Landis Will Find Out Tomorrow…and A Few Other Things.
A Belgian source is reporting that the arbitration panel hearing Floyd’s case will render its verdict tomorrow. The organizers of the Tour de France always pushed for this to be done before the start of the 2008 Tour, and it looks like they will get their wish. It is strange to me that cycling always drops some big piece of news the day before the Tour instead of just letting the Tour itself be the big news. Who knows, we may still have more riders be excluded from the big race. I will believe the final rosters only after each one of the riders leaves the starting gate in London on Saturday.
In other news….Bjarne Riis says he will not take an active role in managing Team CSC in this year’s Tour because of the recent doping allegations against him. Riis is a competitor. If he is in France, he will be actively managing the team. This is all smoke and mirrors. Just because you aren’t driving the team car, doesn’t mean that you aren’t taking an active role.
Finally, it looks like Petacchi will be banned for at least 12 months following his non-negative test for salbutamol during the Giro d’Italia. This sends a message to all riders with permits to take certain banned substances. Petacchi had a permit to take salbutamol because of asthma, but apparently the authorities have a way of knowing that he used more than he was supposed to. Special Use permits will likely be a bigger topic later, since authorities are talking of cracking down on them. A large number of pro-riders have a permit for at least one banned substance.
Leave a Reply