The Killer, Rabbits, and the World Champion

The Killer

Danilo DiLuca showed why they call him the Killer on Sunday. He got tag teamed by Saunier Duval-Prodir and found himself without teammates for much of the last half of Sunday's stage of the Giro d'Italia. However, he did not get anxious, rode a solid race and when the time came to put the hammer to the small group that was with him consisting of Cunego, Simoni, Schleck and Salvoldelli, he put the hammer to them and rode away from them to finish sixth on the stage. Now, his Liquigas team will need to provide more support for him than they have as Saunier Duval has two men in the top ten in Simoni and Ricco.

During the final week teams will start looking to defend their leaders which will provide Liquigas some assistance. Milram's Alessandro Petacchi is leading the points jersey and there are at least two more stages which should result in a sprint finish. CSC's Andy Schleck is leading the young rider competition by less than a minute over Saunier Duval's Ricardo Ricco. As such, Ricco and his teammates should expect CSC to watch them like hawks to protect Schleck, which will benefit Liquigas and DiLuca. Finally. Saunier Duval's Leonardo Piepoli is leading the king of the mountain competition. Although Saunier Duval has hopes of winning the Giro with Simoni or Ricco, if Ricco does not make up time on Schleck and DiLuca then the team will likely aggressively defend the climber's jersey before next Sunday's finish.

However, I do not think that Liquigas will let anyone get too aggressive over the final week and DiLuca has shown himself to be much stronger in the mountains this year than ever before. Stage 16 has climbs in the first portion of the race with a downhill run to the finish with a flat 15km before the end of the stage. DiLuca should lose no time on this stage to the top contenders. Stage 17 on Wednesday will likely be the decisive stage for this year's Giro. With the short, 10km, but very steep, 11.9% average with areas nearly 20%, final climb of the stage is up Monte Zoncolan, DiLuca should be in good shape if he gets to the base of the climb with one or two teammates. He is certainly stronger than any of the other favorites at the moment. With more than a three minute lead on both Simoni and Cunego, DiLuca should win his first Giro.

Look out Bunny !

Saturday was my first multisport race in almost 11 years. I raced the Bucyrus, Ohio YMCA triathlon Memorial day weekend in 1996 and then raced the Edinboro, Pennsylvania Triathlon the following weekend. I have done a few 5k's since but my multisport days ended with the birth of our first child.

Last summer I finally decided that I needed to get control of my diet, exercise and career. Since then, I have lost 70 pounds and last month I started running again regularly. I figured a good test for my new fitness would be Boise's Camelback Duathlon put on by the YMCA. The short course had a short 2k run followed by a 15k ride and a 2k run. I can run 4k and the bike is not a problem so I submitted my registration on Monday.

Tuesday morning I bent down to pick up a set of plans off my floor and decided just to kneel down and look at what I needed. Right then my right knee crumpled and I felt a knifing pain through my righ quadricep. I went over writhing in pain on my office floor. I did my best to stretch my right leg out but i was rather concerned about whether I had just kissed $39 away. Tuesday night I went to the gym just to see if I could get the right leg to relax a bit. The pain continued but as the week went on I felt pretty good by Friday afternoon.

Saturday morning I rode the three miled from my house to Camelsback Park. Eventhough Saturday was supposed to be fairly warm and the race did not start until 9AM, I decided to wear my Nike bib knickers due to the additional support and warmth they give my legs. It was a good decision because they did not end up being too hot and did not constrict my run.

So, how did it go, and where is the bunny? I started the opening 2k like I typically do in a duathlon. I run from the very back of the pack because I am really slow. I don't really run. It is more of a waddle. I passed a few grandmothers and found my pace with the heavy guys. I ran a slightly slower than 10 minuite pace for the first 2k. Then, I had a very solid ride. This last week I converted my old Trek 1220 road bike into a dedicated time trial machine. It is much heavier than my new Trek 5200 and it only has a 7 speed rear cassette. I put cowhorns on it and my aero bars. I had about 45 minutes total of training on it prior to the race. So I was very happy with my performance.

The first two miles were up Bogus Basin Road which is a very constant climb. Then you got to turn around and come back down. I was going 8 miles an hour going up hill but 38 miles an hour coming down. About 400M after the turn around, I just tucked into my aero position and was really pushing my biggest gear, when a small grey rabbit ran across the road in front of me. We made eye contact and I think he knew we were both gonners if he did not move faster so he did. I would hate to think what would have happened to both of us if I had hit him at 30+ miles an hour. Anyway my hear rate spiked and I just flew down the hill rode a solid time trial and got back to the transition area to be greeted by my wife and two youngest children. We high fived and I went out and ran an 11 minute mile pace for the final 2k.

Now, I have lost 70 pounds this last year and now weigh about 198. Had I sandbagged, I could have still raced in the Clydesdale category. I was tempted to register for the Clydesdale category but my fear was that race officials would catch me as a sandbagger who raced with weights in his pocket just to race in the big guy category. I am glad I did not, although I would have won the shortcourse Clydesdal category. As it was I finished 3rd in the 30-39 men. There were actually 6 men in the category so I did not finish 3rd by default. Had I realized how well I had done, I would have stayed for my ribbon. As it was, we came home, I took a shower and we went to Lowe's.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Becker Ridge Road.

The long and short courses (30k and 15k) used the same first 12k which included a climb up past the intersection of Bogus Basin Road and Becker Ridge Road before descending back down to Hill Road and then riding along Hill Road to the ultimate turnourounds for both courses. As I pushed my way up the Bogus Basin climb, I heard the distinctive sound of a disk wheel coming up behind me. Boise's own world champion Kristin Armstrong came flying by me in her world champion kit. It was really cool. She rode the 30k course almost 9 miles an hour faster than I rode the 15k course. She was part of a relay that of course had the fastest time of the day. My eyes glazed over as my hear rate spiked as I rode up Bogus Basin Road because I don't recall seeing her come down the hill.

Unnecessary, Unseemly and Revolting

I don't think that I am going to waste any more time blogging about the Landis doping hearing. Thursday's events at the hearing with Greg LeMond's testimony will reverberate for a long time. Ultimately, LeMond's testimony neither addresses the issues of the science nor does it establish any "confession" on the part of Landis. Landis and his entourage have not acted in the way that you would expect an innocent person to act in this type of matter. I have no objection to his "Wiki defense" or his aggressive attacks on the lack of commitment to due process that WADA, USADA and LNDD have shown in this matter. However, hacking and witness intimidation are never appropriate defense strategies. At the end of the day, it is hard to believe that a guy is innocent where such egregious conduct can be directly attributed to him and his advisors.

Again, as a former prosecutor, I am a firm believer in due process, I am a firm believer in innocence until proven guilty, and I am a firm believer that you have no obligation to incriminate yourself. However, if you are ever accused of anything do not talk, to anyone, at any time. And most importantly, the more you try to cover up things, or appear to do so, the more guilty you look. Cover up always results in bad things.

So if you want to read what is going on go to Cyclingnews.com or VeloNews.com. You are not going to hear any more on this subject from me until I get this horrible taste out of my mouth.

The Giro and Dope

The Giro Starts

Saturday was the start of the Giro d'Italia with a very difficult team time trial. Many of the teams criticized organizers for creating a stage that was not really suitable for a team time trial as the course wound over and between the islands of Caprera and Maddalena. An undulating course which crossed the road between the islands, the results showed it was difficult as few of the teams were able to keep their riders together. Astana rode a good race for its team leader Paolo Salvoldelli but Liquigas won the stage.

It was not without some internal controversy however, as Liquigas' sprinter Enrico Gasparotto crossed before team leader Danilo Di Luca and took the first pink jersey. Although the team tried to play down the result claiming it was intended, it appeared that Di Luca was quite agitated at his team mate for failing to let the team's GC leader take the first pink jersey. Discovery had a solid ride, but team leader Yaroslav Popovych crashed in the final kilometer and the team finsished fifth as it had to wait for its leader and fifth rider on the road.

Sunday's stage ended with a sprint finish which was taken out by Predictor-Lotto's Robbie McEwen. The Giro follows a difficult course with a mountain top finish on Tuesday's Stage 4, which could set the GC for most of the rest of the race. A short stage of 150km the final climb is approximately 17km and averages 5%. The Giro's organizers have put similar stages as early in prior editions and with no clear strong favorite, it may not be too decisive, however, it is potentially difficult enough to end someone's Giro if they are not paying attention.

Dopes Part Un

The cycling world was rocked early this week as news reports indicated that Ivan Basso had confessed to Italian authorities that he had doped and had been involved with the key targets of Operacion Puerto. Within 24 hours, however, Basso had indicated that he had only confessed to "attempted doping" and that all of his major victories had been clean.

As a former death penalty prosecutor, I can tell you that I have heard a lot of excuses for why people do the things that they do. The ones who iritate me the most have always been those who confess to their wrongdoing and minimize what they did based upon the claim that while they attempted to do something they did not follow through. Evidently Basso is not naming names, however, I would have had a lot more respect for him had he said nothing after he had confessed his involvement other than to say his confession spoke for itself.

Basso's admission appear to open the door to others as Michele Scarponi also confessed to his involvement in the scandal to Italian officials as well. This appears to be the crack in the wall of silence and denial as press reports indicate that some thirty Spanish cyclists are seeking to make a deal with Spanish authorities to accept bans in hopes of returning to race by next year's Vuelta a Espana. So it appears that there was merit to the Puerto investigation and at a minimum some of the implicated riders are now ready to come clean.

Dopes Part Deux

There have also been reports that the non-Spanish ProTour teams are considering a boycott of Spanish ProTour races if Spanish authorities do not move more quickly to resolve the outstanding issues regarding the eligibility of certain riders implicated in the Puerto matter. Althought the Vuelta a Espana organizers have claimed that they will not let any rider implicated in Puerto start its race, there seems to have been a very laissez faire attitude to the participation of Spanish riders and teams implicated in the scandal. Vuelta organizers have also bemoaned the lack of action against Spanish riders and have noted the quicker action by other federations and nations outside of Spain.

What is most disconcerting however, is the fact that while stating that they are concerned about doping in the sport, Vuelta organizers have stated their desire and anticipation that Alejandro Valverde will start the race this fall, even though Valverde has been identified as a rider whose blood was seized in the Puerto investigation and showed evidence of EPO treatment. While Valverde is the biggest name in Spanish cycling at the moment, Vuelta organizers cannot have it both ways.

Dopes Part Trois

The Floyd Landis doping hearing starts Monday. Landis fired a major shot across the bow of WADA and USADA alleging that they offered him a deal if he would implicate Lance Armstrong in doping during his Tour de France victories. Landis' take no prisoners defense has started to get attention outside of the cycling media as evidenced by these articles in Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. I do not know if Landis doped or not. If he did then he is one of the most stupid people ever to compete in sports, with his kamikaze ride to regain the lead and having been in yellow previously, Landis knew or should have known that use of testosterone would more likely than not be detected.

The whole matter has been unseemly and will not result in an outcome that anyone can be confident will result in the correct outcome. From Dick Pound's salacious comments, to the appearent sloppiness of the French lab, to the apparent lack of due process in the retesting of Landis' B samples by the same French lab that found the initial positive test, to Landis' claims that USADA is just using him to get to Armstrong. I have come to the sad conclusion that while most of the Puerto riders, including American Tyler Hamilton, probably are guilty, the Landis matter reeks of a witch trial where the top doping officials in the sport either conspired to create the scandal or ignored the very safeguards intended to protect the innocent. Either way, no one wins, and no one will ever be sure what happened with Landis.

Getting Ready for the Giro

Tour de Romandie Recap

Former Giro d'Italia winner Paolo Savoldelli of Astana showed that he should be a contender for the GC this year, as he won the opening prologue of the six day Tour de Romandie, the final stage race tune up before next Saturday's start of the Giro. Although Rabobank's Dutch phenom, Thomas Dekker won the overall with his win Sunday in the final 20km time trial, Savoldelli showed strength in both the prologue and final time trial, where he finished second, as well as Saturday's queen stage when Savoldelli finished fifth behind the group of Dekker and Lotto-Predictor's American Chris Horner and two other riders. Horner wore the leader's jersey for one day but finished overall in fifth after he lost almost a minute on the time trial. All in all, Savoldelli has to be a favorite for the Giro. He is on a strong team, he has had good results, and he has won it before on just pure guts. Dekker also returned to the form that caused many to say he was the next big thing two years ago at the age of 20 before injuries sidelined him last year.

Operacion Puerto Update

The news early this week was Ivan Basso's requested release from Discovery Channel. This gave Discovery an out leading up to the Giro with its team leader having seen the investigation into his relationship with a Spanish doping ring reopened in Italy. Already, small Italian team Amore & Vita McDonalds has expressed its desire to sign Basso. Although the team's ownership rails against the big time evils of drugs in sports, the timing of the announcement was likely just a publicity stunt for the team sponsored by the Catholic Church's anti-abortion program and the American fast food giant.

Spanish news outlets are also reporting the impending relase of another, larger dossier implicating another fifty cyclists, among whom are reported to include some of the largest names in the sport. It is unclear why these documents were not previously released with the prior documents but they promise to keep the scandal on the front burner.

In other Puerto news, Alejandro Valverde who has continued to race this spring as rumors surrounded him as to his link to the scandal is now being linked to EPO tainted blood recovered in the investigation. Although blood purportedly belonging to Ivan Basso has been identified by media sources as not containing EPO, Valverde's blood has now been identified as blood which showed evidence of EPO boosting. Regardless of whether EPO is used or not, blood transfusions are banned.

Here is the latest from Cyclingnews.com's archive on Puerto.

The Little 500

ESPN.com's Page 2 had this excellent account of Indiana University's Little 500, which inspired the great cycling film, Breaking Away.