Podium Cafe, for Cycling fans

Lots of talk about omerta recently, but we're probably all guilty of ignoring stuff from time to time. Joe Papp dropped a none too subtle hint on his Twitter account that Jeannie Longo's husband was one of his clients a full year before ther story hit both the mainstream and the cycling press. Are we going to wait just as long for this story to come out in the open, or is it time for some baseless speculation over this comment he recently left on Gerard Vroomen's blog? there were several other very high profile clients of mine who they chose not to bring charges against, mainly b/c, while there was evidence of their guilt, there wasn’t the same kind of overwhelming evidence that characterized the other prosecutions. So one of those riders, an Australian, is still racing, winning and making $$$ on the bike today (in large part b/c he followed the personal security and anonymity best practices we documented for our clientele…). There was still reliable evidence that implicated him in doping violations, but not enough for USADA’s standards, which set the threshold so high that they don’t end-up wasting time or $$ on cases that are anything but a sure thing.

I've been holding off on this link to see just what would come out from the Sports Illustrated story by Selena Roberts and David Epstein. It is worth taking the time and reading how Don Catlin unwinds the BS found in the SI article so what facts are actually there can be properly framed in order to create a constructive dialog. I'd also suggest you to stick around this site for a while and read on some of the posts. It is quite possibly the most informative collection of information like this you can find online.

At one point the interviewer asks her what factored into her decision to take on Lance Armstrong. Her reply was that there never was a decision to take him on. But rather, "We decided not to lie for him.".

Thought that this might be worth watching, if only to understand the brouaha it will create tomorrow.

Landis details doping practices at Lance Armstrong's U.S Postal service team. Also, strippers make an appearance.

A French court in Foix has thrown down a 2 month suspended prison sentence and a €3000 fine. The penalties are a consequence of Riccò's arrest in Foix for doping during the 2008 Tour de France. Pour encourager les autres.

Apologies if this has already been posted (I haven't read the doping threads) but some of you might find this article interesting, the behind the scenes story of Vladimir Gusev's return to the pro tour. It was forwarded to me by a current pro who said he found it "interesting", which I interpret as meaning there's some truth in all this.

Mostly info already known elsewhere, except in the near-final graph. Without naming a source, Walsh asserts that Armstrong's ex-wife "is said to be cooperating" with investigators. Intriguing twist, if true.

Watch this Scribd account, boy some interesting documents r getting uploaded. http://www.scribd.com/Fight4Truth

(Link in German.) Freiburg University sports doctors Lothar Heinrich and Andreas Schmid are accused of running a systematic doping programme at Team Telekom/T-mobile, at least until 2006, by a report from an independent commission that has been in the works for 2 years. Andreas Klöden might be involved.