Something fishy going on...

Lance Armstrong is another rider who I believe is innocent, although the more I read into his cases the more it becomes a WANTING him to be innocent. I'm not sure how confident I really am anymore when articles like this come out:

Did U.S. attorneys disagree on whether to close Armstrong, U.S. Postal case?

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/did-u-s-attorneys-disagree-on-whether-to-close-armstrong-u-s-postal-case)

The Wall Street Journal has alleged there was some debate within the US Attorney's Office as to whether the two-year investigation into allegations of fraud and doping that involved the U.S. Postal Service Team and Lance Armstrong should have been closed last week. Armstrong has denied ever taking performance enhancing and welcomed the decision to close the case. He may still face investigation from USADA.

The report follows US radio station National Public Radio (NPR) revelations that sources in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Postal Service were 'shocked, surprised and angered' and that federal authorities only had 30 minutes notice before the United States Attorney's Office issued a press release to the media on Friday afternoon.

U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. is believed to have informed investigators from the FDA, the FBI and the U.S. Postal Service Office of his decision, the timing of which has been brought into question by NPR. Meantime Justice Department officials in Washington were also aware of Birotte's decision, according to a source.

In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, Thom Mrozek explained: "In this office in essentially every significant investigation, a prosecution memo is prepared prior to a charging decision to outline the legal theories, the evidence, and the strengths and weaknesses of a particular case. That in fact was done in this case," he said. Mrozek cadded that "the prosecution memo was provided to the U.S. attorney and his management team well in advance of the final decision and…was thoroughly reviewed and discussed prior to the decision."

The report then goes on to suggest that Birotte was unwilling to consult with his team further on the matter, saying "that his decision was final and that there would be no discussion" according to a source "close to the investigation".

The two assistant U.S. attorneys in Los Angeles on the case, Douglas M. Miller and Mark Williams, declined to comment while Birotte could not be reached.

Cyclingnews spoke to a source who co-operated with the federal investigation. The source indicated that the NPR reports held weight.

"I talked to someone within the investigation but the reason why the case was shut down was due to a one-man decision. The evidence against those involved was absolutely overwhelming. They were going to be charged with a slew of crimes but for reasons unexplained he closed the case saying it wasn't open for discussion," the source said.

Joining the elite club...

So another great athlete goes down in my book under 'Not a Fan Of'. The newest inductee to join this elite club, along with LeBron James and Derek Jeter, among others, is 2011 Tour de France winner Cadel Evans. I wasn't a big fan of him to begin with, but his response to Contador's suspension just sealed the deal. I'm just upset that my favorite rider, Hushovd, signed with Evans' team, BMC

Evans: Contador suspension shows cycling in forefront of anti-doping

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/evans-contador-suspension-shows-cycling-in-forefront-of-anti-doping) 

Disqualifying and banning the winner of the 2010 Tour de France shows that cycling is leading in the sports world's fight against doping, said Cadel Evans. The BMC Racing Team rider, who won the 2011 Tour de France, supported the decision to ban Alberto Contador for two years, while decrying the fact that the process took so long.

"I think the sport of cycling has done more than enough to prove it is doing the right thing," Evans said, according to Fox News.

"Now it is time for other sports to look at cycling and replicate what cycling does, so the fight against drugs in sport can maybe be beaten one day across all sports."

The Australian did not give an opinion on Contador's guilt or innocence.  "I don't know all that goes on behind there and what all the real facts are and so on.

"I go along and do my job and that's up to the authorities to decide.”

Like so many others, Evans got lost in the time-consuming twists, turns and delays in the case. "It was a case that dragged on for so long I had no idea what was going on and what was going to happen. I just read the newspapers like the rest of us."

 
However, on the other hand, Eddy Merckx had a much better response, at least in my opinion:

Merckx deplores "excessive" punishment in Contador ban

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/merckx-deplores-excessive-punishment-in-contador-ban) 

On Monday, the news of Alberto Contador's two-year ban spread quickly across the globe and triggered a variety of reactions. At the Tour of Qatar in the Middle East, race organiser and all-time champion Eddy Merckx was baffled at the CAS decision, blaming not Contador but sporting authorities for the bad news.

"It's very sad for him and for cycling in general. It's as if somebody wanted to kill cycling," Merckx told Eurosport. "I'm very surprised and disgusted. It's bad for everyone, for the reputation of cycling, for the sponsors."

He continued by insinuating that cycling's efforts to combat doping were excessive and that other sports did not apply the rules in the same way. "I think it's going too far - when a test result is like this one, 0.0000... it's only in cycling that this sort of thing happens.

"I'm the first to say that we need controls, but I think that we are going too far in cycling."

And finally, I guess its a little late for one to hope that, that Jan Ullrich's verdict will be just as swift:

Ullrich verdict set to be handed down by CAS on Thursday

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ullrich-verdict-set-to-be-handed-down-by-cas-on-thursday)

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has announced that it will hand down a decision on the case concerning the International Cycling Union (UCI), and Jan Ullrich on Thursday.

The UCI appealed the Swiss Olympic Committee's decision to close the file on evidence linking Ullrich to the Operacion Puerto doping case. Ullrich retired after being implicated in the 2006 investigation, and was later linked to blood evidence by DNA testing.

A finding was due to be announced mid last month however, the case was again delayed having been filed at the end of March 2010.

Ullrich, 1997 Tour de France winner and five-time runner-up, retired in February 2007 having been implicated in Operacion Puerto the year prior. In July 2009, Swiss Olympic, which handles doping cases in the country, announced that it was officially opening an investigation. But again, it came to a standstill. Until February 10, 2010, when they announced that since Ullrich had quit his membership in the national federation in 2006, they had no jurisdiction over him, and the investigation was closed. However, both the International Cycling Union and the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed that decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and it’s this case which is now due to be resolved.

Thursday's announcement will be the latest in the big week of legal cases with United States Attorney's Office in Los Angeles close down a two-year investigation into allegations of fraud and doping that involved the US Postal Service Team and Lance Armstrong last Friday and then the CAS handing Alberto Contador a two-year sanction for his positive test for clenbuterol at the 2010 Tour de France.

Yes, I will run this to the ground...

I know I blogged yesterday about this, but I am truly upset about the CAS's decision. I guess mostly, I am upset that it took so long to finally come to a decision. I guess I should be used to it, I mean the American Justice System is only slightly faster...

Analysis: CAS vs Alberto Contador

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/analysis-cas-vs-alberto-contador)

Monday's decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to ban Alberto Contador for two years, after his positive test at the 2010 Tour de France, was the maximum punishment available.

In other words, they couldn't have come down harder on him. For this reason alone it should be seen as decisive and definitive. Yet for many it will seem inconclusive and ambiguous, and therefore unsatisfactory. It is even possible that, in the eyes of some, the only relevant question - did Contador cheat during the 2010 Tour? - remains unresolved.

In one sense, that fundamental question does remain unresolved. Strictly speaking, Contador can be said to have been found guilty not of doping, but of probably doping. As the CAS report notes, the panel's task was to decide which of three possible explanations - that Contador ate contaminated meat; that he ingested food supplements containing clenbuterol; that he had an illegal blood transfusion - was "most likely to have caused the positive test" (or least likely).

Probably is certainly less satisfactory than definitely. But, in this particular case, it is as conclusive as it was ever going to be, for the simple reason that 'balance of probability' is all that we have when the cow in question has long since passed away, and indeed passed through the digestive systems of Contador and seven of his Astana team-mates.

Contador rejected the alternative explanations - the possibility of contaminated food supplements or an illegal blood transfusion - put forward by the UCI and WADA. He argued that the clenbuterol was in his system because he ate contaminated meat, and that the presence of the clenbuterol in the cow was demonstrated simply by the presence of the clenbuterol in his system.

You follow? Furthermore, this could not be disproved, said Contador's team, because the cow identified as the most likely source was not tested either before or after slaughter (in common with 99.98 percent of cows).

Aha, said the prosecution, but the chance of a cow farmed in Europe being contaminated with clenbuterol at a level capable of being detected in Contador's urine was a mere 0.0042 percent. WADA described the possibility of Contador having ingested clenbuterol by eating steak as "vanishingly thin."

The same could be said of Contador's defence, since the contaminated meat explanation is all he offered. In fact, if you read the 98-page CAS report, it seems fairly conclusive in determining that Contador cheated.

So why the ambiguity, and why will so many continue to believe that Contador is a victim of the system?

There are perhaps three explanations. The first is because the case dragged on so long, thus helping to create the impression that it was not clear cut: an impression that can only have played in Contador's favour.

The second is that Contador has carried on racing and winning, and even, as at last year's Tour de France, losing - in the process gaining himself some sympathy and restoring his reputation even while (or perhaps in part because) the sword of Damocles hung over his head.

Finally, there is the strange back-dating of the ban. If Contador, who raced in Mallorca on Sunday, has been suspended for two years, then how is it that he will be back in six months?

The first is the fundamental point. The fact that it took 565 days, from his positive test on the second rest day of the 2010 Tour, to Monday's ruling, kicked up clouds of confusion and obfuscation.

The first delay, from the test to the official announcement in late September, invited suspicion. When other riders' positive tests have been known almost immediately, why was Contador's kept a secret for so long?

The CAS report goes some way to explaining, noting that the UCI and WADA launched their own investigation to determine why the concentrations of clenbuterol in his system were so low, why the samples collected before 21 July (the day of the first positive test) were clear, and also "to find out whether other anti-doping violations [were] committed."

This may be enough to satisfy most conspiracy theorists, not least because it might, in the end, have helped to convict Contador. In the end, the blood transfusion theory was thought by the panel to be as likely (or unlikely) as Contador's contaminated meat theory, and they settled on a food supplement as the most likely (or least unlikely) source of the clenbuterol. The report notes that Contador took "considerable amounts" of supplements.

But the blood transfusion theory may have helped swing it. The panel rejected Contador's criticism that the blood transfusions line of enquiry was unacceptable, and they heard, at considerable length and in considerable detail, the arguments, including the unexplained fluctuations in Contador's blood parameters and the "extremely high concentration of phthalates (or plasticisers) found in Contador's sample on 20 July"; a concentration, suggested Hans Geyer of the Cologne lab, "consistent with a concentration found after a blood transfusion."

In the end, though, the Contador case has merely demonstrated that a founding principle of anti-doping remains. The burden of proof lies with the athlete. It was not up to the sporting authorities to prove that Contador had doped; it was up to Contador to prove that he had not. He failed to do that. The only possible verdict was guilty. Shame it took 565 days to reach it.

I still think he's innocent, not that it matters...

I still firmly believe that Contador is innocent and that it was in fact the meat that he ate. Unfortunately, the CAS feels different:

 CAS sanction Contador with two year ban in clenbuterol case

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cas-sanction-contador-with-two-year-ban-in-clenbuterol-case)

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has handed Alberto Contador a two year sanction for his positive test for clenbuterol at the 2010 Tour de France. After a long-running saga, CAS announced on Monday that it had upheld the UCI and WADA’s joint appeal against the Spanish Cycling Federation’s (RFEC) decision not to suspend Contador.

The ban means Contador will lose race results dating back to and including the 2010 Tour de France. Andy Schleck will become the Tour de France champion while Michele Scarponi is crowned winner of the Giro d'Italia.

Contador's ban ends on August 5th, meaning he can ride this year's Vuelta.

A long-running saga

Contador’s positive test dates from July 21, 2010, although the case was not made public until September 30 of that year. In February 2011, the RFEC officially cleared Contador, accepting his explanation that the traces of clenbuterol in his sample had been caused by consuming contaminated meat.

In March, both the UCI and WADA formally announced their decision to appeal the matter to CAS, who in turn announced that a ruling would be made ahead of the Tour de France.

That turned out to be a false dawn, however, and after a number of delays, the hearings were finally held in November 2011. In the intervening period, Contador had added to the Giro d’Italia to his palmares and finished fifth at the Tour de France.

The hearing itself was tinged with some degree of controversy, with AP reporting that WADA’s lawyers threatened a walk out when anti-doping expert Michael Asheden was not permitted to testify on the theory that Contador may have had a blood transfusion on July 20.

A verdict was initially due in mid-January, but was again delayed after Leopard Trek backer Flavio Becca questioned the integrity of CAS arbitration panel head Ephraim Barak. After confirming that none of the parties involved in the case wanted to change the make-up of the arbitration panel, CAS finally issued its verdict on Monday.

Contador still has the option of appealing the CAS ruling to the Swiss federal court within the next 30 days, although any such petition can only concern procedural matters.

Although, I do like Andy Schelck's response:

Andy Schleck reacts to Contador's doping ban

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-schleck-reacts-to-contadors-doping-ban) 

Andy Schleck has reacted to the news that Alberto Contador has been handed a two year sanction by the CAS. Schleck finished second to Contador during the controversial Tour de France in 2010, in which traces of clenbuterol were found in one of Contador’s test samples.

"There is no reason to be happy now”, Schleck said in a RadioShack-Nissan press release

“First of all I feel sad for Alberto. I always believed in his innocence. This is just a very sad day for cycling. The only positive news is that there is a verdict after 566 days of uncertainty. We can finally move on.”

Contador faces all race results being stripped from him since and including the Tour title in 2010, meaning Schleck, who has never won a stage race, will become the official race winner.

“I trust that the CAS judges took all things into consideration after reading a 4,000 page file. If now I am declared overall winner of the 2010 Tour de France it will not make me happy. I battled with Contador in that race and I lost. My goal is to win the Tour de France in a sportive way, being the best of all competitors, not in court. If I succeed this year, I will consider it as my first Tour victory.”

Cavendish sick before Tour of Qatar

With Greipel already out, this worries me...what other riders will make such good sprint competitions?!?!

Cavendish sick on eve of Tour of Qatar

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cavendish-sick-on-eve-of-tour-of-qatar)

Mark Cavendish's preparations for his Team Sky debut suffered a setback on Saturday after he missed his final training ride ahead of Sunday's Tour of Qatar with illness. The British sprinter complained of feeling unwell after flying into the Qatari capital of Doha.

As a precautionary measure the 26-year-old did not join his teammates as they left the team hotel for their morning ride. A spokesman from Team Sky stated that no final decision has been made on his participation in tomorrow's race but that he was likely to start. He will spend the remainder of the day resting.

"13hrs of sweat-drenched sleep hasn't shifted a fever that started on the plane over here. Really not feeling well today. Can't leave my bed," Cavendish said via Twitter on Saturday.

The six-stage race starts on Sunday at the iconic Barzan Towers and will run until Friday. The race organisers will be hopeful that Cavendish, one of world cycling's biggest draws, will recover to take his place at the start line, especially after German star Andre Greipel pulled out of the race earlier in the week.

Lance Armstrong: Case closed!

This is past due!!! Can't someone just win 7 Tour de Frances without doping?

Lance Armstrong inquiry concludes with no charges filed

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/lance-armstrong-inquiry-concludes-with-no-charges-filed)

The AP has reported today that the nearly two-year federal investigation into allegations of doping by Lance Armstrong has come to a conclusion without any charges being filed.

A press release from United States Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. stated his office "is closing an investigation into allegations of federal criminal conduct by members and associates of a professional bicycle racing team owned in part by Lance Armstrong."

No reasons have yet been revealed as to why the investigation has ended.

Stay tuned to Cyclingnews for more details as they emerge.