A New Home for Cycling Information

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I managed to convince the kind folks at BootsnAll that a site dedicated to more than just the Tour de France would be a good thing… There is, after all, more than one race in the year. So, I now bring you the Cycling Logue. Chances are good that I’ll be writing over there and not over here. Just so y’know.

One to Watch: Juan José Haedo

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During the inaugural Tour of California this year, one name popped up a couple of times in sprint finishes - a name I hadn’t heard before: Juan José (J.J.) Haedo. Then I got a first-hand look at him at the Cascade Cycling Classic in Bend, where he won the Twilight Crit. There were murmurs that this guy was one to watch…

Apparently, those murmurs made it all the way to Denmark:

25-year-old Argentinean sprinter Juan José Haedo signed a two-year contract with Team CSC. Haedo has won nine victories since becoming a professional in 2003. During last season, he won three victories with the American Toyota-United team: two in the Tour of California and one in the Tour of Georgia.

“I had several opportunities to further my career, but when the offer came in from Team CSC, I had no doubts. I’ve watched the team from the outside when they’ve been in the States, and it made a big impression on me. I believe I’ll get a unique opportunity to grow as a rider here, and I’ll be working with the most competent people in the business. I know the transition to the European races will be a tough one, but I’m highly motivated to fight for it. I’m the first-ever Argentinean rider to be given a chance at this level, and the fact that Team CSC has chosen me gives me a tremendous confidence boost,” says Haedo. Read the rest of this entry »

Category: Cycling News

Tags: Argentina, Bjarne Riis, Cascade Cycling Classic, Cycling News, Juan Jose Haedo, Team CSC, Tour of California, Tour of Georgia

WADA to Revise Anti-Doping Code

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WADA is likely to be revising its Anti-Doping code in the next year. President Dick Pound said that the International Association of Athletics Federations has suggested raising the penalty for a serious doping violation from a two-year suspension to a four-year suspension. “That is a suggestion that has come forward, and it will be considered by the Review Committee,” Pound said. “I’m not quite sure what decision will be made on that, but the consensus will be reflected in the draft code that we send out shortly after our meeting.” Other potential changes include the elimination of a B sample - apparently some think the A sample is enough, as the science has improved over the years. Thankfully, there are also some who believe the B sample should remain as an insurance policy against anything improper in the analysis of the A sample.

With regard to the French lab’s admitted errors in dealing with Floyd Landis’ B sample, Pound said, “The code contemplates minor errors that don’t affect the ability and the analysis (of the lab). Ideally, of course, you don’t want there to be any errors, administrative or otherwise, that may get corrected in the process. We just have to wait and see. This is kind of an unusual situation. It’s entirely possible that a lot of this information has been illegally obtained, and that there may be consequences arising from that.”

An unusual situation, indeed, Mr. Pound. And the focus here - in my everso humble opinion - should be on assuring the peloton and the entire cycling world that it’s a perfecly clean and error-free process, not on pointing fingers. The bottom line is that there actually is a common goal here between the organizations which regulate the sport and the athletes who participate in it - no one wants a dirty sport. No one.

You can read the rest of the story here.

Basso to Undergo DNA Test

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So, in addition to a brand new kit, Ivan Basso will also get a trip to the phlebotomist with his new team. From CyclingNews:

Discovery Channel and Ivan Basso confirmed on Friday that under the terms of their contract, the Italian rider has agreed to provide a DNA sample if this is requested in a national judicial or disciplinary investigation.

“There has never been a DNA issue,” Johan Bruyneel said. “Ivan agreed through his lawyer even before we signed to give a sample. He just wanted to make sure that the guarantees provided by the law would be respected.”

You can read the rest here.

Tinkoff Linked to Saiz?

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Because apparently the Tinkoff team didn’t have enough ties to former Operacion Puerto stars, there are reports that the ‘perpetually where he shouldn’t be’ Manolo Saiz is chatting with the team. As my Jewish grandmother would have said, had she known anything about cycling, “Oy vey.”

Lab Testing Landis’ Samples Admits Error

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I wonder if cycling fans will reach a point at which they’ll say, “Enough already, we don’t even care who wins, let’s just put this one to bed”? Not that it would matter one way or the other, of course, because the parties involved are going to fight this one to the death, it seems.

From the TDFBlog:

The Chatenay-Malabry lab that initiated doping findings against 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis admitted today (in Le Monde, in French) that its report on Landis’s B-sample includes the wrong number for the sample tested.

You can read the rest of it here. I’m not sure what it says about this specific case or its potential for changing the outcome, but in general terms I think it’s clear that any testing for doping has to be cleaned up - it has to be squeaky clean, like you could eat off it, for crying out loud - before anyone’s going to have faith in it. And without faith in the testing, where are we?

Ullrich’s Off to South Africa; Kohl Speaks Out

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Jan Ullrich might not have a team, but he hasn’t lost his ability to ride a bike. He’s not only been training, he’s reportedly flying to South Africa for a training camp.

In other news, he’s also got a new attorney… Who happens to have specialized in “representing former Stasi workers (Stasi being the former East German secret police) and former East German athletes and trainers who have been accused of doping. For example, in 2005 he represented track and field trainer Thomas Springstein, who was accused of having assisted in doping of under-age athletes.” How handy.

Austrian cyclist Bernhard Kohl has come out in support of Ullrich and the others implicated in the Operacion Puerto investigation:

“The doping accusations against Jan Ullrich and the others have done a lot of damage to our sport. It’s time now for those who made the accusations to present their evidence. But obviously they don’t have any. That’s character assassination.”

Kohl went on to say that the outcry over the “doping crisis” hanging over cycling were overrated: “You could tell at the World Championships in Salzburg that cycling isn’t at all in a crisis.” As someone who was at the World Championships this year, I can definitely say that the cycling fans in Salzburg didn’t seem too depressed…

Jens Voigt Has the Answer

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Jens Voigt says he knows exactly what will clear cycling’s image. And it’s simple, really:

“The easiest thing would be to have a year without one single positiive doping test. That would help.”

Well, yes. That would help. Hey, I said it was simple, I didn’t say it was easy, now, did I?

Pereiro to Boycott 2007 Tour?

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As it stands now, Oscar Pereiro is the man in 2nd place in the history books of the 2006 Tour de France. If, however, Floyd Landis ultimately is stripped of his title as the race winner, Pereiro would move up one spot. Or so the logic would go.
Apparently there’s some chance that the 2006 Tour could be left without a winner at all - which is something Pereiro at least isn’t happy about. From CyclingNews:

Speaking on Tuesday near Pontevedresa in Northern Spain, the Spaniard said that if the 2006 Tour is ultimately left without a winner, he will refuse to attend the race next year.

“I will not go to the Tour de France if the organization leaves the first place vacant,” he said in a conference in Marín. “In that case, I will take part in the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España.”

Obviously, it’s in everyone’s interest to get to the bottom of the Landis allegations and clear the issue up once and for all. Whether that will be done in a timely enough manner for Pereiro, however, remains to be seen.

CyclingNews on Dick Pound’s Fresh Air Interview

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I mentioned the other day that Dick Pound had been on Fresh Air - you can read CyclingNews’ take on the interview here.

When asked why he helped form WADA, Pound said, “Nobody trusts the individual sports to go after their riders or players, and nobody trusts particular countries to be hard on their own athletes if they catch them doping and nobody trusts the IOC anymore. We needed an independent agency not controlled by any of these stakeholders to kind of take charge of this on a world level.”

It’s nice to know Pound doesn’t have a God complex, or anything.