Ah, there’s nothing quite like a dope scandal in full swing. I might act educated and self-righteous most of the time, but I’m an unabashed, scandalmongering firebrand at heart. Here’s some info on the T:E test, which is definitely under scrutiny; no one’s ever been convicted by it, though Landis’ sample is extremely irregular (audio). Anyway, in case you still think it matters, Landis says he didn’t do it. He also says he’d understand if you don’t believe him (probably a plain spoken honesty he got from his mom), and that he wants to be “considered innocent until proven guilty”. Fat chance, bro. I really do hope the B sample comes back negative, but in the court of public opnion, there is no second test.
Reactions to the case are everywhere, with the least useful (as per usual) coming from WADA chief Dick Pound. Apparently, he has omniscience enough to know “the number of positive tests [the UCI] should be getting”, but not enough to convince other people of his powers, or to determine (without the medium of testing) exactly who is doping. UCI president Pat McQuaid, so often Pound’s transatlantic whipping boy, has “vowed” a “crusade against doping”; he doesn’t mention specifics, but I envision riders booted essentially at random from the peloton, to dittohead shouts of “Deus le volt!“. Ah, what a fine age cycling is entering, now egged on by a secular (non-cycling, that is) press that still has not noted the victims of cycling’s overzealous anti-dopers.
Very heavy times… good writeup, btw.