The setting could hardly be more idyllic - the rich green and golden high-summer German countryside outside and the flashing green and gold of Australian sporting excellence inside. But there is a chill inside the Beuttgen velodrome. Conflict is in the air. Even after a truce and a collective effort to refocus on the main task - re-establishing Australia's reputation as an outstanding power in track cycling at the world championships in France in 10 days' time - you can sense that not all is well. When Lucy Tyler-Sharman joins Charlie Walsh, coach extraordinaire, on the track, the atmosphere almost crackles with tension. It is just a trial, a last big hit-out before the taper towards the big meeting in Bordeaux, but Tyler-Sharman travels at near world-record pace.
As she slumps into the handlebars, Walsh looks at his watch and makes some notes. They do not speak.
Walsh says later: "Lucy did a very good time today. I think she's in the top two in the world and she's done all the groundwork to be a very good chance in Bordeaux."
Walsh refuses to comment on their relationship, but does say that he does not believe what has happened between them will seriously affect Tyler-Sharman's hopes of winning world championship gold. But what of the others? What will be the effect on the rest of the team of the highly public falling out between the coach and the squad's highest-profile female rider?
How will the team, which includes a bigger than usual proportion of promising youngsters, cope with the distraction of a senior team member calling for the sacking of the team coach, walking out of the squad with two other riders and returning as anonymous allegations are made about a variety of issues?
Shane Kelly, with his sights set on a history-making fourth consecutive world title at Bordeaux, is, at 26 years of age, the team elder and unofficial team leader.
At a meeting a few days ago to discuss the crisis over Walsh's coaching methods, Kelly, with characteristic bluntness, said anyone who was not totally committed to the team's success should "f . . . off now". No one left.
Kelly said after the final track endurance trials on Friday that he believed the team had weathered the storm. "I think in some ways this has made us more determined," he said. "I think we are in better shape than we were before the worlds in Perth last year."
Perth last year is a big part of the story of the upheaval in the team. Australia slipped several rungs down the world rankings because of it. Great expectations were not met and criticism was intense.
Excuses at the time seemed trite, but team officials insist the problem was illness. A viral infection swept through the squad on the eve of the championships, significantly affecting performance levels.
But because Perth was such a disappointment and Bordeaux is the next chance to atone for it, the pressure on the squad at all levels has been intense. Walsh, a ferocious taskmaster at the best of times, has been driving the team harder than ever, and not just the riders. He demanded from the support staff ways of avoiding the health problems that debilitated the team in Perth.
What he wanted was something that helped overcome a problem that plagues high-performance athletes as they come off their training peaks and begin tapering down to a competition - dramatically reduced resistance to infection.
What they came up with was colostrum. Using research done in Russia and Finland, the Northfield laboratories in Adelaide began testing the effects on athletes of colostrum extracted from cows' milk, the first milk to flow after cows calve, which is high in immunoglobulins and proteins, ideal for building resistance to infection.
This drug is not considered performance-enhancing, even though it also contains the growth hormone IGF-1, which, in concentrated form, is a banned substance.
Members of the Australian team have been using the colostrum extract since early this year, and team officials believe it has improved their infection-resistance levels.
"Our general impression in Mexico earlier this year and in Europe is that there has been less illness," said team doctor Peter Barnes. "It does seem to have beneficial effects on resistance levels and we would encourage its use in these heavy training phases."
Barnes ordered a supply of the drug to be delivered to the team camp in Beuttgen, which appears to be what provoked the anonymous allegation that Walsh purchased and distributed $16,000 worth of drugs containing IGF-1.
"We purchased the drug through the program," Barnes said. "I ordered it, not Charlie."
Although team management insists that the substance is perfectly safe and legal, there has been some disquiet in the team about it, particularly after the drugs scandal in this year's Tour de France. Some team members were concerned that the use of the drug had coincided with an increased level of drug testing for riders.
Tyler-Sharman, said to be a health fanatic, was particularly concerned. According to other team members, she believed that the amounts of blood she was being required to give were endangering her health. The trigger for her blow-up with Walsh was, team sources say, when she refused to take a blood test about a month ago. Walsh indicated that riders who did not agree to testing would jeopardise their places in the team.
But Tyler-Sharman's dramatic break with Walsh must go deeper than concern about the frequency of blood testing. Members of the Australian squad concede there are fundamental questions that have to be dealt with after the world championships. And they agree a lot of these questions come back to Walsh and his methods.
One source said: "Charlie is a tough customer to deal with. He believes his job is to produce medal winners and he pushes very hard to achieve his objectives. Sometimes he pushes beyond the breaking point for some people.
"But his answer to his critics is his record, and it's hard to argue with that. Australia, under his guidance, has achieved results far above what a country in which cycling ranks as a minor sport could expect to achieve."
Walsh and his critics have agreed to put aside their differences and allow the team to concentrate on the world championships. The problems will be considered as part of a comprehensive review of cycling to begin next month.
Walsh will not be drawn into discussion about the team's problems and says that he has his sights fixed on the Sydney Olympics.
"I think we have some very good talent on the track and I think they are all doing it drug-free. I am proud of that," he said.
Riders interviewed in Beuttgen all said they had been only slightly distracted by the controversy over Walsh's leadership of the team and were optimistic about their prospects for Bordeaux. Tyler-Sharman, who rejoined the squad in Beuttgen last week after being allowed to train in the United States after the falling-out with Walsh, also appears to have set aside her concerns to focus on Bordeaux.
At Friday's training session she was the first to arrive and the last to leave, remaining behind to practise her high-explosive starts while other team members went off to eat and relax.
She declined to be interviewed, saying only through a team official that she wanted to concentrate on her preparation for the world championships. A lot hinges on how well she does. A lot hinges on the team's ability to overcome the distractions. And success in Bordeaux would be a better medicine than any amount of colostrum.
This article appeared in the Melbourne Age on August 18, and was written by Jacquelin Magnay under the headline "The cyclists' aid being milked for all it's worth"
Newborn babies suckle it, ostensibly to get a kick start to life. Colostrum, that yellowish sticky stuff that precedes breast milk, is chock-full of growth hormones. Specifically, there are large amounts of IGF-1 (insulin growth factors) in colostrum, which, if the drug manufacturers are to be believed, can kill bacteria and viral invaders, stimulate tissue repair, stimulate fat metabolism, stimulate the release of serotonin and dopamine and promote cellular reproduction to prevent ageing.
Australia's track cyclists have also been taking it, some reluctantly, as part of a trial by head coach Charlie Walsh and team doctor Peter Barnes to enhance the athletes' immune systems. The trial had been approved by an ethics committee of the Adelaide University, which helped formulate the experiments, but was brought to light in the public arena because of concerns by some cyclists
Walsh spent $18,000 of his annual allocation from the Australian Sports Commission, which is taxpayers' money, on buying colostrum and getting it imported into Germany. A defiant Lucy Tyler-Sharman refused to take it, saying some research had shown it promoted breast cancer. The Australian Sports Drug Agency is unclear about its status.
"It is by definition, a food supplement," said the agency's chief executive, Natalie Howson. "But we need to check it (with the IOC) and ensure its status is bona fide."
Barnes, who is the chairman of the national drugs in sport committee, said he would not get involved in administering anything that was dubious. But clearly, the fine line between taking a nutritional supplement and trying to gain an unfair edge is becoming blurred.
"The colostrum we are giving team members is a dairy product, not a drug," he said. IGF-1 has subsequently been banned by the IOC, but it appears the substance from which it is extracted - colostrum - is not. Other scientists say colostrum is unlikely to benefit athletes, certainly not to the degree that has been promoted by drug manufacturers.
Just so the Spanish didn't think there was a conspiracy against their drug-infested teams, the French police at Bordeaux on Tuesday were ordered to investigate the French Cofidis team after border officials impounded prohibited drugs from the team truck. The raid on the truck came on the Sunday evening after the Clasica San Sebastian, when the truck was intercepted at a toll check north of Bordeaux. The team manager, mechanic and truck driver have all been interrogated and released by police.
One of the leading Cofidis riders and winner of the Clasica San Sebastian, Francesco Casagrande, has been found to be positive to banned drugs after the Tour of Romandie in May. He is denying the evidence saying the findings are a reflection of the massive program of vitamins and amino acid preparations that he claims he has been using. Yeh.
The team driver was the only person in the truck when it was detained at a peage (toll) station north of Bordeux. He was driving back from the Clasica San Sebastian. There was a box containing various Italian and French manufactured drugs. The team says the drugs are "recovery medicine".
Ronde van Nederland affected
At the press conference presenting the Ronde van Nederland the organisation announced that the Spanish teams like Banesto have pulled out because they will not travel through France for fear of police and customs officials reactions. After the Clasica San Sebastian, several team trucks and cars (in addition to Cofidis) were stopped on French roads and searched.
TVM
Otto van der Veen will replace Cees Priem for the time being while Priem has to stay in French for the investigations. Van der Veen will be the commercial manager and is taking care for the business contacts with the riders and sponsors. Van der Veen did the PR work during the Tour de France. Technical management is still with Hendrik Redant and Guido Van Calster.
7 TVM riders were questioned in Reims on Wednesday. Peter Van Petegem, Lars Michealsen and Frenchman Laurent Roux who all quit the Tour de France early before the Albertville raids on July 28. Four other riders Tristan Hoffman, Johan Capiot and Hendrik van Dijck and Michael Lafis, who rode in the Tour of Murcia will appear today before the court.
Dutch riders Jeroen Blijlevens, Steven de Jongh, Servais Knaven and Bart Voskamp, Russian Serguei Ivanov and the Ukranian Serguei Outchakov have already been heard in Reims on August 3.
The TVM lawyer, Joost Van Mierlo, has demanded that the French judicial authorities release the Russian doctor Andrei Mikhailov who has is still being held in prison at Châlons-en-Champagne. He also demanded that the masseur Jan Moors and manager Cees Priem, who have been free since August 10, be allowed to leave French territory and return to the Netherlands.
All three are under examination for drugs and customs offences.
Telekom spends big
Deutsche Telekom, which sponsors one of the best teams in professional cycling, announced in Bonn on Wednesday that they were going to spend 1 million DM's over the next three years to combat doping amongst their riders. The press release said:
"Telekom has an intensive control system: all the team's professional cyclists, and the junior team, are subjected to at least 5 annual drug checks by an independent commission."
Public Relations officer, Juergen Kindervater said that: "Our team is always committed to correct behaviour. It is our firm conviction."
The independent Commission that Telekom is using is under the control of the President of Federation of German Sport's Medicine, Joseph Keul, 5 other members including National Olympic President Walther Troeger, the Vice-President of the German Cycling Federation Olaf Ludwig and 3 others
1988 Olympic champion Olaf Ludwig, sceptical of the way the UCI is handling the doping problem, said that: "It is not acceptable that professionals like Francesco Casagrande are found to have tested positive and then are allowed to race in the World Cup races like in Hamburg last Sunday."
Another issue is the sanctions that drug cheats face. Jan Ullrich said: "In Germany, we are suspended for 4 years and this is more severe than in other countries."
1. Martin Den Bakker (Ned) gangmaker Oomen 2. Knaven (Ned) gangmaker Boere 3. Koos Moerenhout (Ned) gangmaker Zijlaard 4. Voskamp (Ned) gangmaker Raats 5. Pieters (Ned) gangmaker Stam
1. Servais Knaven (Ned) TVM 2.17.10 2. Leon Van Bon (Ned) Rabobank 3. Mario Cipollini (Ita) Saeco 0.10 4. Robbie McEwen (Aus) Rabobank 5. Patrick Eyk (Ned) Navigators 0.10
Former world record holder Shaun Wallace, David Dew, Anthony Peden, Sam Baker and Bob Schuler, composing the Speed Demons, challenged the Express throughout the evening as true challengers. All night long both teams made physical contact the name of the game . Probably, the best example of just how physical it was happened when Marty"The Blade Nothstein and Bob "The Bullet" Schuler began giving each other headbutts as they flew past fans in the first turn during one of the quarters. Still, no matter how intimidating the contact was, the racing entertained spectators, young and old.
Other men's racing saw current Rider of the Year points leader, Stephen Pate taking the Professional Men's Miss-and-Out and 20-Lap Final ahead of a hard-charging Greg Henderson and New Zealander Tim Carswell. The return of Becky Quinn, also holding a solid lead going into next week's Morning Call Rider of the Year finals, sparked a generous applause from the audience. Still holding her form, Quinn gained a second and a first in the two women's races of the night. This increased her lead in the Rider of the Year standings over Nicole Reinhart and Jane Quigley.
American Team Cycling League First Quarter:
Express 50
Speed Demons 30
Points leader: Marty Nothstein 20
Professional Men Miss-and-Out:
1. Stephen Pate
2. Greg Henderson
3. Tim Carswell
4. GlenThomson
5. Brent Dawson
Women Point-A-Lap:
1. Rawea Greenwood
2. Becky Quinn
3. Sarah Ulmer
4. Fiona Ramage
5. Tanya Lindenmuth
American Team Cycling League-Second Quarter:
Speed Demons 36
Express 24
Points leader: Marty Nothstein 16
American Team Cycling League- Third Quarter:
Express 30
Speed Demons 30
Points leader: David Dew 14
Professional Men 20-lap Final:
1. Stephen Pate
2. Brent Dawson
3. GlenThomson
4. Greg Thomson
5. Neil Fronheiser
Women Miss and Out:
1. Becky Quinn
2. Narelle Peterson
3. Liz Reap
4. Sara Ulmer
5. Rawea Greenwood
American Team Cycling League-Fourth Quarter:
Express 44
Speed Demons 36
Points Leader: Marty Nothstein 20
ATC Season Points Leader: Marty Nothstein 158 points
Points
Speed Demons: 132
Wallace 44
Dew 34
Peden 28
Baker 26
Schuler 0
Express: 148
Nothstein 62
Oelkers 40
Hatton 36
Walrod 6
Masser 4