Anyway, here are the latest interviews, articles and opinions which bear on the current scandal.
Grandstand Transcript, ABC Radio Saturday, August 15
This is a transcript of an interview between ABC Sport's presenter Karen Tighe and the President of Cycling Australia, Ray Godkin.
Karen Tighe: ...... this years Tour de France, a plan which includes increasing the number of medical checks on riders, as well as a proposal to shorten some races, and to limit the number of days a rider can compete each year. What has not been resolved however, and it seems quite amazingly, is what will happen to those riders who admitted to using the banned substance EPO during the Tour de France. The riders from the top-ranked Festina team have remained free to race despite their teams disqualification from last months tour. The UCI has said that when it comes to sanctions it shoud be the responsibility of the individual country federations of the those riders concerned. So, how has Australian Cycling reacted to the news? Joining "Grandstand" now is the president of Australian Cycling, Mr Ray Godkin. Ray, good morning.
Ray Godkin: Good morning Karen.
Karen Tighe: What message is the UCI sending out when riders who have openly admitted to using the biggest problem drug in the sport - EPO - are still out there racing it seems at the whim of their national federations?
Ray Godkin: It's a different situation I can assure you and just two nights ago I was sent something from the UCI regarding Neil Stephens and what it is, just as you say, they say that the national federations are responsible for their own licenced riders. So, with Neil, they said to us we've got to investigate this matter with Neil regarding the Festina team in the Tour de France fiasco. Now, I immediately sent back to them the same time. At this point of time the only thing we have is what we have heard on the radio, what we have seen on television and what we have read in the newspapers. We've seen absolutely nothing....
Karen Tighe: You've seen nothing! I'll get to Neil Stephens in a moment Ray. But, why isn't the UCI handing out sanctions and what is the reaction of Australian Cycling to this situation?
Ray Godkin: Well, you've got two questions there. But, the first one is the sanctions. At this stage ...we'll just talk about Neil Stephens as an example because I can talk about him with some authority. He has been tested three times this year with blood tests.
Karen Tighe: He has been tested but, Ray I am talking about riders who have openly admitted that, "Yes. I am using a banned substance that you can't test me for, I'm telling you I've taken it and I deserve to be punished." As Swiss rider Alex Zulle has said.
Ray Godkin: The rules are quite clear, Karen, if a rider, and this is whether it is an Australian or someone else, the rules are quite clear. If someone comes out and admits to, and says that they have been, the rules are clear that they can be sanctioned the same as if they have had a positive test.
Karen Tighe: Okay. But, why isn't the UCI doing this? Why are they passing the buck to national federations where it seems there is no uniformity. We could have a situation where one rider gets two years another gets six months. Why isn't the UCI doing it?
Ray Godkin: What we are talking about with EPO it's not a two year thing. But irrespective of what it is the UCI, it doesn't matter what it is, the UCI doesn't do it. So, it's no different this time to any other time.
Karen Tighe: But, Ray, I suppose what I'm asking is for you as president of Australian Cycling will you be pushing for the UCI to take on this responsibility of handing out sanctions?
Ray Godkin: Well, as I started to tell you a couple of minutes ago. What has happened when we got this about to investigate Neil Stephens, I've now sent it back over there because the fact is we don't know. And I've said this, we have absolutely no documentation whatever to support what's happened or hasn't happened to Neil Stephens. And if you want us to do something about it, then send to us the police reports or whatever reports, send us if you want us to do it. We are saying we don't know what we are going to do anyway frankly because Neil Stephens hasn't been tested positive. And as late as 3 am yesterday morning when I spoke to Neil Stephens he is still denying to me any knowledge and in fact he is now saying that he doubts very much that he was administered this stuff.
Karen Tighe: Alright.
Ray Godkin: I don't know if he did or whether he wasn't. But, I accept from him that he was done unknowingly to him. So, at this stage we have named him in our team for Kuala Lumpur. Now, to take him out of the team we have to have some real evidence.
Karen Tighe: On that point, we have only got a couple of minutes unfortunately, you were quoted this week as saying you didn't consider at all the Festina scandal when selecting Neil Stephens. Why has there not been an investigation into Neil Stephens before you named him in the Commonwealth Games team?
Ray Godkin: Well, when we said that I guess we didn't go into every detail. There has. What we endeavoured to do was to get supportive information to support the fact that Neil Stephens was being administered some illegal drug. We were unable to get that. We are still unable, we have nothing. We still haven't got anything. The Australian selectors select him, and before we can say, "No we won't take him." we have to have some reason, or some stable evidence.
Karen Tighe: So, what has Australian Cycling done, Ray, have you sent a representative to France? Have you got in touch with the police and the organising committee?
Ray Godkin: I am going to France myself on the 24th. Whilst we are there we will deal with this. But, at this stage I can tell you that I have sent a document - a formal letter - over there two days ago to the UCI to seek this information. We have done that.
Karen Tighe: Finally Ray, we are just running out of time, will Australian Cycling petition the UCI to take a stronger stance in this area, that they should be responsible for handing out sanctions?
Ray Godkin: Karen, I'm on the UCI board. I've pushed this for four years, in fact, I've formed an internal committee within the UCI to fight the UCI over these issues myself. We are still doing it. We won't change. As far as I am concerned the sanctions aren't strong enough, that will never change. So, yeah, we are certainly doing it. And, we are still pushing it and I will continue to do it.
Karen Tighe: Ray Godkin, we thank you for your time this morning and I think there is much more on this topic to be talked about.
Ray Godkin: There certainly is, thanks Karen.
Karen Tighe: President of Australian Cycling Ray Godkin. The International Olympic Committee is meeting in Switzerland this week to discus the fight against drugs. One hopes the sport of cycling is high on the agenda. You are with "GRANDSTAND" around the country.
Sport's World, Sunday August 16
This interview was conducted by Channel 7's top sport's presenter Bruce McAvaney, Ray Godkin and former sprinter Gary Neiwand.
Bruce McAveney: Last week I did an editorial concerning Australian Cycling, the last line, the bottom line being that all wasn't rosy in the sport, there were a number of problems. It's bubbled along pretty strongly this week, that's for sure. Ray Godkin joins us this week. Ray, thank you for coming in. Ray is the president of Cycling Australia and also the president of the Commonwealth Games Association.
Ray Godkin: My pleasure.
Bruce McAveney: And also joining us Ray is Gary Neiwand winner of the last three Commonwealth Games sprint titles, from '86 right through to '94, won't be in Kuala Lumpur but has a terrific history in the sport, thank you for coming on. Do you think everything is rosy in the sport?
Gary Neiwand: Well, it doesn't seem it at the moment. But, I'm a long way from the action - the action being in Germany.
Bruce McAveney: Does it surprise you, Gary? That there's a lot of rumblings, and Charlie's in the centre of it all, with a lot of athletes apparently not happy.
Gary Neiwand: Well, you've always had one or two unhappy athletes every year. It's just blown up at the moment. Look if you go into any other sport you are always going to find one or two athletes that aren't happy. Or, if you go into any big organisation in any city in the world you're always going to find one or two people that aren't happy with the way things are going.
Bruce McAveney: But, Ray, there is a big difference between being unhappy and being very, very disruptive when you are preparing for two major events coming up - the world championships within a week, basically and the Commonwealth Games.
Ray Godkin: It's a great pity actually, Bruce, that this has happened. And it has been very disruptive, there is no question about that, to the extent that three of the riders were allowed to leave the team, leave the program, and go to another part of America to train And to my mind that shouldn't have happened, but it did happen. But, they're all back together again now...
Bruce McAveney: They are back together but I know that Lucy Tyler-Sharman has written to say that she doesn't want to be coached by Charlie, that she will return to the team, but won't be coached by him. So, they are not really back together.
Ray Godkin: Yes, they are. The situation is that they did come back together and they were given an ultimatum by me two days ago, and they could either follow Charlie's program or leave and come back to Australia. They have elected to follow Charlie's program and I can tell you that I got a report last night from over there and their tests they did yesterday, actually their racing tests and Lucy Tyler the person you are speaking about and if she is not the fastest in the world at the present time she is very close. So, I understand that they are all back on track. There is still one that's a bit unhappy and that's Graham Sharman because he's been excluded from the Commonwealth Games team. But, I understand all the others are back on track and they're following the program.
Bruce McAveney: Has Charlie had a problem in Western Australia and does it go back to Tony Davis in 1988?
Ray Godkin: Well, it certainly started then hasn't it, and that keeps popping up again. But, there has always been some problem with the program with one or two riders, as Gary said. And you can't do much about that. The thing you've got to take into account, these riders live out of suitcases for nearly seven months a year together. Some of the riders are applying for the same positions within the team, and it's very difficult to spend that amount of time together in a small place, small town without some problems. This is what occurs.
Bruce McAveney: Gary, just fill us in - have you actually been coached by Charlie over the years? Or has he basically managed you, and you've been coached by other people?
Gary Neiwand: Charlie...I first went to Adelaide in 1985 to be under the guidance of Charlie Walsh and without Charlie's influence on my career I wouldn't have been able to achieve half t he things that I have achieved along my path. Nowadays, Charlie Walsh is the head coach of the Australian Cycling program. I've got Gary West who is the Australian sprint coach. So, I'm still very much under the guidance of Charlie Walsh but under the influence of Gary West as the sprint coach.
Bruce McAveney: What about this letter that was distributed during the week, Ray? Asking a whole range of questions - very difficult questions, in terms of did Charlie Walsh purchase, and distribute to the team a large quantity of drugs containing...and suggesting people to ask, that was distributed to all the media. Do you know who was responsible for this?
Ray Godkin: Yes. I'm quite confident I do know who was responsible for that. We've answered that. That was anonymous and we...
Bruce McAveney: Can you tell us who it was?
Ray Godkin: No.
Bruce McAveney: Why should you protect those people. We don't protect Charlie. I mean Charlie Walsh is under the spotlight. Why should somebody who distributes this letter to the whole of Australia be protected? Why shouldn't we tell who distributed that letter?
Ray Godkin: Maybe I'm wrong. But I'm quite confident I think I know, but maybe I'm wrong.
Bruce McAveney: So, you're not certain. If you were certain would you tell us?
Ray Godkin: If I was absolutely certain, of course, and that person would be excluded from the team because of the breach of the agreement, and that person is aware of that and certainly won't put their name on the line. But, should they do that they would be immediately removed from the team. It's too disruptive, as you said a little earlier, so that's the best I can do. I'm confident that I know the author but....
Bruce McAveney: Not absolutely sure?
Ray Godkin: Not beyond reasonable doubt, we might say.
Bruce McAveney: Is it true that ASDA did a number of tests on a number of cyclists and wasn't able to test one Australian cyclist because they couldn't find him or her?
Ray Godkin: No. that's not right. They didn't test one of the cyclists because the cyclist refused to be tested.
Bruce McAveney: No. No, I'm not saying refused to be tested. I'm saying that a number of tests were carried out on Australian cyclists which is the done thing, the drug test, but one Australian cyclist couldn't be located and that test was unable to be done on that particular person. Not that they refused at all because if they did that they'd be in a heap of trouble.
Ray Godkin: No, I don't think that's right, Bruce.
Bruce McAveney: That was the information we had here.
Ray Godkin: No, I don't think that's correct at all. The rider was there and claimed that we weren't following our new policy and he then said that until we do... the technical fault was that there was no doctor there. In our policy now because we follow the international rule a doctor has to be present when the test is done. There was no doctor and he said if there's no doctor I'm not doing the test. And that's what it was about.
Bruce McAveney: And that was just very recently?
Ray Godkin: That was a couple of weeks ago.
Bruce McAveney: In the United States?
Ray Godkin: Yes, in Trexeltown.
Bruce McAveney: And has that person been tested since?
Ray Godkin: I can't tell you. I don't know. But, we are certainly pursuing that. I am very disappointed with ASDA they should have spent a $100 and got a doctor. Why they didn't is absurd as far as I'm concerned.
Bruce McAveney: This is a very ticklish one, I know. Gary I'm leaving you out a bit, I'm sorry about that. The sexual harassment claims: because we had a number of phone calls this week about cyclists, from the past, saying that they are thinking about and almost prepared to come forward and also give a point of view on this. Is this going to continually blow up or do you think you're on top of this?
Ray Godkin: We think we're on top. We actually...I couldn't go.... I was going to Cuba...the day this...we had a telephone link up and it was decided Geoff Strang, from the Sports Commission would go. He was the only one available to go immediately. And that was examined because that was a fairly serious allegation. And it wasn't against Charlie Walsh, I hasten to say, it was against a masseur, and it wasn't against Lucy Tyler either. But, she happened to name some people, there's no question about that, who had been sexually harassed according to her. And that was investigated and it wasn't substantiated. And all the riders we've spoken to, and those same riders who were named, or some of them anyway, are now still being massuered by the same person and quite happy to be.
Bruce McAveney: Gary, were you surprised about that, because you obviously have been given a rub down by the team masseur over the years.
Gary Neiwand: Yes, definitely being back home here, away from the team for the first time, and hearing all these allegations. I've been with the team for the past 15 year and I haven't seen any sexual allegations or hints of harassment or anything like that. The masseur in question at the moment has been there ever since I've been there and I've been massaged by him on numerous occassions and I've seen nothing to warrant what has been bought up recently.
Bruce McAveney: Just finally, on a personal thing, one of the confusing things is that Lucy Tyler-Sharman and Charlie Walsh were so together a couple of years ago, in terms of their friendliness. I know they had a common foe in Kathy Watt, and they don't have that common foe at the moment. But, what has happened between these two people?
Ray Godkin: Well, that's a good question. I'm not there, but I think Lucy refused to do some of the testing, also she didn't want to do blood tests when they were required, and there was a little fall-out there. Charlie was giving the team some Colostum. That's another thing that's been mentioned about drugs, there's nothing illegal about it. It's a good product. Lucy wasn't happy about that. She got some information that wasn't the right thing to take. She even told me herself that she had information herself that it promoted breast cancer. So, she was I guess a bit disturbed about all this and there was a bit of a dust up. But, things haven't always been rosy with Lucy and Charlie. It's been a love-hate thing ever since she's been in the program. But, as I say, she's knuckled down now apparently and she's doing the program and she's going to have a very good result. We just hope it'll all keep going. But, they'll never be happy. But we just hope to get the best result.
Bruce McAveney: Just finally, one thing, has Charlie Walsh got your full support from now to 2000?
Ray Godkin: Absolutely 100 per cent.
Bruce McAveney: Right. Gary, I did leave you out a bit, but thank you for coming on.
Gary Neiwand: Not a problem. It's a pleasure.
Ray Godkin: Gary will be there in 2000.
Bruce McAveney: Yes, he'll be back I know. And thanks Ray. You've got a huge job over the next few weeks.
Ray Godkin: Good, good Bruce.
Bruce McAveney: We'll take a break - I think Ray is ready to go already. We'll be back with more after this.
Kelly takes a leadership role
This article was written by Tanya Denver and appeared under the headline "Kelly steps in to boost team spirit" in the Saturday edition of the Adelaide Advertiser (August 15).
Respected triple world champion Shane Kelly has led the way in an attempt to maintain morale among the Australian track cycling team preparing in Germany for this month's world championships from August 26. Kelly's stand followed anonymous allegations of malpractice directed toward national coach Charlie Walsh.
In an anonymous letter circulated to the media this week, it was suggested Walsh had purchased and distributed to his team a large quantity of a drug containing a growth hormone and had also sold Australia's track program to the United States Cycling Federation. On Thursday, Cycling Australia president Ray Godkin stood by Walsh and denied the allegations. Speaking from the national team's training camp in Buttgen, Germany, Cycling Australia high performance manager Michael Flynn said attempts had been made to shield cyclists from the allegations.
"Our job is to focus on what we are doing," Flynn said. "Right at this moment our priority is to get a result at the Commonwealth Games and world championships." Flynn said cyclists had read some of the allegations via the Internet but management had made an effort to "shelter them from the straight-up brunt of it". Meanwhile Kelly, who will race for his fourth successive 1000m time trial world championship in Bordeaux this month, has spoken out to unite the squad during a team meeting.
"Kelly stood up and said as a leader of the group that if you didn't have the group interest at heart then get out," Flynn said. "Basically it was to tell his team-mates we are here for a particular reason."
Flynn said the cyclists were still keen to perform well at the worlds and the Commonwealth games. "The majority of the team is really highly motivated but the morale has been dented a bit the past few days," he said.
In its statement supporting Walsh, Cycling Australia said the human growth substance alluded to in the anonymous letter was in fact Colostrum, a high protein substance found in breast milk and used by the Australian endurance cyclists for the purpose of boosting the immune system.
Flynn said team doctor DR Peter Barnes had met cyclists to discuss the use of Colostrum which is a legal substance.
Banned Hormone Okay
This article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on August 17 and was written by Geoff Kitney under the headline "Banned hormone for cyclists OK: doctor"
...Australian cycling team officials have confirmed they are giving members of the world championship team a substance containing a banned drug, but insist that it is above board and does not compromise Australia's strong anti-drugs policy.
Dr Peter Barnes, the team doctor with the Australian track cycling team which is completing final preparations in Germany for the world championships in Bordeaux, France, in 10 days, said that although Australian team members were being given medication which contained IGF-1 - a growth hormone at the centre of recent drug scandals in several sports, including cycling - it was a completely legitimate treatment which was not performance-enhancing.
Dr Barnes said the IGF-1 was a component of colostrum, an extract from cow's milk which is being given to Australian team members to build their natural resistence to infection. But he said the IGF-1 was a small component of the colostrum. He said IGF-1 was naturally occuring in most foods and was a banned substance only when it was extracted and injected into the bloodstream.
"The colostrum we are giving team members is a dairy product, not a drug," Dr Barnes said.
He was responding to allegations contained in an anonymous letter to the Australian media that the Australian team coach, Charlie Walsh, had bought and distributed a large quantity of a drug containing IGF-1, a human growth hormone, to members of the Australian track cycling team. The letter also contained several other serious allegations against Walsh and other team officials and followed the serious rift in the Australian team involving Walsh and several team members.
Dr Barnes, who is chairman of the national drugs in sport committee, said he had been responsible for ordering the supply of colostrum and for overseeing its consumption by team members. He said he was also solely responsible for all medications given to team members.
"As chairman of the national drugs in sport committee I am hardly going to be involved in anything which is dubious."
Dr Barnes said that, although the pressure on elite athletes to use drugs was growing because of the increasing financial rewards for winning, he believed the Australian cycling team was drug-free.
The Australian team, training at an indoor velodrome at Beuttgen, a small village between Cologne and Dusseldorf, has closed ranks following the damaging controversy which was sparked by a formal complaint to the Australian Sports Commission about Walsh's coaching methods.
Lucy Tyler-Sharman, who made the complaint, and three other team members who were allowed to leave the team with her to train separately in the United States, have rejoined the training squad and participated in final trials in Beuttgen on Friday morning.
Officials were pleased with the team's trials performances and confident that the internal problems had been set aside and the team would do well in Bordeaux.
Track riders return to the camp
Cycling Australia president Ray Godkin confirmed Darryn Hill, Tyler-Sharman and Graham Sharman had rejoined head track coach Charlie Walsh. Godkin told the press that: "They are back again now. They were given an ultimatum by me two days ago, they could either follow Charlie's program or leave and come back to Australia. They've elected to follow Charlie's program. I can tell you we got a report last night from over there on the racing tests they did yesterday and Lucy Tyler-Sharman, if she's not the fastest person in the world at the moment, she's certainly very close."
And the researchin Colostrum
Nathan O'Neill, a member of the National Australian Road Squad, has sent me the following, which he found while researching the usefulness of Colostrum. This is the drug that CA thinks is okay to spend copious quantities of Australian Taxpayer dollars on when it says at the same time that it had to downgrade the Road Programme for lack of funds. Thanks to Nathan for the material which follows....
Colostrum
In the first few days of an infants life,, mother's milk contains colostrun, a yellowish fluid that conveys a host of nutritional goodies to the baby. These goodies include insulin like growth factors 1 and 2 (IGF)., the major promotor of protein synthesis in muscle. The IGF in colostrum causes rapid infant growth, especially of the visceral organs.
Colostrum containing IGF can also be collected from cows. In newborn infant cows it causes rapid growth of lean mass. Some Supplement hustlers have twisted these facts to conclude that bovine colostrum can act as an anabolic (boosting the immune system as part of this) for athletes.
Oral Bovine Colostrum cannot work in athletes for 2 reasons.
First, a polypeptide, such as IGF, which consists of a 67 - amino acid chain, is destroyed by adult digestion the very second it lands in the stomach. It is broken into dipeptides(two amino acids) , tripeptides( 3 amino acids) and single amino acids. The information only gets through in newborn infants because their digestive systems have not yet kicked in. The newborn gut has a neutral PH of around 7.0 . It can't split polypeptides into their separate aminos. But after a day or 2, the infant's gut changes to a harsh acidity of 1.0, the same as an adult. That's why colostrum stops flowing from the mother around day 2(two days after birth). After that the IGF and other important peptides are no further use, because they can't survive the stomach acid.
Secondly, bovine IGF is chemically different from human IGF. Even if it got past the digestion phase, your immune system would recognise it as foreign immediately, and attack and destroy it before a molecule of of new muscle could be formed. Even if by some miracle, your immune system left the bovine IGF to run free, its chemical structure will not fit with the IGF carrier proteins that are essential to move IGF around around your body , enabling it to attach to muscle cells.
And finally, the meat industry sadly spends millions of dollars on anabolic steroids and other synthetic drugs to promote lean mass in cattle. If the IGF in bovinie colostrum really works, don't you think they would use it? They don't because it doesn't work. Selling bovine colostrum, as an oral anabolic agent for athletes, is the type of "scrape the bottom of the barrel " scam that drags the whole nutrition industry down in the dirt.
References:
Dr Micheal Colgan (1993), Optimal Sports Nutrition, Advanced Research Press.
Clemmons, D.R, Underwood, L.E. (1991), "Nutritional regulation of IGE1 and IGF binding proteins", Annual Review of Nutrition
The UCI "does what it can" but goes "in the right direction". This phrase picks up the two opinions of the newspaper l'Equipe and the Minister of Youth and Sports, and resumes the general sentiment after the announcement Thursday of a series of measures aimed at combatting doping.
How can one be hostile to medical surveillance ? In the European press, which has oscillated between being favourable and skeptical, and among the cyclists themselves, the introduction of medical controls by the UCI is welcomed.
This step forward, even if sometimes viewed as limited, will ensure that "things will change" according to the Belgian cycliste Axel Merckx, son of the greatest champion in the history of cycling.
Cycling, confronted head-on with the problem of doping, offers some possibilities. Obviously, a miracle solution does not exist - and nobody is proposing one; new products contain even greater dangers; and only a realistic and global approach allow one to hope that the effects of doping can be limited.
In this respect, according to indications from the International Olympic Committee, it needs to be remembered that 3 International Federations (cycling, biathlon and skiing) have already gone beyond the usual controls. By introducing a regular medical follow-up of the sportsperson (recommended by both the Minister of Youth and Sports and by the Director of the laboratory of Châtenay-Malabry), cycling is advanced in this area.
"Can the UCI really do better ?" asked "l'Equipe", giving its own answer "The Federations do what they can, including controls, and they can do ... little".
The UCI is going in the same direction as the International Olympic Committee, even though no official declaration has been made. Thursday in Lausanne (Switzerland) the Executive Committee on the subject will be meeting to prepare the big international anti-doping conference to be held in January.
The specialists from the IOC, which underline the importance of the usual controls ("the new products are obviously dangerous but the others still exist too") seem skeptical about the short-term effectiveness of the anti-EPO plan announced by the UCI.
A program will be launched, in collaboration with laboratories in Cologne and Lausanne, to determine the way the products are being used.
It was also noted that the problems of testing for EPO is more one of technique than money. The recent article in Lancet confirmed this problem. The study, reported earlier last week showed that the current blood tests can easily show a clean rider is above the 50 per cent level.
The UCI has also said it is opposed to any calls for legalisation of drugs in sport, although it recognised that nothing is strictly black or white.
Other Updates on the drugs scandal
* A French sport's medicine doctor associated with Festina riders Richard Virenque and Laurent Dufaux has called for the liberalisation of drugs in sport under medical controls. "The worst thing is the riders being left to dope themselves" he told The Sunday Journal.
Dr. Daniel Blanc, who tends to many elite football players, athletes, basketball players and cyclists said: "I do not think that anabolic steroids, given in small amounts, are dangerous." He advances two arguments to support his call for legalisation of doping. First, the absence of irrefutable evidence that these doping products are harmful tot he athletes. Second, the pressures on professional sportspeople to deliver performances and results.
He said: "It is to time respect sporting ethics while letting professional athletes get on with doing their work and make a living. The only solution is to relax the rules and work with specialised doctors.
He distinguished two types of doping in sport. He accepts that one type allows the sportsperson, who is down on form, to return to a normal level of performance. The second, which he calls, the "true doping" is the rider who takes performance-enhancing drugs all season. He says they are a minority and should be clamped down on. For Dr. Blanc, the legalisation would not allow the rider to buy whatever they want at the chemist. But rather it will see the rider consult his doctor to see if the drug will improve his position with endangering his health.
And he also says there should now be an amnesty imposed to clear the air and allow the riders who have been taking banned substances to come clean and let the authorities know what has been going on.
* The Italian police on Friday raided the house in Bologna of cycling doctor Michele Ferrari. According to sources, they were looking for evidence that will help French investigations in Lille and Lyon which began during the Tour de France.
Ferrari was questioned about some products. Also the computer which contained some files of riders, who Ferrari has advised, was taken by the police. The former doctor to Tony Rominger, Abraham Olano, Evgeni Berzin, Gianluca Bortolami and Moreno was upset by the actions of the police and said: "I will say nothing until I have spoken to my lawyer. All I will say, however, is that they found nothing."
According to Ferrari, he no longer is advising any riders. At one stage he was providing medical assistance to over 50 riders. He declared in 1994 that he knew that riders were taking banned substances. He made the statement during the Waalse Pijl (Fleche Wallone) when three Gewiss riders - Argentin, Giorgio Furlan and Berzin - attacked 70 kms before the finish and were never caught.
Never before had a single team so dominated a race. He told L'Equipe at the time that: "My explanation is doping. I think some riders are using banned substances."
* - 6 TVM riders have been summoned to appear before the court in Reims next Thursday. The riders include Peter Van Petegem (Bel), Lars Michaelsen (Den), Laurent Roux (Fra) did not complete the Tour. The other riders are Tristan Hoffman (Ned), Johan Capiot (Bel) and Hendrik Van Dijck (Ned) who are named to start in the Tour of Murcia.
* - The organisers of the Tour of Spain have now altered the race course for the upcoming event to exclude any passing through French territory. Stage 13 was originally scheduled to ride 80 kms into France but this has now been changed. It continues the hostility between Spain and French cycling officials and police which began during the Tour de France and culminated in the entire Spanish peloton (4 teams) leaving the Tour in protest of crude French police behaviour.
The company that runs the Vuelta, Unipublic issued a statement to the press saying: "This decision has been taken in consideration of French justice and with the intention of avoiding any more tension. We do not want to run the slightest risk of a repeat of what happened in the Tour de France, in relation to the treatment of cyclists by the French police."