The Doping Trifecta — Sort Of

by Rant July 25, 2008

Interesting couple of days it’s been. Yesterday, what appears to be the first bona fide doping scandal to hit the US Olympic team broke. Jessica Hardy, a swimmer, tested positive for clenbuterol (or so it’s been said) at the US Olympic Trials in Omaha earlier this month. Reports are that her positive test was sandwiched […]

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Climbing His Way to the Top

by Rant July 23, 2008

Watching the TiVoed version of this year’s Tour de France, Stage 17, was a sight to behold. Nothing better than seeing a cyclist display some real guts and panache, the way Carlos Sastre did as he stomped up L’Alpe d’Huez to win the stage and rip the yellow jersey off the back of — wait […]

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Interesting Times

by Rant July 21, 2008

What an interesting few days it’s been. Riccardo Riccò became the latest casualty of the anti-doping wars. And, we find out that he and the other doping positives at this year’s Tour de France may be due to the use of continuous erythropoietin receptor activator or CERA, for short. Riccò has denied using the drug, […]

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Le Tour de EPO?

by Rant July 17, 2008

It’s hard to know whether the tentative positive test results that have been announced — implicating Manuel Beltrán, Moisès Dueñas Nevado and Ricky Ricardo … er, I mean Ricardo Riccò — are a measure of how successful the anti-doping warriors are in catching dopers. It could also be that this is just the tip of […]

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New Beginnings Or Same-Old Same-Old?

by Rant July 15, 2008

The change, it had to come We knew it all along — The Who, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” And on the eleventh day, they rested. Well, the riders participating in this year’s Tour de France did, anyway. Meanwhile, at a meeting in Pau, France, the 17 ProTour teams participating in a certain grand tour got […]

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Triki Business

by Rant July 14, 2008

Last Friday’s big news — that Manuel “Triki” Beltrán apparently tested positive for EPO — raises an interesting question: Will it ever be possible to have a Tour de France (or other major cycling/athletic event) that is completely free of doping? News of Beltrán’s results certainly was disappointing, but it hasn’t provoked the kind of […]

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