LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Martial Saugy, director of the international Anti-doping lab in Lausanne, has spoken out publicly for the first time to respond to last week’s accusations by Tyler Hamilton on US television that American Lance Armstrong was using EPO, a doping substance. The cycling doping accusations, in addition to new world football corruption charges, have international sports media focusing on the bodies in Switzerland that govern and regulate the two sports, while the UN and the Olympic movement look to strengthen preventive measures.
IOC and UN agency sign agreement to step up fight against drugs, cheating in sport
Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and Yury Fedotov, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), recently met in Lausanne to formalize the relationship between their two organizations, the IOC reported 27 May. The two bodies have been cooperating on a case-by-case basis since the mid-1990s.
They have, through a number of projects, been working to train young athletes to be on the alert for cheating, whether through betting and scams or drugs.
Saugy says Hamilton had details wrong
Saugy has told Zurich newspaper NZZ that there was no cover-up by his lab and the international cycling union, ICU, in 2001, as Hamilton has claimed. Saugy was the scientific director at the time. It was the first year that tests were being run for EPO and the cycling world was hotly debating their validity. A year later a Paris lab, one of the 33 labs worldwide authorized to test athletes for doping set the criteria for testing positive at 85 percent or higher of the typical EPO parameters, according to Cycling News, which is following the case closely.
Saugy told NZZ that in 2001 he dealt with four “suspicious” test results, which meant that they showed 70-80 percent of the parameters. He did not know whose tests they were, or even if they were from the same rider.
International sports, Tour de France cycling
Rotterdam, Netherlands (GenevaLunch) - Fabian Cancellara took exactly 10 minutes to gain the first yellow jersey of the 2010 Tour de France when he won the prologue by 10 seconds from German rider Tony Martin. For the Swiss rider, currently world time trial and Olympic road race champion, it was his third Tour prologue victory in the last six years. David Millar was third, with Lance Armstrong a credible fourth, 22 seconds behind the leader.
Alberto Cantador, who won the 2009 Tour, finished 27 seconds back in sixth place. Bradley Wiggins, of the newly formed Team Sky, rode in the rain and finished 56 seconds back in a disappointing 77th place.
Sunday’s race goes from Rotterdam to Brussels, a distance of 223.5 km. The 8th stage passes close by Geneva to finish in Morzine-Avoriaz, Sunday 11 July.
Armstrong will meet Cancellara in Switzerland
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Lance Armstrong will be back in the Tour de Suisse cycling race for the first time since he won it in 2001.
The race promises to be a colourful one, with Armstrong, who won the Tour de France seven times, gearing up for the big French race after crashing out of the Tour of California in May. His crash there came just hours after former teammate Floyd Landis, who recently admitted to doping, said that Armstrong knew about and participated in the doping – charges Armstrong and several others in the cycling world strongly deny. Landis has said that Armstrong’s doping took place in 2001, when he won the Tour de Suisse race.
But the Tour de Suisse focus will more likely be on Swiss racer Fabian Cancellara, Olympic champion who promises to give a fight in the big French race. The Tour de Suisse serves as a warmup to the Tour de France for many racers.
A disappointment for the organizers of the race is that for the first time in years it will not be carried live by Swiss television stations TSR and RSI. The race dates conflict with the football World Cup, which gets television precedence. The Tour de Suisse will have to be content with an hour of daily highlights from the race, which starts 12 June in Lugano and ends 20 June in Liestal, near the German border.
Links to other sites: Tour de Suisse (Fre) preview, circuit and dates in Switzerland, Telegraph, Le Nouvelliste
International sports, cycling
California (GenevaLunch)- Lance Armstrong, the seven time winner of the Tour de France, rejected charges by disgraced fellow American cyclist Floyd Landis that he had taken performance enhancing drugs, 20 May. Landis himself was stripped of the 2006 Tour victory after testing positive. For a number of years he denied doping but has now admitted to a series of violations. Armstrong said that Landis had no evidence and had lost all credibility a long time ago.
Links to other sites: Wall Street Journal, CNN
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) – Mark Cavendish, from the Isle of Man, won his sixth sprint finish in the 2009 Tour de France. It was the most prestigious but in some ways also the easiest as his Columbia teammates, especially Australian Mark Renshaw, gave him a big lead into the final 100 metres.
The final day was a traditional affair, at a leisurely pace for much of the stage before a break by seven riders in search of glory.
Mont Ventoux, France (GenevaLunch) – Alberto Cantador is now almost certain to win the 2009 Tour de France: he need only stay with the pack for the lagely ceremonial ride into Paris. The penultimate stage includes a steep 20-kilometre climb to the finish at the summit of Mont Ventoux, where British cyclist Tom Simpson died of exhaustion in the 1967 Tour.
Annecy, France (GenevaLunch) - Alberto Cantador, who was already in the Yellow Jersey, underlined his dominance by winning the individual time trial around Lake Annecy, not far from Geneva. His Astana teammate Lance Armstrong could only manage 16th position, losing one minute 30 seconds. Cantador now heads the Tour by four minutes 11 seconds from Andy Schleck followed by Armstrong with Bradley Wiggins another 11 seconds back in fourth.
Le Grand Bornand, France (GenevaLunch) – Younger men are getting ahead of 37-year-old Lance Armstrong, seven-time winner of the Tour de France, who slipped into fourth place overall Wednesday 22 July as riders took on the challenge of five mountain passes. The two Schleck brothers from Luxembourg, Andy and Frank, who ride for the Saxo bank team are now behind leader Alberto Contador in the overall rankings. Armstrong could not maintain the pace but came back strongly later as he stormed up the final mountain.
Bradley Wiggins, British three time Olympic champion, started the day in third place but slipped back to sixth, although this was not clear to television spectators who were forced to watch an interview with President Sarkozy on the Tour while the riders came in.
Armstrong’s fight to win can be viewed another way, reports Minnpost:
Bourg-St-Maurice, France (GenevaLunch) - The seven-time winner of the Tour de France admitted that he had little chance of overhauling teammate Alberto Cantador as the race enters the final five stages. Tuesday’s stage from Martigny in Switzerland to Bourg-St-Maurice via the Saint Bernard pass into Italy saw a number of attacks and a nasty accident to German rider Jens Voigt who suffered severe wounds when he slid on his face after going over the handlebars.
Verbier, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Alberto Cantador showed that he was not just the leader of his Astana team but also this year’s tour with a storming attack in the last eight kilometres of stage 15 of the Tour de France, leading up to the finish at Verbier.
Central France (GenevaLunch) – German rider Heinrich Haussler broke from the pack in only the third kilometre of Friday’s stage in the Tour de France, and he gradually left the other members of the breakaway group to take the stage by more than five minutes, with the pack another two minutes back.
Central France (GenevaLunch) – Isle of Man sprinter Mark Cavendish took his fourth stage win for the Columbia team and regained the sprinters’ Green Jersey. The overall lead was unchanged with Italian Rinaldo Nocentini reaining the Yellow Jersey, six seconds ahead of Astana leader Alberto Contador with teammate and rival Lance Armstrong two seconds further back. The Yellow Jersey is likely to change owner in the next few days.
Details, Le Tour de France
Central France (GenevaLunch) – Mark Cavendish won his third sprint of the 2009 Tour, ably assisted by his Columbia teammates. A group of four riders, including three French, led a break-away group but they were overhauled in the last few kilometres, setting the stage for the final sprint. When it comes to sprinting there is not much doubt about who is fastest, at least according to Cavendish:
Southern France (GenevaLunch) – The end of the first week leaves the tour very open, with two main dramas being played, one between the Astana team and the other teams and a more personal conflict between seven-time winner Lance Armstrongand his teammate, the theoretical leader of the Astana team Alberto Contador.
American cyclist Lance Armstrong returned to competition in the Tour of Gila in New Mexico Wednesday 29 April. Armstrong broke his collarbone last month in a race in Spain. The injury required intricate surgery but Armstrong is back on his feet ahead of schedule. CNN
Lance Armstrong, trying to make a cycling comeback this year, is in hospital in Spain following a pileup during a race where he fell hard and broke his collarbone. According to his Astana team leader the break is clean and he’s expected to make a fast recovery. NPR/AP
