Replies to post #1866 on Tour de France

[Frank Pembleton]

Spanish rider escapes sanction after test irregularities

 
  
     MADRID, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Spanish cyclist Inigo Landaluze  
 will escape sanctions despite testing positive for the male  
 hormone testosterone after winning the 2005 edition of the  
 Dauphine Libere because of irregularities in the analysis.  
  Landaluze's Euskaltel-Euskado team and the Court of  
 Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on Wednesday the UCI's appeal  
 against the decision of the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) to  
 acquit the rider had been rejected.  
     Although CAS dismissed most of the arguments given by the  
 rider, it did accept there had been an error in the analysis  
 procedure carried out by a laboratory in France.  
     "It has been indeed established that the person who  
 conducted the analysis of the B sample was also involved in the  
 analysis of the A sample, thus in violation of the international  
 standard applicable to accredited laboratories," CAS said in a  
 statement on its Web site (www.tas-cas.org).  
     "The Panel has considered that the non-compliance with this  
 standard constituted a procedural flaw serious enough to cause  
 the invalidation of the anti-doping test."  
     The CAS statement added that the error had been due to the  
 heavy workload in the laboratory and the decision did not mean  
 that Landaluze's name had been cleared.  
     "Even though Inigo Landaluze benefited from this flawed  
 procedure to be acquitted, the CAS decision does not constitute  
 a declaration of his innocence," said the statement.  
     Landaluze was the surprise winner of the eight-day Dauphine  
 Libere race in 2005, finishing ahead of favourites such as  
 Santiago Botero, Levi Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong.  
 

[Frank Pembleton]

if Floyd wins his case he may want to stay in the US for a year and ease his way back into the European peloton considering his personal issues (family and health). He could very well sign for 1-yr with a continental team ... wasn't Ullrich on a business trip in the US just recently...?

I'm under the impression there's competition for talent even if they have to poach for a few out of favour riders.

...and then there's Armstrong "us vs. them" politics.

[Biowatch]

Mt Washington, NH, has a bike race and foot race that take about the same time to complete.

The car race/peak climb tends to take much less time...

http://www.tinmtn.org/hillclimb/index.cfm

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/3/3_2/mount-washington-road-rac.shtml

"Besides the steepness of the road itself, the race also offers the famously unpredictable Mount Washington weather. Temperatures can be in the 70s at the base but in the 40s at the summit, with winds typically blowing in gusts as high as 40-60 mph. (The highest wind speed ever recorded in the world was on the Mount Washington summit: 231 mph.)"

[Biowatch]

Yes, where did "Versus" come from?!?

It is a sports channel, but fishermen versus the big bass? Bow hunters versus game?

>>Versus or ESPN, etc. (geez I'd like to rap the knucklehead who thought up that new name for OLN upside the head!!!)
<<

[zeta1961]

Armstrong fractured Right tibia?

I heard about this at the DP forums but it's nowhere in the American press..found it here

http://www.todociclismo.com/noticia.asp?id=36586

El americano Lance Armstrong, que recientemente disputó el maratón de Nueva York, ha sufrido una fractura en la tibia de su pierna derecho, lo que le obligará a estar tres meses sin practicar ningún deporte. Armstrong, que últimamente había competido en pruebas de atletismo, se dejó ver recientemente montado sobre su bicicleta y acompañando en los entrenamientos a Ivan Basso y a los ciclistas del Discovery Channel.