Finally, somebody takes the UCI loudly to task for it's astoundingly unethical conduct handling Floyd Landis' test results. Not soon enough for me, either; the notion that this is an impartial organization fit to enforce cycling's compliance with rules has been pretty well shot to hell in a bikebasket given their outrageous misconduct from the first day this story was leaked a week ago.
The guy giving the international cycling union a public whipping is none other than Floyd Landis' brand spanking new attorney, Howard Jacobs of Los Angeles who has some experience defending athletes accused of doping - he represented cyclist Tyler Hamilton and sprinter Tim Montgomery.Taking a page out of Johnny Cochran's playbook, he goes after the "bad cops" right out of the box. The Associated Press report, carried everywhere this morning says:
"The attorney for cyclist Floyd Landis criticized the International Cycling Union on Wednesday for leaking the results of the Tour de France winner's positive "A" sample drug test, saying it breached the organization's own rules.
Results of the second or "B" sample are expected to be released Saturday, and until they are completed, "it should be strongly noted that there is not even a formal doping charge that has been filed against Mr. Landis," attorney Howard Jacobs said.
Jacobs said he was "troubled by the actions of the UCI and how they have spoken out about this case, which is in direct contravention of the UCI's own rules and the World Anti-Doping Code. source article at HouChron here
Vicki Michaelis at USA Today adds this: "Jacobs also said the documentation sent to him by the French lab that performed the tests on Landis' samples contains a claim that the carbon isotope test is positive, proof Landis ingested synthetic testosterone. "But there's zero documentation supporting that — nothing," said Jacobs...."Ultimately, they're going to have to back that up."
...Jacobs criticized the UCI for leaking the results of the Tour de France winner's A sample. That action breached the organization's rules, which he says "prohibit any public statement by the UCI until completion of an athlete's B testing at the absolute earliest."
Juliet Macur's article this am in the NYT registration required uses the AP story but adds:
“He wants to be ready to defend himself, in case the B sample comes back positive,” Jacobs said in a telephone interview. “I’m not one to accept what the lab says as proof. I haven’t seen the document. You need to see documentation to see how they got their numbers.”
Me again: Only time will tell if Floyd Landis needs to lose his job, but we don't need to wait for any stinkin' lab test to know already that the McQuaid gang deserves immediate suspension & total disqualification from ever serving in any capacity overseeing anything to do with athletics ever again. The UCI admonishing an athlete for cheating is like Louis Farrakhan repudiating Mel Gibson for his insensitivity towards Jews. When they've made it quite clear they have no intention of complying with their own ethical codes, their moral authority in adjudicating cyclists' compliance with theirs is destroyed. Floyd can confess to smoking crack at his grandmother's funeral for all it really matters; the UCI needs to be slapped with a ban upside the head itself!
Well, it seems the news about the FL case is sooo slow today, blogospherians are beginning to ponder more tangentially related conundra; Here's one from a guy commenting on an entry in the Boulder Report at Bicycling.com:
"This is all very depressing, so in a perhaps vain attempt at injecting (no pun intended) some humor, here's a semi-serious scenario/question.
According to reports, on Jul 16, the day before the "etape fantastique," Floyd's teammate Axel Merckx told Eddy, who needs no introduction here, that Floyd was going to do something spectacular the next day.
Eddy dutifully laid 100 euro on Floyd winnng the stage on Jul 17 and apparently pocketed a neat 7,500 euros (odds were 75:1). (Not that he probably needs it.) So here's the question. If test B upholds the T:E ratio, and/or, as is now rumoured, the isotope data indicating exogenous testosterone, should Eddy give the 7,500 euros back?"
Ready, set, discuss, freepers.
(Thanks to Ready4Freddy for teaching me how to link to downthread posts!:-D )
The AP summarily shoots down the Landis camp's recent "trial balloon" that severe dehydration might have elevated FL's T/E ratio -pretty much obsolete anyway, if the "B" sample confirms, as expected, the presence of synthetic hormone.
(snip) "Maybe a combination of dehydration, maximum effort," Jose Maria Buxeda, the cyclist's lawyer, said Thursday after testing began on his backup sample.
That theory was flatly rejected by one of the world's top anti-doping officials.
"In 25 years of experience of testing such a huge increase in the level of testosterone cannot be accepted to come from any natural factors," said Christiane Ayotte, director of Montreal's anti-doping laboratory. "If dehydration was the case, then marathon runners would be testing positive all the time. Tennis players would be testing positive all the time.
"Dehydration is a medical condition that requires hospitalization. It has been invoked in the past, but not one case — to my knowledge — has been successful in this argument."(snip)
Ever since, the cyclist and his defense team have offered varying explanations, including cortisone shots taken for pain in Landis' degenerating hip; drinking beer and whiskey the night before; thyroid medication, and his natural metabolism.
The latest theory — dehydration — appears to contrast with events.
Landis pushed ahead at the 45-mile mark July 20 and rode the rest of the stage alone, which he later called an "advantage" because he was constantly near his team's car and the liquids it carried. He constantly splashed his face and drank fluids as he rode up the Alps.
"It was nice to be alone," Landis said after the stage. "It was an advantage."(snip)
AP report source here
Team Landis needs to do better than the ol' 'everything but the kitchen sink' defense strategy if they hope to succeed in rescuing Floyd's reputation. They might consider availing themselves of the services of a PR traffic cop to coordinate statements, because this "Weasewwy Wascal French-Jack Daniels-Yams for dinner- Stage Day Heat Ate My Homework" stuff is going nowhere, fast. Focus, people, focus!
Tim Maloney, Cycling News' European correspondent has a piece that offers a good, tidy summary of the unethical leaks from the UCI & French lab in the case to journalists, particularly to L'Equipe, and Landis's US attorney Howard Jacobs' implicit condemnations of them for the suspiciously cozy relationship these three entities enjoy here.
Floyd may be toast as some believe, but a lot of people think that this sleazy UCI/Chatenay-Malabry/L'Equipe triumverate doesn't inspire a whole lot of public confidence in their impartiality & their ability to enforce their athletes' adherence to doping regs with any kind of credibility. Folks who love this stupid sport can't help but wonder how cycling is ever going to clean up its sorry act when the "mop" they're using to do it is so appallingly dirty itself.
For those are thoroughly demoralized today about the bleak situation in which Floyd, the Tour de France & professional cycling in general seem so inextricably mired, I can only offer this small gesture of encouragement:
In the immortal words of the founder of the Nørskï Bwteimian Repüblic: "Vëê möösent ebber, ebber letten dð bæstørds gedinken öös dðwn!" :-D