I really don’t have a horse in this race - except that I get upset when I see physiogical data being over-interpreted.
However, allow me to be contrarian, and look at the payments to Dr Ferrari from another angle.
If one reads Dr Ferrari’s blog he appears to be a very competent physiologist - in a way much more knowledgable than many of his detractors. (I say this based on my own expertise in neighbouring subjects.) Apparently Lance Armstrong trusted him - and some comments I’ve read indicates that Ferrari to a large extent ran the team’s training schedule, diet, resting periods etc, etc. Now let us suspend disbelief and assume that he did not provide doping drugs. Would he still be paid these sums?
Well, if the team or Lance Armstrong felt that his expertise was a major (or the major) factor behind the success in TdF, I don’t see this as extreme remunerations.
From the link I was sent it appears the LA during 2004 only paid Dr Ferrari once, in July 2004. The next payment was in March 2005. Compared with the number of payments during the previous year, could this last payment be a payment for 2004 initially withheld in waiting for the outcome of the court case in Italy? The next payment occurred well after Ferrari’s conviction had been overturned in the Court of Appelation.
Thus, again, if one is convinced LA is quilty, the accounting records count as yet more evidence against Armstrong. If not then it just shows that Armstrong used Ferrari as consultant, something that has never been contested.
Why is it going to his Swiss Company??? and what's all that extra money for???
I seem to remember some $100k and $150k sums being mentioned, but in the overall scheme of TdF monies, fees, royalties, endorsements - which probably run well into the many tens if not hundreds of millions (especially for a staggering 7 titles) - that’s barely even chump change. If Dr Ferrari was in charge of the team’s doping regimen, he’d certainly be worth far more than those paltry sums, wouldn’t he? Just wondering.
I’ve possibly read the wrong $100k & $150k numbers; here’s a USADA report about $1mm+ paid to Dr Ferrari from 1996 to 2009:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/usada-lance-armstrong-paid-ferrari-more-than-dollar-1-million
Don’t know how much credence to put into it, though. But I know when I was reading many articles, on Sat-Sun, about this controversy, I did see the $100 & $150k fees paid to him, in some article, somewhere. It appears that they have his bank/financial records.