Exciting Revelations From G. Lemond"As I expand my business [a Bruegger's Bagel franchise chain], I need to preserve capital to invest in new restaurants. [IBM's] AS/400 Advanced Entry is priced right and is so inexpensive and simple to use, it practically runs itself. That means I can run my restaurants, instead of my computer system."One Greg Lemond (pictured in suit and tie carrying road bike a la cyclocross on his shoulder) quoted in IBM ad in The Guardian (London) March 10, 1997) So what happened to the bike racer? Updated blood test reportThree riders were thrown out of the Paris-Nice cycle race on Monday after failing blood tests.Frenchman Erwan Mentheour and Italians Mauro Santaromita and Luca Colombo were not allowed to start Monday's second stage, won by Belgian Tom Steels, and had their licences suspended for 15 days. The tests showed abnormally high numbers of red blood cells in the riders' bodies, a possible sign of the presence of unusual levels of EPO (erythropoietin), the sport's security and ethics commission said. Cycling teams agreed in January that tests should be introduced after the International Cycling Union (UCI) expressed concern over widespread use of EPO. The eight-day Paris-Nice race is the first at which such tests have been carried out. Performance-enchancing EPO is a substance that stimulates the production of red blood cells which transport oxygen around the body. Race doctor Gerard Nicollet said the tests were necessary as a step towards combatting doping in the sport. ``But having more than 50 percent (of red blood cells) is not (being found) positive, but a temporary inability to work,'' he told French television. He said diahorrea was one of many ways that a person's red blood cells count could rise and stress another. ``I was probably feeling stress before the time trial,'' Mentheour said. Mentheour and Colombo were both tested with 18 other riders before Sundays' first stage, but were allowed to take part in the time trial because of procedural irregularities. Santaromita was tested with another batch of riders on Monday. Steels, who won last season's Belgian classics Het Volk and Gand-Wewelgem, was first to the line ahead of Frenchman Frederic Moncassin in the final sprint at the end of the 165-km stage from Vendome. Italy's Adriano Baffi was third. Frenchman Laurent Jalabert, gunning for a third straight Paris-Nice victory, came in seventh and won two bonus points to extend his lead to six seconds over Ukrainian Andrei Tchmil in the overall placings after taking Sunday's time trial. The three suspended riders will not get back their licences until they have undergone another blood test at a laboratory in Lausanne accredited by the International Cycling Union (UCI), officials said. The commission, a new body which teams insisted in January should not be called a doping commission, will test another 32 riders before the race ends on Sunday. The UCI's doping commission, which takes urine samples after races, is a different body. Studies have shown that extended use of EPO can thicken the blood and cause heart attacks. |