Here it comes again. Despite the ASO's efforts to make this the cleanest tour in recent memory, there have already been three positive tests since the tour's start.
First was Spaniard Duanas Nevados (Barloworld), to which most cycling fans responded, "who?" so this was generally dismissed as an aberation. Then came former Lance Armstrong teammate Manual "Tricky" Beltran (international law requires the prefix "former Lance Armstrong teammate" to be used in the event anyone ever linked to Lance Armstrong tests positive). This raised eyebrows because he joins Floyd Landis, Tyler Hamilton and Roberto Heras as former Armstrong teammates suspended for doping. (Yet little is made of George Hincapie's role on Team Columbia or Garmin-Chipotle leader Christian Vande Velde who are both on teams that have taken a strong stand against doping.)
Finally, this week the Saunier Duval-Scott team (yes, Scott is the maker the favored bike in my stable) withdrew from the tour due to a positive test on up-and-comer Riccardo Ricco. Ricco has since been fired from the squad and will probably join the long line of cyclists serving two-year suspensions for doping. (SDV also fired Leonardo Piepoli for "violation of the team's ethical code".)
The casual sports fan who only encounters cycling for three weeks in July is usually turned off by the constant positive drugs tests in the sport. How can one sport constantly have guys turning up with positive drug tests.
What's sad is that all these positive tests gives the sport a bad image. The thing is, if you don't go fishing, you probably won't catch any fish. Cycling constantly tests their athletes for drugs. Lance Armstrong was the most tested athlete in the world. According to
Bicycle.net: "The AFLD [French National Anti-Doping Agency] carried out approximately 60 random and targeted tests on French and foreign riders in the lead-up to the Tour from the 20 teams taking part in the race. " That's about 1/3 of the riders getting tested before the race even starts. Every day during the tour the Yellow Jersey and that day's stage winner gets tested. And random testing continues. That's all for one race. One important race, but other races have similar (albeit, fewer) doping controls.
Before the Giro d'Italia this year (that is, the "Tour of Italy" - the world's second-most important bike race) all riders had to give a "biological passport". They gave blood to be analyzed and then anything that changes in their blood chemistry that might suggest doping is investigated. Team Columbia and Garmin-Chipotle have a similar procedured that they use to test their riders once every 14 days.
This wouldn't be accepted in most American team sports thanks to unions (like the MLBPA) and owners who want to keep the talk of drugs muffled. The most advanced is the NFL that tests 10 players on every team each week of the season and has random drug tests conducted between late April and the start of the season.
Major League Baseball has one random test for each player that will take place between April and the end of the season in September. So if you test clean in April you can know that you won't be tested again for another 12 months...this gives cheaters ample opportunity.
"The allegations in Mr. Canseco's book are absolutely [true]."
And the punishment is relatively week. Especially compared to the two-year suspension that the UCI (International Cycling Union) hands down. On a first offence in the MLB cheaters are suspended for 50 games. Less than a third of the season. In the NFL it's four games - out of 16.
The real future of doping controls for any sport should come from the team. The two American teams in this year's Tour de France lead the way in self-policing. I could go into the details on their policies, but you can find more on Garmin Chipotle here and Columbia here. (Anyone else find it ironic that a team leading the fight against doping in cycling is called "Columbia"?)
And now the gratuitous photo of Garmin-Chipotle founder Jonathan Vaughters and his "impossible pointy" sideburns:
So yes, cycling is awash in a doping crises. But at least they know it's there...
Where are you getting your information on baseball's drug testing and how often baseball players are tested? I believe it's quite outdated.
ReplyDeleteOh, looks like it wasn't out of date, just incomplete.
ReplyDeleteUnder the old policy (it was amended again for next year), players were tested once when they got to spring training, and then everyone was randomly tested once during the regular season. However, there could be up to as many as 600 additional random tests, as many as 60 of which could be in the offseason, and no limits on how often an individual player could be tested. The new policy doubles the number of overall additional random tests, as well as the number of offseason tests, while strengthening the independant testing administrator.
Certainly not as strong as cycling, but no one's got any real window in which they know they won't be tested. Cycling is just a totally different beast organizational than an American pro sports league. And while I certainly think the unions go too far in protecting players in this area, I think cycling has gone to the extreme opposite and gone all Gestapo. I'm all for testing, but having to let the UCI know where you're going if you're going to be away from home for more than 24 hours..., that's a bit invasive.
Lance didn't dope. And, I would be surprised if any of his teammates doped while they were on Discovery. Because, correct me if I'm wrong, but Landis, Hamilton, and Beltran were all caught doping after their Discovery stints, right?
ReplyDeleteRight, they were all caught after they moved on from Postal/Discovery. Personally, I think that if Lance had doped he would have been caught. Too many people were out to get him.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the other teams just weren't as good at cover-ups as US Postal/Discovery...
ReplyDeleteJust kidding, I tend to agree with Jeff, and even if Lance did do something at some point or another - I question how many completely clean athletes there have been in any sport over the last decade - there's never going to be anything more than hearsay or conjecture to go on, so it's pointless to dwell on it.
Although for public image sake, Lance is quite fortunate he didn't come along 5 years or so later - These days, a guy comes back from cancer and starts dominating the Tour, hearsay and conjecture would be enough to convict him in the court of public opinion.