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| Stars ‘n’ Bikes ‘n’ EPO |
Team Sky yesterday moved to reaffirm their position on doping. In the light of the publication of USADA’s Reasoned Decision on Lance Armstrong, all team members, riders and support staff, have been asked ‘to sign up to a clear written policy, confirming that they have no past or present involvement in doping’. Anyone who refuses to sign or is subsequently found to be in breach will have to leave the team
Although this might initially seem like a solid move towards cleaner and more transparent team, with a strong anti-doping ethic, there are fundamental flaws in such an approach.
Effectively, when faced with this policy there are three possible scenarios for the individual:
1. The rider/staff member has not been involved in doping, so will therefore sign;
2. The rider/staff member has been involved in doping, is open about this, refusing to sign, and therefore uses their job;
3. The rider staff/member has been involved in doping, but recognising that the other option is to lose their job, signs in the hope that they will not be found out.
Obviously we are in hope that the vast majority will be able to take scenario 1, signing the policy truthfully.
For those who have been involved in doping, the choice between 2 and 3 seems fairly clear. We must remember that many of the allegations dealt with in the Armstrong case file date back over ten years. Individuals named as being involved in doping have therefore been able to remain silent for all this time despite the guilt surely lingering at the back of their minds. Having lived a lie for all this time, surely they will have no problem going straight for scenario 3, continuing to deny their past involvement for even longer.
So who might this effect? There appear to be three members of Team Sky who have been allegedly involved but not formally accused.
Sean Yates – Senior Directeur Sportif
Despite being a DS at Discovery in 2005, and continuing to work with Johan Bruyneel, including during Armstrong’s 2009 comeback at Astana, Yates denies any knowledge of doping on the teams he worked with. Yates is also pictured with so-called Motoman (above), a Nice bike shop owner who spent the 1999 Tour de France on a moped supplying EPO to USPS. In Yates’ defence, USADA only redacted those who were implicated in doping but whose role fell outside the investigation, suggesting that USADA does not have evidence of his involvement. However, given the extent of doping at Discovery, it barely seems credible that a leading DS would have been oblivious. Unrelated to the USADA investigation, Yates is reported to have failed a drugs test at the 1989 Torhout-Werchter Classic, but the incident was dropped after mix-ups over labelling of the sample
Michael Rogers – Rider
Above is an excerpt from the affidavit of Levi Leipheimer, alleging that Michael Rogers attended one of Dr. Ferrari’s notorious Tenerife ‘training camps’ alongside Popovych, Kashechkin and Vinokourov, three men who are unlikely to become Bike Pure ambassadors any time soon. Although I should be at pains to state here that there is no actual evidence that Rogers doped, any association with Ferrari is a problem.
Bobby Julich – Race Coach
Student Cyclist 