Jeez, why can’t people get caught doping with anything normal anymore? I don’t particularly trust Joe Papp, but as far as assessing the effects of performance-enhancing substances go, I’m more than willing to defer to his expertise.

Despite my own initial response, Contador’s statement that his Clenbuterol positive was the result of contaminated food certainly seems to have legs. The drug’s primary performance enhancing effect is largely fat management, something the still-three-time Tour winner has never struggled with.

I wrote (before my little break) about two investment approaches taken by various teams: a willingness to develop riders, and settle for good-not-great results in the process, versus full-on pressure to glean the best possible results immediately. I argued—using the example of Bernhard Kohl and the 2008 TdF—that while the first method may seem inferior, its long-term returns outweigh the short-term gains of the second approach.

Did I miss something while I was away getting my legs torn off over Labor Day weekend? Last time I checked, the Vuelta, especially for sprinters and one-day Worlds contenders, was a drop-in, drop-out sort of event. Certainly, the last three years of points champions haven’t fared nearly as well at other high-profile events.

But not only are the big names sticking around this year, they’re also to determined to finish the race, even deigning to focus on performance, rather than writing the Grand Tour off as “training”.

Well, so much for that analysis—I was pretty sure Farrar’s legs were getting soggy after a full plate of classics, three Grand Tours, and some late season one-days. But he got a pretty good amount of daylight in winning yesterday’s Vuelta stage—hardly the victory of a man beaten back by a season’s worth of effort.

Apparently an attempt at the World Title attempt is still in the cards, but unlike some other riders I could name, Farrar’s taking a real wait-and-see approach in sizing up his chances. I suppose it’s encouraging—from an American prospective, anyway—that he taking such a well-reasoned approach, but on the other hand, when a cyclist who can win long one-days is on form, parcours tends to lose relevance, as Cancellara’s Flanders/Roubaix double and Gilbert’s dual conquests at Paris-Tours and Tour of Lombardy last season, show.