Friday update

L'Equipe expands slightly on previous reports that the doctor in charge of the bio-passport testing for pro-continental teams has left. I can't help but wonder if this might have anything to do with the apparent delay in announcing any sanctions to result from the bio-passport last season. You really have to wonder why the promised November announcements never materialized.

Pro and con on blood doping. Strange to think that there are actually people who go around supporting blood doping...other than Ferrari or Fuentes, that is.

You can see partial photos of the new Cervelo jersey here (scroll down), along with the full roster.

Why exactly is Michael Rogers training in a plain all-black kit? Not exactly a smart move. And what would Stapleton have to say about it? Men in black and all that...

Will Fuji-Servetto be invited to any of the big tours this season? The long shadows of Piepoli and Ricco linger, nevermind the presence of Gianetti, who is no doubt still shocked that anyone was doping on his team.

Fraud in the registration of Portuguese teams. I guess that Rock Racing is hardly the only team with problems meeting the average age rules.

The Australian championship races are coming up soon. Not exactly sure of the start list, but I would like to see Adam Hansen beat Michael Rogers in the TT.

I really can't figure out what to think about articles like this. You have to admit that it gets pretty confusing, wading through all the talk of "credibility" coming from ex-dopers.

Baden Cooke says he may sue Michael Ball.

Italy considers hiring a new central anti-doping prosecutor to handle all doping cases. This could help to improve the current fragmented system where many different prosecutors handle various doping cases, and there is a lack of communication and coordination between prosecutors. Meanwhile Italian prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello wonders why Italian soccer players have refused to cooperate with an investigation into the prevalence of Lou Gehrig's disease among their colleagues. Not hard to guess why. Omerta above all.

Has ASO decided to capitulate in the anti-doping fight? Consider their actions lately. Patrice Clerc fired. Sudden truce with the UCI. The UCI given back control of the Tour's anti-doping. AFLD and Bordry left out in the cold. L'Equipe's investigative reporting on doping nixed. Meanwhile, the UCI comes out publicly against retro-active testing, LA announces he will ride the Tour, and the bio-passport seems stalled. All of these things put together hardly seem unconnected. Actually, it looks like one big fat whitewash. Doping? What doping? Perhaps most troubling is that Verbruggen's name is still whispered behind the scenes. An emailer sent in this translation of the recent article from Les Dessous du Sport:

"There are new guidelines within the Amaury group and within L'Equipe in particular: from now on, the journalists are not supposed to talk too much about doping. They must be content with the bare minimum, which is only to transmit the official announcements from the federations or anti-doping agencies without digging further.

The time where L'Equipe could take on the untouchable Lance Armstrong, like they did on August 23, 2005 when they announced on the front page of the paper that he doped in the 2005 Tour, is gone. Marie-Odile Amaury, who owns L'Equipe and the Tour, has opted for a political union with the UCI, the same organization who considered Patrice Clerc (the former president of the ASO who was fired) the devil incarnate. It is impossible to have new disagreements with Lance Armstrong, one of the best friends of Hein Verbruggen, who happens to still manage the UCI behind the scenes. When Lance Armstrong announced his return to the next Tour de France, the journalists from L'Equipe didn't even risk any talk of the "hidden side" of the cancer miracle. Nothing was even mentioned about the famous "scoop" of 2005 which was devastating for Armstrong.

This new policy is creating a lot of disagreements within the company of L'Equipe where the people who are opposing this new vision are becoming more and more isolated within the company. Let's be reminded that only one journalist out of 290 at L'Equipe will be occupied with doping affairs.

Michel Moulin, just before launching his new sports magazine "Le 10 Sport" also announced he didn't want to talk about doping because he doesn't want to break the dreams of the public. Obviously, L'Equipe looked down on this same editorial path which they have now taken as their own. Good news for the cheaters and a catastrophe for the public."

Meanwhile, sources in the Belgian media suggest that L'Equipe's new policy "is the result of an agreement with Lance Armstrong."