Still Missing Transparency
It is almost 11 weeks since I sat in a room with a bunch of other cycling media and listened to Lance talk about his comeback and the way he wanted it to be transparent, so that he could silence his long-time critics. That day, he brought Don Catlin, the former head of the UCLA drug testing lab, to discuss a transparent drug testing program. The Lance comeback was to be groundbreaking in that Armstrong’s test results were to be listed on a website for everyone to see. It is 11 weeks since that time, and as far as most people can tell, there have been no drug tests conducted by Catlin therefore no results are listed on any website.
Armstrong continues to tell everyone that his testing program is still in development, and it will be ready by his first race in January. Am I missing something though? It seems that everyone takes that answer from the Armstrong camp without any follow-up. Haven’t we been told by the likes of Don Catlin that a baseline is needed to really know whether or not someone is doping? If this is true, how is starting a testing program once the season starts going to help anyone? To me, this seems just like an NFL player that never tests positive for steroids because he is never tested in the off season when he spends all his time in the weight room bulking up.
I am not implying that Lance is doping this year. I am only wishing that his promise to be transparent during his comeback would have come with a little bit of follow-through.
Oh…and before I get a ton of angry e-mails telling me that Lance has had 8 out of competition tests by the UCI….I already know that. I am just not sure that the UCI program really works very well. It doesn’t seem to catch anyone doing anything. And, I don’t see any of the UCI test results on any websites as was promised.
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