Operation Puerto Status

[creekster]

- The doping scandal that caused Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich and other top riders to miss the Tour is now entering a decisive phase, writes Susanne Horsdal. The International Cycling Union is set to send the cases of the 58 riders involved in the Operacion Puerto to their respective national cycling federations. It is then up to them to take further action and hand down possible bans within the next month.

This is from the front page article on procycling.com

[DirtyHippieUTE]

Wow... 58 names... That is going to be harsh... How many do you think will be "marquee" names?

On a related note... Do we know anything more about which TdF rider failed a drug test? When will they test his B sample and release the info?

Too bad it isn't an American. Le equipe would have already published his name, found 10 witnesses and pre-tested the B sample.

[creekster]

Originally Posted by DirtyHippieUTE

Wow... 58 names... That is going to be harsh... How many do you think will be "marquee" names?

On a related note... Do we know anything more about which TdF rider failed a drug test? When will they test his B sample and release the info?

Too bad it isn't an American. Le equipe would have already published his name, found 10 witnesses and pre-tested the B sample.

I think the marquee names have already been identified. The question is if they will be suspended or banned. Apart from cyclists, there may a.lso be some athletes from other sports involved, although this article obviously wasn't referring to them.

As to the A sample positive from the TdF, I was looking for rumors on who it was when I picked up the two articles I posted here. IOW, I have no idea who it is. It could be an American, kidding aside, as it could also be anyone else. My guess is it is a domestique. As I understand it, each day in the TdF the top three GC and stage winners are tested after each stage. Addiothally, there are a certain number of random tests from the peloton taken each day. My guess is the top three guys in GC would not be caught. The top three for the stage probably wouldn't be either, but some poor schmuck in the autobus who perhaps feared he wouldn't make it over the col de joux plane and thus might lose his contract might have taken a chance at some chemical help and then been unfortunate enough to be randomly tested and caught. Of course, the substance that showed up has also not been id'd so it could be something like excessive caffeine or something else less sinister.

[Archaea]

All have been identified and Spain was the big winner, or loser, depending upon your point of view. I believe Tyler Hamilton was the lone american.

[DirtyHippieUTE]

Originally Posted by Archaea

All have been identified and Spain was the big winner, or loser, depending upon your point of view. I believe Tyler Hamilton was the lone american.

So much for Ty's idea of coming back to cycling in Sept.

[MikeWaters]

what would it be ironic is that if Tyler had confessed when he was caught the first time, they probably wouldn't have instituted double jeapordy. Because this happened before his ban, I believe. But since he has claimed innocence, they ought to ban him for life.

[creekster]

Look what Tyler says about this on his web site:

http://www.tylerhamilton.com/

[MikeWaters]

yeah, I already read that. I don't believe a word Tyler says. Watch very closely. He will be banned. And he will proclaim a conspiracy against him. Maybe this time it will be disappearing superhero transvestite twin syndrome.

[creekster]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

yeah, I already read that. I don't believe a word Tyler says. Watch very closely. He will be banned. And he will proclaim a conspiracy against him. Maybe this time it will be disappearing superhero transvestite twin syndrome.

Unfortunately, I don't believe him either. It's too baD, becasue he seemed like such a nice guy . . .