Yes, there are other tidbits out there (Kirsipuu retiring this weekend; Landis donating money for school shooting victims; Boonen riding a specialized), I have to grudgingly admit that the most interesting topic today is doping. Two developments:
- WADA and Interpol are teaming up to streamline information sharing and gathering, to "bring together experts from the policing and sporting worlds to develop best practice and inter-agency co-operation at all levels." Hot air? Maybe...
- Pat McQuaid is talking about banning the Operacion Puerco suspects.
This second item strikes me as having the potential to set off a wave of litigation testing the presumptions of guilt or innocence. McQuaid seems to be placing the UCI in the position of judge and jury, even though there are already arbitrators or other quasi-judicial boards in place. If instead he just wants a decision from the Court of Arbitration in Sport, then I suppose his plan at least comes with some due process.
The CN piece also mentions the internal policy not to let a rider participate while under investigation, as if McQuaid sees this as a plan B to bar Jan Ullrich and others. While teams have agreed to it, and riders haven't fought it (since they're still getting paid, and presumably their contracts don't generally deprive the team of deciding how to field a squad), this policy really does turn the innocence presumption on its head and dispenses with due process. Maybe I'm being too American here, but does EU law treat due process that lightly? Would be terribly sad if it did. If I were McQuaid, I wouldn't lean too heavily on this policy -- from the legal perspective, it wouldn't take much pressure before it broke.