal stimulant flenfluramine following a drug test on July 5 at the European under-23 championship in Verbania.

The sample will now be sent for a counter-analysis.

It is expected Bastianelli will be replaced for the Olympic Games.

These doping disqualification do not bode well for the Olympics and for the sport of cycling.  Maybe the cyclists simply need to strap on a LZR racing swim suit which easily passes the master of the Olympics, and may cut through air better than old cycling suits.

Gianni Petrucci, president of of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) was damning of Bastianelli, saying she had "betrayed" her colleagues.

"If the analysis is confirmed we will be inflexible. Marta Bastianelli has betrayed CONI, the federation and the world of cycling," he told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

"We will also have to weigh up the eventual damage to the image of Italian sport, seeing as she had already signed the contract all Azzurri athletes heading to Beijing had to sign."

The president of the Italian cycling federation, Renato Di Rocco, was less harsh in his view of the outcome, and revealed the federation would request more tests.

"She has been incredibly naive," said Di Rocco. "She has tested positive for flenfluramine, which is a component in diet products. She only eats salad.

"Now we will immediately call for a counter-analysis. But the problem is not only the Olympics, which she as world champion was obviously due to take part in. The problem is for her image and for that of cycling."

Remember fen-fen, pulled for cardiac problems.  That drug concoction contained fenfluramine, which means it could be deleterious to the heart.

The distinctive valvular abnormality seen with fenfluramine is a thickening of the leaflet and chordae tendineae. Roth suggested a mechanism by which fenfluramine damaged the valves

And another one gone: Danish Olympian cross-country mountain biker Peter Riis Andersen EPOed

How many days to the Olympics?  And how many athletes will be staying home because they were dope(r)s?

Today word comes form beautiful Scandinavian that Danish champion cross-country mountain bike champion Peter Riis Andersen goes down to a EPO positive urine test.  EPO must be one damn strong PED; athletes risk a great deal to dope with the drug.  To VeloNews:

Denmark's cross-country mountain bike champion Peter Riis Andersen, who was to compete in the Beijing Olympics, has failed a drugs test, the Danish sporting federation DIF said on Monday.

Andersen, 28, one of 84 Danish athletes selected to take part in the Games, tested positive for the banned blood booster EPO (erythroipoietin).

The DIF have expelled him from the Olympic squad.

Andersen, who rides for the German Team ALB-GOLD, won the Danish championships on July 20 and had been hoping for a top 10 finish in the Olympics, which open on August 8.

Denmark's anti-doping committee has carried out 163 tests on their Olympic athletes so far. Andersen's test, carried out on June 25, is the only positive.

Andersen admitted during a press conference he had "taken six EPO pills," a strange admission, since EPO is injected and not taken orally.

"My performance this spring was not up to an Olympic level and I was afraid of not making the team," he said.

Not saying Andersen is a bad guy, but what kind of logic exists here?  I am not making the team so I cheated?  He doesn't seem to know how he took the EPO as noted above. (thanks to Walt for the tip)

Do people rationalize their unethical actions? Link  Link2  Link3

Link4

Yahtzee! 2008 Tour de France racks up cyclist quatro, actually cinquième, on final day: Dmitri Fofonov fluffs up

The headlines scream 'Doping  Scarred 2008 Tour"  So what's so different about this year's pinnacle race of pro cycling?  Dopers caught?  Not different.

On the final day of the 2008 Tour de France, Dmitri Fofonov tested positive for a stimulant according in media information (ABC News)...heptaminol.  That would be #4 doper and #5 lost to drugs overall.

Kazakhstan's Dmitri Fofonov has tested positive for a banned stimulant, his Credit Agricole team said on the final day of the Tour de France

The 31-year-old, who learned of his positive test after finishing 19th overall in the race on Sunday, explained to his team he bought a product over the internet to fight cramps.

He has been suspended and is now facing the sack.

"He has failed to respect our basic team rules," Credit Agricole manager Roger Legeay said.

"No products can be taken by any riders unless they have prior authorisation from the team doctor.

"He has made a mistake, which can happen, but it's not good news for us or for him."

Fofonov is the fourth rider from the Tour to have tested positive for a banned substance.

Italian Riccardo Ricco, and Spanish duo Manuel Beltran and Moises Duenas all tested positive for the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin) and were thrown out of the race.

The 31-year-old Fofonov, from Almaty, turned professional in 1998. Since 2000 he has competed with only French teams, picking up just three wins: the national time trial title (2000), a stage on the Tour of Catalonia (2002) and a stage on the Dauphine Libere earlier this year.

Oh yeah, Carlos Sastre won a very existential 2008 Tour.   (from the AP)

The final act Sunday was supposed to be a champagne-sipping, idyllic run to the Champs-Elysees for winner Carlos Sastre of Spain. Instead, it was yet another announcement of a positive drug test.

That the bust involved a Kazakh rider who was never in contention didn't matter. Once again, drugs left their mark at cycling's premier event.

Until Sunday's finale, the race had gone 10 days without a doping scandal — three others had already marred the three-week race.

This time, Dmitriy Fofonov tested positive for a "very heavy dose" of heptaminol after Thursday's 18th stage, said Pierre Bordry, the head of France's anti-doping agency. Fofonov was immediately fired by his Credit Agricole team. French police said he was detained for questioning

Race director Christian Prudhomme thought that the Tour persevered over dopers. 

Sunday Steroid Injection

1.  Gene doping sleuth, Dr. Ted Friedmann.  (San Diego Union-Tribune)

2.  Univ of Vermont prof studies doping in pro cycling.  (Burlington Free Press)

3.  New book claims 1960 Rome Olympics turning point in doping.  (Wichita Eagle)

4.  More on gene doping.  (Miami Herald) (Illustration MCT)

5.  Director of the Baseball Hall of Fame Jeff Idelson discusses the Bonds astrisk ball, among other things.  (The Day.com)

Is something up with Frank and Andy Schleck? (Frank was Tour de France leader)

[Update: the Schleck's father was released when no doping apparatus was found]

This report from The Earth Times:

Paris - Customs agents have begun a search of the car belonging to the father of Tour de France riders Frank and Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, the web site of the daily L'Equipe reported Thursday. According to the report, the car belonging to Johnny Schleck, who works for one of the Tour sponsors, was targeted by customs police and taken away to be searched.

The Schleck brothers, who both ride for the Danish Team CSC, have been very prominent on the 2008 Tour de France. Frank wore the race leader's yellow jersey for two stages before losing it to teammate Carlos Sastre on Wednesday. He currently stands second, 1 minute 24 seconds behind Sastre.

Andy Schleck has been a powerful force in the mountain stages, and is currently the leading rider on the Tour under 25 years of age. Observers have already tabbed him as a certain future Tour de France champion. Team CSC was one of the first teams to implement an internal anti- doping programme. It is run by an outside scientist who carries out unannounced year-round tests on team members.