Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Could It Get Any Worse?
by Ken Houghton
The best that can be said about yesterday's announcement that pre-race favorite Iban Mayo, who finished 16th, tested positive for EPO on the second rest day is that it was underreported.
This, unfortunately, probably will not lack reporting:
It's not necesarily as bad as it looks. But there were teams and riders excluded this year because of Operation Puerto allegations; Contador was not one of them.
Continuing the exploration of Rational Expectations at the link above, Vino's "B" (backup; second) sample also tested positive. Some remain convinced:
Again, if there is a 100% chance you will be tested, why not at least use your own blood?
The great final result was tarred so much there is little need of feathers.
The best that can be said about yesterday's announcement that pre-race favorite Iban Mayo, who finished 16th, tested positive for EPO on the second rest day is that it was underreported.
This, unfortunately, probably will not lack reporting:
[Werner] Franke said he has documents from last year's Operation Puerto doping investigation in Spain that show Contador, a Spaniard who won the doping-marred Tour on Sunday, had taken HMG-Lepori as a testosterone booster and an asthma product called TGN.
"We can confirm we have received the documents, and they will be incorporated into procedures of the district attorney's office," Christian Brockert, spokesman for Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office, told The Associated Press....
Contador, who rides for the Discovery Channel team, missed the 2006 Tour when his former team, Liberty, was disqualified because he and four other riders -- plus the team director and doctor -- were allegedly linked to Operation Puerto.
It's not necesarily as bad as it looks. But there were teams and riders excluded this year because of Operation Puerto allegations; Contador was not one of them.
Continuing the exploration of Rational Expectations at the link above, Vino's "B" (backup; second) sample also tested positive. Some remain convinced:
Officials with Kazakhstan's cycling federation on Tuesday expressed staunch support for Alexander Vinokourov who was excluded from the Tour de France following a positive test for blood doping.
"We are going to support the position that the results of the A and B samples were a direct result of the violent fall Alexander suffered during the fifth stage of the cycling race," said the executive director of the federation, Aleksandr Antychev.
Again, if there is a 100% chance you will be tested, why not at least use your own blood?
Labels: bicycle racing, rational expectations
