Take the Lane

Lanced Armstrong

Well that's it then. Lance Armstrong has been stripped of his titles by UCI. The biggest doping scandal in professional sports is over. The great cancer in professional cycling has been treated. And now, will pro cycling be renewed, or will the cheating continue?

The cycle of doping

As more pro cyclists are caught in the maelstrom of doping charges, I would like to invite anyone who has won a pro event and was not doping before, during or after, to please step forward and be acknowledged.

Surely, there must be someone...

Lance Armstrong: just another dope?

Wow. What a kick in the gut. Even if you thought it might be true, you really hoped it wasn't.

Lance Armstrong is basically pleading "no contest" to the charges that he doped his way to seven Tour de France victories. Here's a link to the ABC story. Sounds like he'll be stripped of his titles and banned from pro cycling in any form.

So, he's a cheater? What does everyone who looked to him as an example now think? The young would-be cycling pros. The North Americans who tuned in to the Tour de France every year because a non-European was challenging the status quo. The cancer victims, and the hospitals, charities and agencies that counted on his star-power to raise money for their good work.

I've got a Ride With Lance hat that I got for a donation to one of his rides here in Waterloo Region. Am I planning to "retire" it?

No. It was a part of a dream. I enjoyed every minute of that dream. And I'm not going to erase it, just because I woke up and was surrounded by reality.

 

 

Today, who doesn't love Ryder Hesjedal?

No surprise that everyone wants a piece of Ryder Hesjedal, after he became the first Canadian to win the Giro d'Italia. The Canadian sports community loves him. The prime minister loves him. I expect a press release from the Governor General's office any time now.

The one emailed press release I got today that did make me laugh was from the California-based Heart Rate Watch Company, which markets products for the Garmin half of Hesjedal's team, Garmin-Barracuda. This attempt to get a piece of Hesjedal congratulated "Hesjadal," and referred to the cyclist elsewhere on the site as Hesjadel and Hesjedal. (Surely, one of them is right...)

Truth be known, I suspect few Canadians (or Americans) have ever even heard of the Giro, one of the Big Three European endurance road races. European Grand Tour cycling really only seemed to make mainstream North American headlines as long as Lance Armstrong was in the Tour de France, and he stayed away from the Giro and the last of the big three, the Vuelta a Espana.

Among the Tour de France fans I know, many are so ticked off at the doping violations and accusations of recent years that they very nearly want to have nothing to do with major pro tour cycling.

Hesjedal will change that, especially if he chooses to ride in the Tour de France, which kicks off Saturday, June 30. One might wonder if Hesjedal has enough gas in his tank for Le Tour AND the London Olympics, which begin July 27. Which ever path he chooses, you can bet this will raise the pro cycling interest of Canadians.

To add to your toy collection

Yeah, if I had $1,300 burning a hole in my pocket, I'd get this: Le Tour de France Indoor Cycle, a stationary bicycle that is programmed to tilt forward or back to replicate different cycling terrain as described by Google mapping.

Alpe d'Huez, here I come.

Ryder's our rider in the Tour de France

Ryder Hesjedal made a whirlwind tour of Toronto today to promote an athletic sponsorship program with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, and to talk about the Tour de France.

For a Canadian Press story and photo from the event, go here.

Spanish rider found dead of apparent suicide

The latest casualty of the dark underside of professional cycling is former mountain biker Alberto Leon, according to an Associated Press report from Madrid.

The Spanish newspaper El Pais is reporting that Leon hung himself at his home in San Lorenzo del Escorial, near Madrid.

Leon, 37, was one of the 14 caught up in the Spanish Civil Guard's anti-doping investigation known as Operation Galgo, and was also implicated in a 2006 doping investigation known as Operation Puerto. That probe led to the banning of cyclists Alejandro Valverde and Ivan Basso. In the Galgo probe, Leon was cited as a supplier of performance-enhancing substances.

Have a look at the Tour

I don't have the OLN network, but I have access to a number of Associated Press photos from the Tour de France.

Click here to get to a page of photos, that I will update regularly through the Tour. (Up to final stage added.)

And pictured here is the pack, from Tuesday's 213-kilometre stage between Wanze, Belgium and Arenberg, France. Taken by Christophe Ena of The Associated Press

I've been a slacker about getting the last of the Tour pictures posted. You knew I would get them up here, eventually. So here's a shot from the last day, as Alberto Contador and Astana toast to the Tour photogs with their fluted champagne glasses. Taken Sunday, July 25 for the Associated Press, by Bas Czerwinski.

UCI's Canadian reps to investigate Michael Barry

Canada's members of the International Cycling Union have been asked to investigate Canadian pro cyclist Michael Barry, based on the doping claims made by disgraced Tour de France winner Floyd Landis.

The news was reported today by the Associated Press. The full story follows:

AIGLE, Switzerland - The International Cycling Union has asked its national members in four countries — including Canada — to investigate riders and officials based on claims of doping made by Floyd Landis.

The UCI said that ordering the probes did not "in any way" imply it believes Landis' accusations.

The UCI said the investigations concern Canada's Michael Barry, Australia's Matthew White, Belgium's Johan Bruyneel — longtime team manager of Lance Armstrong — and France's John Lelangue to establish if they broke anti-doping rules.

Landis alleged Barry was part of the group of athletes on the U.S. Postal Team, led by Armstrong, who doped to improve their performance. Barry, a three-time Olympian from Toronto, flatly denied the allegation when it was made last week.

The Canadian Cycling Association said it intends to go to the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport to seek its advice and counsel on how to proceed.

"It’s an area that is fraught with legal jurisdictions and fraught with expertise that no national sport organization would be expected to have," said CCA chief executive officer Greg Mathieu.

"But the CCES does have that expertise that can give us that advice. So we’ll be going there, but understanding that Michael Barry has already made a statement that he’s racing clean. The Canadian Cycling Association has no reason to believe that he isn’t.

"But we have been asked by our international federation to seek out information from him to the furthest degree possible. Which I guess is more than just saying, 'Did you do it?' and having him say ’No I didn’t.'"

A message left with Barry, who is competing at the Giro d'Italia, was not immediately returned. Mathieu said he plans to get in touch with the cyclist soon about what the next steps in the process will be.

A message left with the CCES was not immediately returned.

Landis alleged that Bruyneel and Armstrong tried to cover up a failed drug test in 2001 by the seven-time Tour de France winner.

Landis, who was stripped of the 2006 Tour title, has admitted that he doped throughout his career.

Armstrong defends himself

The way Lance Armstrong speaks of Floyd Landis, you'd never know they were cycling buddies.

Armstrong, whose participation in the Tour of California was cut short by a crash (photo here by Marcio Jose Sanchez of The Associated Press), took some time out earlier in the day today to comment on the Wall Street Journal revelations of emails from Landis, sent to the International Cycling Union and USA Cycling, confessing to longtime doping and implicating America's cycling elite.

The Associated Press reports that in his impromptu press conference today, Armstrong said, "If you said, 'Give me one word to sum this all up: credibility.' Floyd lost his credibility a long time ago."

Armstrong said, "We have nothing to hide. We have nothing to run from."

According to the WSJ report, Landis claims Armstrong and longtime coach Johan Bruyneel paid an International Cycling Union official to coverup a test in 2002 after Armstrong purportedly tested positive for the blood-boosting drug EPO. The UCI, however, denied changing or concealing a positive test result.

In an email Landis sent to USA Cycling chief Steve Johnson, he said Armstrong's positive EPO test was in 2002, around the time he won the Tour de Suisse. Armstrong won the Tour de Suisse in 2001 and did not compete in 2002.

"We're a little confused, maybe just as confused as you guys," Armstrong said, with Bruyneel by his side. "The timeline is off, year by year."

Landis also implicated other cyclists, including longtime Armstrong confidant George Hincapie and Olympic medallist Levi Leipheimer, and acknowledged using human growth hormone starting in 2003. The Wall Street Journal reported another email from Landis also linked another top American racer, Dave Zabriskie, to doping. The New York Times reported that staff for VeloNews saw other emails that also implicated Toronto cyclist and former Canadian national team member Michael Barry.

The Associated Press reports that Hincapie said he was "really disappointed" by the allegations. AP goes on to say that Jim Ochowicz, a former top USA Cycling official — who was also implicated by Landis — defended himself and Hincapie.

"These allegations are not true, absolutely unfounded and unproven," said Ochowicz, now the president of BMC Racing, Hincapie's current team. "This is disappointing to anyone who works in the sport or is a fan of the sport."

The Associated Press says that more accusations from Landis could be coming. In one email, Landis indicated he has several diaries detailing other experiences.

"I've always known Floyd as an angry person ... somebody who's basically angry with the world," Bruyneel said. "To me it sounds like he just wants to drag down people who are still there and enjoying this."

AP reported that at the presser today, Armstrong said Landis started threatening him and other top riders such as Leipheimer and Zabriskie to make allegations like these long ago.

"I'd remind everybody that this is a man that's been under oath several times and had a very different version," Armstrong said. "This is a man that wrote a book for profit that had a completely different version.

"This is somebody that took, some would say, close to US$1 million from innocent people for his defence under a different premise. Now when it's all run out the story changes."