I’m a tad confused as to why this – the Schumacher positive – is a strike against the clean teams. Since when did Gerolsteiner have an internal testing program? My impression was that Holczer talked clean – who doesnt’? – but there were no checks on the riders specifically. For my part, I have never considered them an especially clean team, by any means, so the Schumacher positive is for me just another positive, and one that I had expected for some time now, or maybe more accurately, believed was deserved for some time now.

As for Schlecky, if his story ends with Puerto, it’s a problem for him and for his credibility. But for the credibility of CSC’s testing? Since it didn’t yet exist in 2006, probably not, especially when the UCI passed Basso with flying colors. What it does say is just “talking clean” isn’t enough – that some riders will follow that lead, but others may still be tempted to cheat, especially in the days before Puerto scared at least a few more would-be dopers clean. Was Schleck among them? Did he pay Fuentes, then abandon the idea as he claimed? Impossible to know for sure, until or unless more evidence becomes public.

If Schlecky or any other CSC rider tests positive for CERA, that’s a problem – because it means that the blood monitoring isn’t sensitive enough to catch the variations that CERA doping caused. That would be a surprise – and I’m curious to hear what Dams would say in this event. I’d also like to know more about what the French found anamolous among the CSC riders, and how, if at all, Dams would explain it. Bordry is already asking how Riccò ever made it through the UCI’s blood passport system, since the French testing quickly found an anamoly. Does he – and others – feel the same about the CSC testing program? I guess we’ll see soon enough.

I don’t think internal testing is the end-all be-all by any means. I don’t expect ACE or Dams to catch everything – I expect them to make it harder to use doping and to offer a clear signal from the team that the past is past, and doping is now, at long last, wrong. So, I suppose it won’t be a huge shock for me should a rider from one of the “testing regime” teams test positive. I already have a few doubts about some of their performances as it is.

In the end, it’s up the individual to make the right choice. The teams and the sport as a whole can make the choice easier – by having strong controls and making it clear that doping is unacceptable – or make it harder by looking the other way and celebrating the accomplishments of those who have crossed the line.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Cancellara enmeshed in this situation.

Some of his performances at this year’s TdF raised eyebrows in the same manner as Schumi.

The problem is that while Riis talks clean cycling and so on, how do you know it is actually the truth?

We all know that you are only a doper if you caught. And if you expect sympathy from your fellow dopers in the peloton, be prepared to be thrown under the bus, effective immediately!

The rider gets stuffed, the team the rider was on often folds, the sponsors loose millions that have been invested in marketing, but what happens to the doctor who assisted in this?
Nadda.

A short definition of malpractice is " The breach by a member of a profession of either a standard of care or a standard of conduct."

I’d bet if you start putting a few of these doctors in jail, or placing huge fines on their assistance with the illegal use of prescribed medication and there would sure be a lot fewer coming up with new ideas on how to use drugs in order to enhance performance.

Why does Sarah Palin remind me of Peggy Hill?

As you mention at the end of your analysis, why can’t Teams sue convicted Dopers for damages to their Brand.

And as I posted somewhere else, why can’t ANY rider sue a doper who wins? As the doper has taken wages and winnings away from clean riders.

For example the official Tour de France site still has Ricco as the winner of Stage 6 (and stage 9) in the 2008 Tour.

Anyone remember who came second? Valverde in stage 6 ….. and it seems clear that Valverde has suffered some form of damage at having one less stage win on his resume.

Not sure you’re right on that one. Let’s look at the current situation. What teams are doing internal controls?

Cervélo do them for their women’s team, and it’s understood they’ll be useing the same test for their men’s team. It’s a small porgamme run out of the UCI lab in Switzerland.

Rock Racing claimed to have a programme, developed by the guy who left ACE to defend Landis.

Garmin and Columbia both use ACE.

CSC and Astana both use Damsgaard.

And LA is also signing up to Catlin.

Let’s look at ACE a moment. Who’s signed up to oversee ACE? Why Don Catlin. Already we are seeing a degree of consolidation within the market. What we need to see are more teams signing up to these programmes. As they do, that makes the programmes more financially secure. Can they develop new tests? Some can. And some can pass on knowledge acquired to state-funded labs better suited to developing new tests.

At the top of the Team Clean pyramid, this isn’t a loose federation. It’s a concentration of the market.

This isn’t such a hot idea, and we only have to look at history to see this.

Let’s look at Fuentes. Where did he come from? Straight form private practice and into doping? Or did someone carry him through the transition from gyn to EPO? Didn’t the Federación Española de Atletismo effectively fund his research?

Or how about the obvious – Conconi. Paid by CONI and the IOC to develop a test fro EPO and all the while working to make sure those who used it wouldn’t be detected. While training up Ferrari and other doping disciples.

Who funded the likes of Ferrara and Frieburg?

This thing works nice the other way round. It’s why accountancy firms hire former tax officials. It doens’t work so well in reverse. Either it’s been corrupted – as history shows us it has been – or the person becomes worthless, they lose their contacts, all they were good for was one procedure. What you’d really need is to hire Fuentes, and Cecchini, and Ferrari and every other doping doctor out there in order to take them off the market. Only you couldn’t trust the bastards not to double cross you and sell their services elsewhere anyway.

“It’s really hard when you keep hearing all this stuff, but I guarantee you the sport has never been cleaner. There’s probably only five blokes out of 200 doing it, but they’re the reason the sport’s in turmoil and the reason there’s a lot of really good riders who can’t get a contract. It’s not right . . . and they’ll pay. But it makes it really hard for the rest of us doing the right thing because companies don’t want to tip in the money to be associated with it. Five years ago, there was a lot of it going on but the impact of was nowhere near what it is now. There are people losing their jobs and the cyclists won’t put up with it any more. There’s a lot of anger among them because it’s costing everyone a lot of money and their careers.”

Only five … that’d be Duenas, Beltran, Fofonov, Ricco, Schumacher, Peipoli and Sella. Oh hang on a mo, that’s seven.

Since this year, he’s been working with renowned Italian trainer Dr. Aldo Sassi – coach of Cadel Evans at the Mapei Training Center near Milan – and will reportedly post his blood levels and training data online in an effort to rebuild his shattered credibility.

VN