They say where there's smoke there's fire. But sometimes the smoke isn't smoke at all, but fumes. And fumes can come from a completely different source.
So we should probably consider the source of these latest doping allegations against Lance Armstrong.
L'Equipe, the French sporting newspaper, is at it again. In Tuesday's editions, L'Equipe alleges Armstrong took the performance-enhancing drug EPO when he staged his comeback in 1999 and won his first Tour de France.
(Babelfish translation service)
The 7-time Tour de France winner vehemently denied the charges Monday night at The Paceline website, the fan site for the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team:
8/22/2005 – “Yet again, a European newspaper has reported that I have tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Tomorrow’s L’Equipe, a French sports daily, is reporting that my 1999 samples were positive. Unfortunately, the witch hunt continues and tomorrow’s article is nothing short of tabloid journalism.
The paper even admits in its own article that the science in question here is faulty and that I have no way to defend myself. They state: “There will therefore be no counter-exam nor regulatory prosecutions, in a strict sense, since defendant’s rights cannot be respected.”
I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance enhancing drugs.”
The drug in question, erythropoietin or EPO, increases the body's production of red blood cells that carry oxygen to the muscles; its use is therefore considered cheating and is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
L'Equipe says EPO showed up in 6 of Armstrong's urine samples taken during the 1999 Tour de France.
But wait, there was no urine test for EPO in 1999. And all samples from 1999 were used up in analyses.
Oui, says L'Equipe, but these samples were “B” samples that had been set aside for latter use. The French national laboratory in Chatenay-Malabry ran tests on the anonymous urine samples in 2004 to fine tune their tests for EPO in urine.
But wait, you just said the urine samples were anonymous. That means they can't be linked to Armstrong.
Oui, says L'Equipe, but here are pictures of 2004 EPO test results from anonymous riders and here are pictures of Armstrong's medical certificates, signed by him and a doctor after the samples were taken. Now look here, both have the same identification number.
(Update: Dr. Christiane Ayotte, director of the Doping Control Laboratory at Montreal's Institut National de la Recherché Scientifique, raises two significant points about the doping accusations in an interview published at the VeloNews website:
1 – What use are 5-year-old urine samples for testing in this case? She suggests another samples were tested years ago, and the French lab reviewed the results against newer mathematical models recently;
2 – The ethical question of leaking results, especially with no chance of retesting.)
There have been plenty of comments about the issue.
The director of the Tour de France, Jean-Marie Leblanc, said, “We are very shocked, very troubled by the revelations we read this morning.” He cautioned against rushing to conclusions, however.
The chairman of the World Anti-Drug Agency, Dick Pound, was quoted in the Associated Press:
“It will be very interesting to see what UCI does and what the U.S. Cycling Federation does and what Lance Armstrong has to say. … If anything were found, we couldn't do anything because we didn't even exist in 1999. But it's important that the truth must always be made clear.”
Five-time Tour de France champion Miguel Indurain shook off the allegations, according to a Reuters report:
“They have been out to get him in France for a number of years. He's the one who knows about it, but it seems wrong that they are starting to dig over tests from years ago.”
The Tour de France 2005 blogger liked this one from French champion Laurent Fignon quoted in Eurosport:
“I don't give a sh**. 1999? This is ancient history. What does this prove and what does this solve?”
“What interests me now is keeping the next generation of cyclists clean and drug-free.”
My favorite blogger comment comes from Cyclelicious, who recaps the allegations in one sentence, then reports: “In other news, some residents of the South are still sore about losing the Civil War.”
In other words, the Armstrong allegations will just go on and on …
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