Lappartient's is a virtue? Pro Cycling 2018

[longeared]

I've read the report (well the cycling section anyway, a lot of it is on athletics). There's nothing actually new in there for anyone that's been following the case - the headlines are largely formed from the DCMS committee weighing up the evidence and attempting to draw conclusions. Ultimately it's exactly the same as their hearings went - some excellent and sensible points, some headline grabbing and some right nonsense about subjects such as customs policy or giving credence to Jonathan Tiernan-Locke. Shane Sutton of all people has it right when he says "what Brad was doing was unethical but not against the rules".

Brailsford should still resign, though he won't.

[Anorak Smith]

I've read the report (well the cycling section anyway, a lot of it is on athletics).

Which makes it all the more interesting that the press seem to be lambasting Team Sky, and Wiggins in particular, while Lord Coe gets the equivalent of a footnote in comparison.

[Kevin S]

A good paragraph from Fotheringham:

Future chroniclers of doping in cycling may well describe a messy period after “heavy” substances such as EPO went out of vogue: substances on that borderline, in those grey areas, readily available and commonly used medicines – tramadol and triamcinolone are just two – where what some riders took and when and how depended partly on the black or white of the rules, but more on where an ethical line was drawn by team management, individual doctors and the riders themselves. How ironic: Team Sky’s contribution to that narrative may not be as role models but as an example of practices that should be avoided, whether within the rules or not.

I dunno, though, whether Fotheringham and Sutton are being too kind in saying this is a 'within the rules but not ethical' thing. Did Wiggins need the drug for any medical purpose at all? What kind of condition was he suffering from? If he did have a condition, then I'd go along with the idea that they were within the rules.

But
(i) If there wasn't a clear medical need (the TUE regulations even talk about things being "chronic")
or
(ii) If it was thought that the substance would raise his performance above its 'normal' level (i.e. the performance level when he is not ill)

then it's just outright cheating, as a violation of the TUE regulations. And the DCMS have already accused Sky of these in their report.

[ursus arctos]

Rui Costa has also abandoned Paris-Nice with a knee injury.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Very impressive win by Benoot

Yes, it was great. His 'skelped arse' pink arms, no gloves, or warmers of any kind- really glad I recorded that and saw it without knowing the result.

Is it now the case that 22 or 23-years old is as near peak cycling age as 28-34 used to be..?

As for the other stuff...student radio interviewer asked me 'Do you think Wiggins should be stripped of his knighthood?'

I replied a) he shouldn't have accepted one in the 1st place but b) not if Philip Green hasn't yet, no.

His supplementary: 'Will you still be able to cheer on Sky's British riders, knowing this?'

Me: 'I'm 'anyone but Sky' in every cycling race anywhere, any time, the rest of the world is just catching up with me'

[Kevin S]

Machado (Katusha-Alpecin) and Boaro (Bahrain-Merida) out the front on Paris-Nice stage 2, just over 40km to go with 2:43 on the peloton. Looks like it should be a mass gallop to finish though.

[Kevin S]

Groenewegen! He is the hot sprinter at the moment.

[ursus arctos]

Indeed he is, though I'm not sure what happened to Quickstep's lead out there.

[Kevin S]

They seemed to go too fast too soon, didn't they?

[longeared]

QuickStep's lead out disappeared while my stream briefly switched to the skiing on Eurosport 2, if that's any use.

Familiar manner of victory for Groenewegen though, started his sprint early and no-one could get round him.

[Antepli Ejderha]

It's cheating. Wiggins did not need it but took it to gain an advantage. Who was the doctor that authorised it? Will they be struck off?

Sky need to be disbanded now for the sake of cycling.

[San Bernardhinault]

We should treat Sir Brad, Brailsford and Team Sky (and possibly the entirety of recent GB olympic track success), the same way that we treat Sharapova. Immoral but pushing right up against the limits of the rules.

[Antepli Ejderha]

It's the lead story on Channel Four News. Sky plus Coe plus Farah.

[longeared]

Essentially it's the same side of the coin as the Froome case - Sky exploring the boundaries of the rule book and eventually going beyond them. We knew that they did this in plenty of other areas long before Fancy Bears were a thing so shouldn't be surprised they do so medicinally.

Sir Brad has given an interview to the BBC. The edit that appeared on the six o'clock news was uncomfortably reminiscent of many of these things I've seen down the years, saying he's not a cheat, he wouldn't damage the sport he loves etc. Just needed the tears for a full house. He does have a point though when he said that he hadn't been given a chance to respond to some of the points made. The committee's remit was to look at governance issues rather than the specifics of this case which would have been covered under the UKAD investigation. Have a recollection of Damian Collins giving an interview to The Cycling Podcast early last year saying that they didn't intend to question Wiggins as they were investigating wider matters.

That said, I fully expect that in about 20 years time, when everyone involved has left the sport, Wiggins will give an interview where he fesses up to everything and says something like "that Tour win means nothing to me now"

[Kevin S]

The trouble of course someone accused of doping has with making statements or doing interviews is that guilty and innocent athletes day exactly the same things as each other.

[ursus arctos]

Wil the Medical Council’s investigation of Freeman issue public findings?

[Kevin S]

MPCC have decided today is a fine day to continue to pressurise Sky, Froome, the UCI and the race organisers.

29 out of the 45 first and second division’s teams are members of the Mouvement Pour un Cyclisme Crédible (MPCC). This is a big part of the international peloton. Many of them are first class riders, including world champion Peter Sagan, Giro d’Italia winner Tom Dumoulin, and 2nd and 3rd of the last Tour de France: Rigoberto Uran and Romain Bardet.

All the MPCC team members commit on a voluntary basis to “take responsibility for withdrawing immediately from a race a rider that would receive the first advise of a positive or abnormal control”.

On the 18th of December 2017, following the announcement of 4 times Tour de France winner Chris Froome’s abnormal control, the MPCC and its board asked Team Sky to “immediately suspend the rider until the end of the procedure, without waiting for the final decision. That would help both the rider and the team to implement a defence strategy with serenity, avoiding any irritation coming from other staffs and riders.”

Team Sky chose not to suspend its rider until the end of the procedure as Christopher Froome took part in the Ruta del Sol’s first stage on the 14th of February.

The MPCC takes full notice of this decision from Team Sky.

The MPCC also takes full notice of the Ruta del Sol’s organizers’ decision to welcome Chris Froome warmly.

The board formally asks UCI and WADA for a standardization of the procedures and that a rider facing a pending antidoping enquiry should have to stop racing systematically. The MPCC also recalls its requests for a ban of the corticosteroids and tramadol use in competition.

In order to maintain cycling’s image and credibility, it is of great importance that when facing the situation of a positive or abnormal antidoping control result, the procedure remains the same whether the rider is part of a MPCC team or not.

Waiting for a change in the official rules, the board presently asks the UCI to change its World Tour rules: organizers should be able to exclude from their races a rider that would be facing a pending enquiry following a positive or abnormal control.

[Kevin S]

A couple of sprinters have decided to save their legs - both Phil Bauhaus and Sam Bennett have abandoned Paris-Nice. Interestingly balanced finale today, going up and down a category 3 near the end.

[Kevin S]

With thanks to Toro for retweeting this:

https://twitter.com/lionelbirnie/status/970714629260414977

[Kevin S]

And Tirreno-Adriatico starts tomorrow. Good to see Cav's name on the start list, and in GC terms we have a large list of big names, including Froome and Dumoulin as well as Landa, Aru, Nibali, Bardet, and Yates, Uran, Majka and Cataldo.

[ursus arctos]

The Sky team for that race is ridiculous:

Chris Froome (GBr)
Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa)
Vasil Kiryienka (Blr)
Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol)
Gianni Moscon (Ita)
Salvatore Puccio (Ita)
Geraint Thomas (GBr)

[Kevin S]

I've not really sat down and compared the Paris-Nice route to the Tirreno-Adriatico one but it is unusual for Sky to focus on the latter. They've never won it, in fact they have just one podium finish in eight previous years (Froome, 2013, 2nd place). They have usually gone big on Paris-Nice, winning it five times with four different riders. I guess this is because Froome is heading to the Giro, so they want to have a good go in Italy for a change.

[Kevin S]

Quintana is eschewing both of them, by the way, as he wants more time in South America before he gets racing for the main season this year. That gives Landa a good chance to lay down a marker for Movistar of course.

[Incandenza]

A lot more big names in Terreno Adriatico. I should have picked that in the fantasy cycling instead of Paris-Nice.

[longeared]

Might bypass Tirreno given that Sky line up and the likelihood that Kirby will be on comms.

Remember an abridged version of that Brailsford interview appearing in Cycle Sport early in 2010 and throughout this process have repeatedly thought of the way he tied himself in knots trying to separate the Sky personnel from the definition of an "association with doping".