French Clear Armstrong for Tour

The French antidoping agency has cleared Lance Armstrong of any wrongdoing stemming from a rules violation during a doping test last month. This decision is a stark contrast after comments stating that there was “a very high likelihood” that Armstrong would be barred from the Tour de France.

Per The New York Times:

The agency said it “decided to take into consideration the written explanations of the athlete” that came in a letter from Armstrong dated April 16.

Unfortunately the statement did not elaborate on why the agency made the decision, but did reiterate that Armstrong’s urine and blood samples from that drug test came back without abnormalities. The agency said that his hair sample, also taken that day, has not been tested.

The drug test in question occurred on March 17th. The tester arrived and Armstrong’s assistant checked for the tester’s credentials. Armstrong left the tester for 20 minutes to take a shower even though the tester warned Armstrong that he must be in view of him the entire time of the test.

Armstrong commented on the latest development from Aspen, CO, where he has been training, via his Twitter page: “Just got the word from the French agency AFLD on the shower gate incident. Case closed, no penalty, all samples clean. Onward.”

The self described “most tested athlete” needs to be smarter than this....and accurate. When any tester shows up, don’t leave their sight for a prolonged amount of time and then provide samples. For someone who claims to be transparent, he is not acting in a transparent manner. Also, not all samples were clean since the hair sample hasn't been tested yet.  The hair sample test results will put this incident all to rest…whenever that takes place.

You Know You're Doping When...

You flee anti-doping officials. That's what two stage Tour de France winner, Riccardo Ricco chose to do when anti-doping officials were looking for a sample after the fourth stage on July 8th.

Pierre Bordry, the head of the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD), gave this description of the failed great escape, "When he knew he was going to be tested, he went off, and it is the escort who caught him. He found himself blocked off. There was a traffic jam of cars and he could not get through the cars."

The AFLD asked Ricco and his team, Saunier Duval for an apology. The AFLD decided to test Ricco everyday after his erratic behavior. Ricco was expelled before the start of the 12th stage after test results came back positive for EPO and his team quit the race. Ricco and fellow teammate Leonardo Piepoli were then fired.

One has to wonder what Ricco was thinking? If he avoided the doping officials in stage 4, would he have tested clean for the remainder of the race? Did he think officials and the media wouldn't be suspicious if he suddenly wanted to get another ride in after a grueling time trial? Here's a novel, inexpensive testing method: if an athlete flees at the site of doping officials, that counts as a failed test.