At least one of the Lampre riders caught out of their hotel when the CONI doping controllers arrived for surprise tests last week wants to explain (and presumably close) his case as soon as possible. From the CN notes, Alessandro Ballan is off to Rome tomorrow to meet with prosecutor Ettore Torri and explain the matter. Given that Ballan is moving proactively, one would assume he doesn't expect to be found guilty of anything. So don't toss out your VDS rosters yet.
Meanwhile, the Italian riders' union wants to hear from CONI why they're bothering people from 11:30pm-3:30am for samples, when WADA guidelines say tests should be conducted before 10pm. If the time limits create an opportunity for cheating that wouldn't otherwise be there, I'd say the cries of the teams will fall on deaf ears. Otherwise, keeping endurance athletes up half the night is a pretty obnoxious thing to do, and as I've often said, buy-in from the riders is important enough for the controllers to want to act with utmost professionalism and a little consideration too. Stay tuned.