Monday update

Symmetrics steal a great result from Rock Racing, by an amazing one second. I am hoping to see more of Symmetrics showing their stuff at Tour de Georgia.

Video from Sporza of E3-Prijs here. CSC is on fire these days. What is the deal with the blank Cycle Collstrop jersey? Is that supposed to be like an un-jersey? No visible sponsor at all?

At Criterium International's first stage, Slipstream's leader Dave Z ended up missing the split and lost big time. Oops. When asked what had gone wrong, Vaughters was blunt, saying that "Dave Zabriskie was on the wrong side of it. Why? Because he's got a big engine, but sometimes the driver falls asleep at the wheel." Ouch. Jens Voigt was as reliably tough as always, taking the overall for the millionth time. In a sport as unpredictable as cycling, where most riders face down the demons of inconsistency daily, Voigt's constant reliability year after year is quite remarkable. Also notable was the rise of High Road's speedy youngsters, and the successful return to racing for Adam Hansen after his bad crash.

Doping in academia is common, with Provigil and Adderall being the drugs of choice amongst professors and students at university. Apparently these drugs make it possible to concentrate without getting distracted for long periods of time, and to never get sleepy when pulling an all-nighter.

A video interview with Valentino Fois. In Italian. Thank you to commenter for pointing this out. I found it hard to watch, too sad.

As the UK's medal count grows quickly on the track, the inevitable doping questions arise, and the familiar contentious debate begins. Last year the Italian track coach actually went right up to Brailsford, and asked what drug his riders were taking. It seems that not everyone believes that the "100% Me" anti-doping efforts of British Cycling are for real. However, others point out that the degrees of funding, organization, and coaching support given to British track cyclists are among the very best in the world. Part of the problem with the Hayles scenario is that no one will ever know for sure what happened. While he has now been tested for EPO, the bottom line is that the effects of EPO last long after the drug is no longer detectable in the body. And Dynepo is not even officially detectable at all. Then there is the fact that various natural causes can result in high hematocrits in some cases, so we will never know for sure, unless perhaps one of his tests comes back positive, in which case, all hell will break loose. Using a long term blood profile should be able to help sort this out, but so far there is no word on what Hayles' profile may show.

The situation of Dutch rider Pim Ligthart is also instructive, as in his case the problem was not a high hematocrit at all, but rather some other problem with his blood values. With the focus these days on factors such as the OFF score, reticulocytes, and haemoglobin in the blood profile over time, it seems that perhaps Lithgart might have had an OFF score above the UCI limit of 133 or his haemoglobin levels might have been wacky. The OFF score is an equation that takes into account both haemoglobin and reticulocytes (young red blood cells), which can indicate if blood doping has taken place.

Jef D'Hont is on a crusade and you better not get in his way. Confess or else, he says about Ullrich and Pevenage. And he notes that Gilbert, for one, thinks his previous book has done great things to help clean up the peloton. Say what you will about D'Hont's possible motivations, be they rather less than altruistic or perhaps vengeful, but the fact remains that all his info has done a great deal to begin to crack the omerta.

I have never been much of a fan of Lefevere or Quick Step, but this article really takes the cake. When the management of a team shows such total defense of omerta, you can only assume that they must have a huge amount to hide. I also think this article is good wake-up call for all of us (especially me) who may tend to complain loudly when dopers refuse to confess. When confessing causes a total and cruel social ex-communication, where no one amongst your long-term friends will ever speak to you again, it becomes easier to understand why some riders cannot confess. Throughout history, exile or shunning has been amongst the most feared and dreaded punishments imposed by tribes or societies against those who broke their rules. To be exiled and suffer a sort of social death, where you are left totally alone, and those you counted among your dearest friends and closest confidantes will never acknowledge your existence again....that must be among the more painful and emotionally wrenching events anyone can suffer. The cruelty that occurs within the cycling world often simply boggles the mind. As Valentino Fois lamented in an interview, "It's a false, hypocritical world."

The blog of Bissell rider João Miguel da Silva Correia makes for an interesting read.

Tom Danielson says, "I have been making huge progress with my back recovery." Slipstream team doctor Shannon Sovndal adds that Danielson is "riding pain free and with full power," while Allem Lim confirms that "The team will be totally behind Tom Danielson at this year's TDG."

Is Twitter the new trend for reporting race results?

Dave Brailsford almost resigned when he heard the news about his rider Hayles failing the health check: "I thought, I’m not doing this any more, we’re pushing them too hard, we’re too good, everyone’s going to think it’s been done under false pretences. I just don’t want to be in a situation where out of the blue everything just disappears and it’s out of my control. It’s not me – I haven’t lied. I haven’t done anything wrong."

Pat McQuaid says "I've no intention of resigning." Strange that, considering that Verbruggen is obviously the one who seems to be in charge.

The CAS released their ruling on the Michele Scarponi case.

The NYT explains the science of the runner's high. A state of mind which I would say is more correctly labeled as the endurance athlete's high, as it is hardly limited to runners. Truly a feeling that I would bet is near and dear to most all of us, and is at least the partial reason why many of us are out there flogging ourselves through snow and rain and heat, year in and year out. Endorphins: simply the best doping there is.