Bet on Cycling

Posts Tagged ‘Lance Armstrong’

Lance Armstrong has withdrawn fromyeah
print i the event next month that was supposed to be his spring board back into triathlon competition.

Armstrong posted a note on his Twitter account under the name “Juan Pelota” that nagging knee problems will keep him out of New Zealand’s Blue Lakes multi-sport festival in Rotorua on the North Island set for January 29-30.

“Unfortunately can’t make the tri in Rotorua,” Armstrong wrote. “Dealing (again) with some knee issues and unable to run for now.”

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that event officials said that Armstrong planned to return to the United States immediately after competing in the Tour Down Under, set for January 16-23.

Armstrong has indicated that the Tour Down Under will probably be his final race outside the United States. The seven-time Tour champion said he is likely to compete in the U.S. events, most likely the Tour of California in May and perhaps the new Colorado tour set for August.

Armstrong has also indicated he will be returning to triathlon, the sport where he made a name for himself in the early 1990s before turning to a professional road racing career. The Blue Lakes triathlon would have been Armstrong’s first as his comeback to professional cycling winds down in 2011.

McCartney was a team workhorse at the TDU in 2010

Jason McCartney will be the only American supporting Lance Armstrong next month at the Tour Down Under, a race Armstrong says will be his last major road race outside the U.S.

McCartney also rode the TDU with Armstrong last year, as did Belgium’s Sebastian Rosseler, who is on the team’s seven-rider roster for the Australian race.

Also on the team is two-time Swiss road champion Gregory Rast.

Team RadioShack for the Tour Down Under: Lance Armstrong (USA), Markel Irizar (ESP), Sebastian Rosseler (BEL), Jason McCartney (USA) Gregory Rast (SUI), Ben Hermans (BEL), Manuel Cardoso (PRT)

The UCI, in a front page editorial in the latest edition of its Velo World magazine, takes issue with Floyd Landis’ charge that the organization gives favorable treatment to some cyclists.

The unsigned editorial, titled “Consistency, Rigour and Serenity,” does not name Landis, but leaves little doubt that it is referring to him.

“According to a certain person who has a tendency to throw around serious accusations without the slightest evidence to back them up, the UCI protects certain riders from the risk of failing a doping test. … it would be very interesting to know the names of these privileged riders who have enjoyed such favourable treatment,” the article reads.

In an interview with the German state television channel ARD last month, Landis charged that current UCI president Pat McQuaid and his predecessor Hein Verbruggen “have protected some people and not others.”

“As far as the UCI is concerned, nothing about a cover-up or taking a bribe or some kind of race results manipulation would surprise me,” Landis said in the interview.

Days later, McQuaid told the Ireland’s Independent newspaper that he was considering legal action against Landis for making the charges. McQuaid has noted that the UCI and the World Anti-Doping Association receive doping test results simultaneously, so it would be impossible for one body to independently cover up a positive.

Landis’ claims in the German interview varied only slightly from the charges he made in May, when he said that Lance Armstrong had bribed the UCI with a donation to cover up a positive test.

Armstrong denied the charge and the UCI issued a press release denying it. At the time McQuaid said a 2005 donation from Armstrong did not create a conflict of interest, but McQuaid said that in hindsight he might have declined the donation.

The Velo World editorial concludes by pointing to the UCI’s handling of Alberto Contador’s positive doping test as evidence that no rider gets special treatment.

“The consistency, rigour and serenity that governed the inquiry, conducted in close cooperation with the World Anti-Doping Agency, into the abnormal test results of the triple Tour de France winner, should offer the most telling guarantee of our commitment to eradicate doping, regardless of the low levels of product detected, regardless of all the possible justifications, regardless of the rider’s impressive record, and regardless of the additional negative consequences for cycling.”