Friday Morning Commute - Jan Ullrich wins three Tours in one day

Good morning.

• Now registration is open for the 50 States & 13 Colonies rides. If you've never done it, it is a fun - albeit surprisingly difficult - ride that will take you all over the city and back again. It is ride that has you doubling back and riding loops all so that you can ride on all 50 state-named streets (or the 13 originall colonies for those who want less riding).
• Details on today's crash in Gaithersburg "At 6:54 a.m. Thursday, Nicole Marie Polen and a 16-year-old friend were crossing Woodfield Road at the Airpark Road intersection when Polen was hit by a 2004 Nissan Sentra traveling through the intersection on a green light, Montgomery County police said. Police said Polen was wearing a helmet and was in the crosswalk but was crossing the street against a pedestrian signal." And here too.
• The VBF's annual meeting is scheduled for September 16th in Richmond. 
• Homemade dress includes reflective piping for biking.
• Declaring "enough is enough," Lance Armstrong said he will not fight charges brought by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and has let the deadline to contest them pass. As a result, he is reportedly being stripped of all 7 of his Tour victories and being banned from cycling for life. But Armstrong plans to sue if the sanction him. "You are on notice that if USADA makes any public statement claiming, without jurisdiction, to sanction Mr. Armstrong, or to falsely characterize Mr. Armstrong's reasons for not requesting an arbitration as anything other than a recognition of UCI jurisdiction and authority, USADA and anyone involved in the making of the statement will be liable,"

Comments

[MM]

Looking forward to the 50 states ride and I'm all signed up. I was, however, extremely disappointed to learn that cue sheets will only be available the day of the ride. The route is confusing as hell and I really don't want to have to futz with a cue sheet all day...that's why I have a freaking Garmin!

[JeffB]

Re Gaithersburg accident
What police will probably not say is why on a flat open road the driver failed to see and avoid a person on the road.

[Crikey7]

There apparently is some issue as to whether Lance can be stripped of his titles. The statute of limitations may bar that action, though the charges related to conspiracy would still stand and would support a lifetime ban.

[antibozo]

Lance's statement on the matter; he makes some good points, IMO:

http://lancearmstrong.com/news-events/lance-armstongs-statement-of-august-23-2012

[Kolohe]

Isn't Ullrich also banned? Hell, you may have just won the Tour de France via King Ralph rules.

[Michael H.]

Ivan Basso also served a drug suspension at one point. He too could be eligible to take one of the Tour victories. I don't really understand the point of stripping the titles only to give them to someone who has tested positive at some point, if not necessarily in the year of that race.

Even assuming that Armstrong doped, he still beat the others who doped. It's a messy situation, but if they really wanted to be consistent, they would have to test and investigate all of the other top finishers from each of those years.

Baseball has had a widespread problem with PEDs as well, but they realize that there's no way they can change all of the championships and records. Seems like a similar situation with cycling. Why sanction one top finisher for doping, several years after the event, but not another?

[Tara]

The language in that Examiner article is really strange: "The Sentra's driver . . . was not injured in the incident but remained on-scene after the accident." Are we so used to hit-and-runs that it's remarkable that someone who struck a cyclist but wasn't injured managed to remain on the scene anyway?

[antibozo]

Tara, apparently we are. :^/

[washcycle]

Tara, I just think it's a relevant fact. But only because there are a lot of hit and runs.

[washcycle]

Michael H, I'm kind of with you on this. They ought to just have a period of amnesty. Everyone comes clean, and no one loses any titles. If you're caught lying, then you lose the right to race in the future. Or something like that.

[charlie]

Yep, given that only stage winner and tour winner have been give that level of scrunity, the end result is very pro-doping.

I don't like Lance, he is as asshat, but the only thing that redeems him is that his critics (sheryl crow, the french, and now the so called USADA) are worse.

[Rootchopper]

Lance's teammates also doped. They were there with the sole intent of helping him win. So whether he doped or not his Tour victories should be vacated. Of course, this logic probably means nobody won th Tour ever.U

[todd]

Does anyone know which entity actually vacates the Tour results? Can USADA do it? If not, is it UCI? Amaury Sports? I've been wondering what will happen if the USADA "strips" Armstrong of his titles but the UCI (or whoever) refuses to follow-through.

If his titles are stripped, can't the relevant organization refuse to name new winners for those races?

I don't understand the criticism of USADA w/r/t Basso, Ullrich, and other dopers. Yes, it is ironic that they see their podium places upgraded, but we should blame UCI for the sad state of modern cycling. USADA can punish only American racers, right? I hope that this whole ordeal puts some pressure on UCI.

[david]

Ten witnesses. I think that says it all. Many people say "they all do it" well prove it where are the witnesses ? "they all do it" or "everybody does" is the most common excuse of the morally weak.

[Michael H.]

It's not just people saying "they all do it." It's the fact that many top cyclists from that era, and continuing to today, have already been caught and suspended for doping violations, including Alberto Contador, and Frank Schleck had a positive test this year.

These people have tested positive. It's not hearsay and it's not even based on witness statements. It's based on actual scientific testing. Alexander Vinokourov was suspended for 2 years. He won the Olympic road race this summer. Contador won the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana. He just returned from a suspension. Alejandro Valverde was suspended. He is a past winner of the Vuelta a Espana and a TdF stage winner. Danilo DiLuca, Giro d'Italia winner and also suspended doper. Tyler Hamilton, gold medalist at the 2004 time trial until his results were vacated afterward because of a positive doping test. Ivan Basso, Giro d'Italia winner and also a suspended doper. Jan Ullrich, Tour de France winner and frequent 2nd place finisher, and also a suspended doper. And on and on and on.

This isn't fantasy. These are actual positive test results and admission from many of the very top riders in the sport.

[Michael H.]

That list wasn't meant to single out cycling. It was only meant to counter the claim that there is no evidence of other top cyclists doping. Other top cyclists HAVE and ARE doping and yes, they have been caught, through positive tests.

Other sports are just as bad, though. I already mentioned baseball previously. Perhaps a majority of the superstars from the past 30 years were dopers. Many of them have admitted it (A-Rod, Pettitte) and for others, there is a mountain of evidence. It's still going on today. Melky Cabrera, a potential MVP candidate this year, was recently suspended for 50 games for a doping violation.

Football has had its problems, even with its more active drug testing. However, they have not tested for growth hormone. It's pretty plain to see how big the entire league has gotten over the last 30 or 40 years. Human evolution does not operate that quickly. Star players of the 1970s would be considered far too small to play today.

Improved training and nutrition play a part, but I think most people understand that illegal substances likely play a part too. Look at bodybuilding. The massive, hulking champions only get that way through training PLUS steroid/GH use. It's accepted and assumed that the top pros are doping. So much so, that they have to have a separate "natural bodybuilding" category for those who choose not to dope. When I used to read through bodybuilding magazines to get strength training tips, I was amazed to see that fully one-third of the entire page count of every magazine was devoted to a section plainly marked "Drugs", with the content focusing on the use of steroids, GH, insulin (which is illegal without a prescription and it's not supposed to be prescribed for non-diabetics), IGF-1 and 2, and so on.

Track and field was pretty bad in previous years, with Olympic champions testing positive for drug/steroid use.

[Michael H.]

I forgot to mention Floyd Landis too. He "won" the Tour de France until that victory was revoked because of a suspicious doping test. He denied doping for years, even going as far as to set up a legal defense fund to support his legal challenges.

A few years later, he admitted to doping and defrauding all of his supporters. He took in a substantial amount of money from those supporters through his defense fund campaign, all based on lies. He has now admitted to all of this. Again, this is not my speculation. This is based on a scientific test as well as the very public admission by Landis that he doped and lied about it.