cfforum

What are the chances of him EVER getting a ride in a major event again? A-La Tyler Hamilton - won't the sponsors just freak if any team gives him a spot on their rosters?

Long live Rock Racing....with or without Cippo!

For sure - the sport needs an owner like Ball. It's wayyyyy too easy to have the non-athletes forget that it's all about the athletes. I have never been a Floyd fan (or anti-Floyd) but I'm for fairness. I think there are aspects of his and Tyler Hamilton's experience that have been patently unfair. Think about it:
1. Several people on TDF teams who have served bans for doping. The only difference is that they admitted they did it and apologized (litmus test?) I am happy for Slipstream-Chipotle, and am forgiving of David Millar but if the rule is that to be allowed to ride again, you have to admit and apologize, then what happens to those who are victims of false positives? The margins of error on those tests (in the cases where they are even known) show they are not fool-proof.
2. Rabobank, not Astana, was the headline doping case through most of the TDF last year. Although Rasmussen was never charged with a formal doping offense, it was he who created the circus atmosphere. Vino was a distraction but if you go back and look at the media reports, they were more about Rabobank than about Astana. Who is in the TDF this year? Astana pulled their team from the tour last year, Rabo did not.
3. Rename your team from T-Mobile to "High Road" and you get invited back. IN SPITE of the situation being identical between High Road and Astana. For the most part, new ownership, new doping program, new riders, etc.... Look at the media attention on the old T-Mobile - it is still very active in Europe. The Astana stuff is out of the news for the most part. Every article about T-Mobile's woes now lists the team as having been renamed and relocated.
4. I known it's the TD France - but the abundance of French teams that have been invited - and will not even be competitive kind of leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. This is an international event now - not a FRENCH event. ASO has to recognize that at some point. Agritubel has about as much promise of winning the event or one of the jerseys as Cycle Folsom does.
This years' TDF result needs an asterisk by it since the prior champion was not allowed to defend and one of the strongest teams was not there.

I cannot escape the sense that the sport has imploded. A guy like Ball and other big-money owners can swoop in and pick up the pieces but as long as there is not another "epic" event like the TDF to garner media attention, the ASO will reign.

Very well said. You can't forget about Cofidis either. After staging a sit-in during the stage start, that afternoon Moreni was announced positive for Testosterone. This was the same Cofidis Millar was racing for when he took EPO and the entire team was shut down for two months to 'clean-it-up'. When they came back...nothing changed. In fact, Eric Boyer now is the head of the AIGCP (teams organization). Oh, and of course, Cofidis is French...so there you go

Slipstream in at the Tour, and Rock Racing out of Georgia.

I guess there will be one-less circus in April without Botero, Sevilla, and Hamilton.

Mark

Well - I still think that the tests done and the procedures employed (or not) in Floyd's case were fundamentally flawed and therefore the entire case should have been dropped. The process of "assume guilt" and "prove innocence" just seems unfair to me.

Having said that: I have a theory about Floyd's case and the source of the exogenous testosterone (and why it appeared so funky in the lab tests)

What if Floyd did extensive training at altitude in his TDF preparation (he did) and donated his high-altitude blood to be used later? It would necessarily have a higher volume of red-blood cells and could have even been processed to further concentrate the erythrocytes.

What if he were also using Exogenous Testosterone while training to aid in recovery?

If they didn't (or couldn't) test for residual testosterone in that donated sample, then when they transfused it back following Floyd's catastrophic collapse in the TDF, it came not only with great volumes of red cells but also some residual Testosterone.

....it's just a theory.....

Not a bad theory.

Don't forget it was Armstrong who first started using month long traning camps in remote parts of the world to build his form. Was it for privacy? Was it for vacationing? Or was it to evade the dope controlls? Interesting also that he traveled with a team of doctors with him. Remember the Lance Chronicles on OLN?

My other theory around Armstrong is his move in 1999 from Nice France to Gerona Spain. Up through 98 Armstrong owned a home in Nice France and there were countless interviews about how much he loved it there, felt like it was home, would retire there, even seeemed to say it was better then Texas.

Well, after the 98 Festina affair the French government passed several laws making doping a civil crime and the punishments more severe. Shortly after that, Armstrong and the rest of the US racers that made Nice home moved to Gerona Spain. Which still today, has the most relaxed performance doping laws.

Just a theory.....