Esther Cerpolini and Cynthia Mongongu

So Paolo Bettini won yesterday's stage at the Tour of California, and Levi's still in the lead. Today's time trial up in Solvang should be pretty cool to watch, because the countryside is absolutely gorgeous up there, and a lot of the teams train there in the off-season, so they'll know the course. It's been raining pretty hard in California the last few days, and that looks like the only thing that could put a damper on today's stage.

The LA Times is covering the Tour -- sort of. They're running daily wire service reports, but at least they're giving the race some ink (buried in the back of the Sports section, near horse racing and girls high school softball coverage, but it's better than nothing). However, the Page A1 story this morning is Floyd Landis. You gotta hand it to Floyd: he said he'd fight this doping charge, and he has. I predicted the public would lose interest after January 1, but I was very wrong. The story only gets better.

The reason? More and more evidence of a collusion to convict Landis. Today's piece notes that some of Landis's samples were not anonymous, but clearly marked with his name; that the same lab techs worked on the A and B samples, violating their own protocol; that the carbon isotope machine used to test for synthetic substances in Landis's samples is more than a decade old, runs on DOS-based software, has never had a software update, and that the lab does not even possess an owner's manual for the machine; and, finally, that tests results were doctored after Landis's lawyers had already seen the documents, and then the doctored results were re-inserted into the proceedings and marked as "original" documents.

Hmmmm. Maybe it's just me, but this smacks of some sort of conspiracy. I originally thought it was the French trying to bring Landis down because they could never nail Lance Armstrong. Now I think that it's more complex than all that. In light of recent comments by cycling's international governing body, I have a feeling that the winner of the Tour, no matter who it was, would have been busted for doping. Someone, somewhere, made this happen. This series of blunders and mishaps is too lengthy and too officially condoned for it to be mere happenstance. The UCI and ASO, as evidenced by their behavior about Paris-Nice, are clearly no longer friends. This wouldn't be the first time one governing body sabotaged another one to get the upper hand.

The thing that rankles here, and makes us all wonder if such a thing could really be happening, is that this bit of sabotage involves one of the most hallowed competitions in the history of modern sports. Could some pissant governing body really be trying to bring the Tour de France down to size? You bet. Remember, the Tour de France isn't a bike race, it's a corporation -- Amaury Sports. The UCI - also a corporation -- would be doing something akin to a hostile takeover. Only in this case, they don't want the company, they want the clout and dollars that come along with it. The fact that the UCI and ASO are at loggerheads over who can and who can't enter the ASO Paris-Nice stage race is testimony.

So beyond Floyd, what does this say for cycling and endurance sports in general? What kind of twisted mind willfully accuses a competitive athlete of a crime he did not commit, knowing that these accusations will ruin his reputation forever? What is there to be gained (well, millions and millions, actually)? And, after Floyd, who next? He's not the biggest endurance sports athlete out there. So is it going to be Michael Phelps next? Haile Gebrasellassie? Paula Radcliffe? Maybe even just a Bode Miller (although I think you'd have to be caught with a bong in one hand and a syringe in the other to test positive for doping in downhill skiing). These people have no union to protect them, and are completely at the mercy of bureaucrats who stand to profit enormously from their downfall.

As the news tricking out from the French lab clearly shows, there is a much bigger story going on than just Floyd Landis and his crazy testosterone ratio. Rather than being dead in the water, this scandal is just heating up.

Oh... and the Esther and Cynthia mentioned in today's title? Those are the two lab techs who found Landis guilty.

Keep pushing... always.

Comments

[stuck]

Dude, you've GOT to write the book! Find a way, make it happen. You know Floyd will take you back!

[Rob]

You really have to hand it Floyd. By now, most other athletes would have slunk away into oblivion, blindly believing in their sport's governing body.
At this point, I don't care what Floyd did -- or didn't -- do... I want to see the UCI and WADA cleaned out, and Floyd reinstated. There's simply too much smoke for there not to be a fire, somewhere.

[Philip]

I am all for Floyd and agree that something is fishy in France at the LNDD but you make some unfounded conclusions about tampering that I have not seen anywhere else. I generally agree with the conclusions you make but think it is a little bit of building a fire where there is only currently smoke. You are getting a little "fox news like".

[Theresa]

Philip, Marty's not making unfound conclusions. Check out Trust But Verify, and did you read the article in the LA Times? No, Marty's right on!

[Philip]

"that tests results were doctored after Landis's lawyers had already seen the documents, and then the doctored results were re-inserted into the proceedings and marked as "original" documents." This is the part that seems to stretch what I have read elsewhere. The other articles say may have, leading me to believe that they can not say absolutely. This whole affair may be as simple as the LNDD blundering because of incompetence instead of the conspiracy theory. I am also intrigued by the 911 conspiracy theory but like this theory will probably never know the whole truth.

[Rich in N.C.]

Could someone at the UCI have been hacker that accessed the computer at LNDD? Was that question ever answered? If it wasn't someone in the Landis camp, then who was it? Who else could gain any advantage with such a revelation?

[Rich in N.C.]

And another thing...here's something to chew on...If you look back at the conflict over the retesting of Armstrong's frozen urine from the '99 TDF, it clearly pits the UCI against WADA and LNDD. WADA accused the UCI in only being interested in who leaked that information because it clearly represented a black eye for the UCI and cycling. The UCI hired it's own idependent investigator. WADA would not cooperate with the UCI's investigation. Go to page 37 of the document for the report's finding in this matter.Read this document and see what YOU think.

http://www.uci.ch/imgArchive/Homepage/Rapport%20HR%20zonder.pdf

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:xqNesQPE4yYJ:www.uci.ch/imgArchive/Homepage/Rapport%2520HR%2520zonder.pdf+origins+uci+and+aso+conflict&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=29&gl=us

Seems the UCI would have some motivation in discrediting the LNDD. Of course all parties would have to publicly be strong in their anti-doping stance. The UCI has nothing to lose by Landis being cleared on lab errors. It can remain publicly vigilant and only strengthen it's position in regards to the current conflict over the pro tour with ASO and other organisers. There is a major power struggle going on and it's arc stretches a greater period of time than most are aware. I know it sounds like a stretch, but all this coupled with the evidence that may come to light in Floyd's case is very interesting.

[Guy WR]

Martin, you're absolutely right to dismiss a French conspiracy theory - remember the L'Equipe headlines applauding Landis' win.

But another conspiracy theory?

If his positive result for artificial testosterone was due to lab error, perhaps it's just LNDD trying to cover up their bad procedures and salvage their reputation?