Photography by Cor Vos, Kristof Ramon

Rocacorba Daily

by CyclingTips - April 23, 2014

Good morning and welcome to your Wednesday edition of the Rocacorba Daily news digest. In the headlines today: Johan Bruyneel Receives 10-Year Doping Ban; Colombian cyclists refused UK visas for Giro d'Italia start; la Flèche Wallonne preview; Verve Cycling to launch InfoCrank power meter; Thereabouts.

Johan Bruyneel Receives 10-Year Doping Ban

The USADA has banned Lance Armstrong’s former sports director Johan Bruyneel from all sport for 10 years over his role in doping in cycling.

A panel found Bruyneel, former US Postal team doctor Pedro Celaya, and team trainer Jose ‘Pepe’ Marti guilty of multiple doping violations.

“The evidence establishes conclusively that Mr. Bruyneel was at the apex of a conspiracy to commit widespread doping on the USPS and Discovery Channel teams spanning many years and many riders,” said a USADA statement.

“Similarly, Dr. Celaya and Mr. Marti were part of, or at least allowed themselves to be used as instruments of, that conspiracy.”

Following the hearings by an independent three-member panel of the American Arbitration Association for the North American Court of Arbitration for Sport (AAA) Bruyneel copped a 10-year ban from sport while Celaya and Marti were both given eight years.

Bruyneel said on his personal blog that he has been unfairly singled out.

“I do not dispute that there are certain elements of my career that I wish had been different,” said Bruyneel.

“Nor do I dispute that doping was a fact of life in the peloton for a considerable period of time.

“However, a very small minority of us has been used as scapegoats for an entire generation. There is clearly something wrong with a system that allows only six individuals to be punished as retribution for the sins of an era.”

For a good analysis on USADA’s decision, head over to the InnerRing.

Colombian cyclists refused UK visas for Giro d’Italia start

UK cycling fans are being urged by writer and broadcaster Matt Randell to contact the British Embassy in Colombia and ask that visas be granted to five riders to allow them to take part in the Giro d’Italia, which starts in Belfast on Friday 9 May.

@hugoswire World's 2nd biggest bike race starts in Belfast on 9 May, & Colombia's top racing cyclists can't get UK visas. Can u help?

— Matt Rendell (@mrendell) April 22, 2014

According to reports, last year’s Giro runner-up Rigoberto Uran’s visa is said to be “pending,” (according to the Twitter feed of Colombian cycling blog, La Cadenilla) and two of the riders have gone to Rome to apply for their visas. Carlos Quintero, Jarlinson Pantano, and national champion and 2012 Giro stage winner Miguel Rubiano, all of Colombia Coldeportes, the reason for the rejection of their visas seems more of a technicality than anything else.

la Flèche Wallonne preview

In between Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, we find the mid-week Ardennes Classic Flèche Wallonne. This is the 78th edition of the race and as usual it all comes down to the feared berg ‘Mur de Huy’ which is climbed three times during the race. Favorites include Philippe Gilbert (BMC), last year’s winner Dani Moreno (Katusha), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE), and Jelle Vanendert (Lotto-Belisol).

See the full startlist for la Flèche Wallonne 2014 here.

For more information on the favorites, read Mikkel Condé’s preview of the race here.

Or if you just want some simple entertainment of watching Gewiss-Ballan loaded up to the eyeballs with EPO in 1994 Fleche Wallonne and taking 1-2-3, have a look at this:

La Fleche Wallonne Femmes: Race preview

It’s not only the men who take to the ‘Mur de Huy at Fleche Wallonne tomorrow. The women’s edition is also being held tomorrow (Wednesday) which sees both Marianne Vos (Rabo-Liv) and Emma Pooley (Lotto-Belisol Ladies) return to World Cup racing for the first time in 2014 who have both have won the race before.

See the full La Fleche Wallonne Femmes startlist here.

Verve Cycling to launch InfoCrank power meter

Australian brand Verve Cycling is just a few weeks away from delivering its first crank-based power meter starting at US$1,750.

InfoCrank measures each leg independently (accuracy stated as ±2% of maximum reading capability) and gives cadence using a magnetic sensor. It measures power by multiplying torque (in Nm) by cadence to display your power in watts. They use the “KIP power measuring system” to measure torque.

Verve says that InfoCrank can be use “anywhere you can ride your road bike”, and claim that it’s “almost unbreakable”. They say that they’ve been commissioned by the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) to design versions for track, MTB and BMX.

Read more on Road.cc and the Verve Infocrank website.

Thereabouts

Today we feature Lachlan and Gus Morton’s tale of their 2500km ride over twelve days from Port Macquarie to Uluru in an effort do rediscover the adventure side of of cycling. Read about their epic adventure here.

The Rocacorba Recap

And finally this morning, here are a few things you might have missed at CyclingTips:

Tags: Johan Bruyneel, Rocacorba Daily

eyeballs

I know it’s not “Right” bit that ’94 Gewiss video is still a cracker to watch …. if it doesn’t get you revved up then nothing will !
- James
  
  And top points for correct use of the cycling caps!
  Old school helmets too.
- Ronny
  
  The 3 Gewiss riders wouldn’t have blown out a candle at the finish. Amazing talent.
- Gilbertisback
  
  It actually doesn’t get me revved up at all. No attacks, just an emotionless drugged up team train not getting challenged at all.
Michele

Bruyneel ‘only’ gets 10 years. I’m actually quite surprised. I would’ve expected a life-time ban based on what I’ve read.

Inrng has provided a great analysis of it all, [check it out if you haven’t]. Couldn’t agree more about Contador and Riis, especially Riis.

What with Frank ‘getting training plans’ from Fuentes, to testimony by Hamilton and others that there was a doping program going on at CSC, to the infamous Luigi, no one seems that interested in getting to the bottom of it all.
- jules
  
  i actually sympathise with Bruyneel and Lance about being scapegoated. justice handed down inconsistently is not justice at all. of course, the answer is for others to be sanctioned, not for those guys to be let off more lightly.
  - Michele
    
    I’ve gone the full spectrum with Lance.
    
    I was a big fan of his until I read his book “It’s all about the bike [in 2002]”. Then I started to dislike the guy. His book just put me off.
    
    Then as time went on, I read LA Confidential, Lance to Landis etc., and I really despised the guy.
    
    Then when doing some media work at TdU and sat in on his interviews, and even managed to grab a sound bite from him: I thought at the time he had some major personality insecurities. I even started to sympathise with him.
    
    Then his attacks on Landis started and I went into full ‘dislike Lance’ mode.
    
    But with all that has been done and said, what surprises me is how I have reacted to reading both ‘Cycle of Lies’ and ‘Wheelmen’.
    
    I guess it’s because I didn’t really learn a whole lot more about the guy or his exploits. But again, I started to sympathise with him. As much as I am glad Tygart persevered in catching Lance, I still can’t reconcile why he would get a life time ban, at best 8 years with full co-operation, whilst others [Hincapie included] received just 6 months. Tygart’s reasoning hasn’t been convincing to me, especially as detailed in Cycle of Lies.
    
    So in short, the book that was written by LA to attract fans [Not about the bike], turned me off him, and the book[s] detailing how bad his doping has been has earned him some of my sympathy.
    
    Go figure.
    - jules
      
      good post. a personal peeve of mine is people trying to turn things into moral issues. Lance and others were just guys trying to win races and money - they crossed moral boundaries, but so have all of us at different points and to varying degrees. as i see it, the problem is that sports fans want to see their heroes as not just gifted and committed, but morally righteous. it’s a poor fit for pursuits that reward ruthlessness and even cheating. i’m suspicious of guys like Dave Walsh and Paul Kimmage - who seem to want to wage war and maintain the rage with Lance and his associates. i understand things got personal there (litigation) so i don’t entirely blame them, but it strikes me that they appear to exhibit some of the same traits (e.g. absolute single-mindedness about pursuing their respective goals - even after they helped take him down they haven’t relented) as they criticise Lance for. we all have an agenda i guess.
    - pedr09
      
      The lifetime ban seems a bit over the top to me too but you say “8 years with full co-operation”. What co-operation were you meaning here? If full co-operation was going to get him 8 years, then a lifetime ban seems understandable given his zero co-operation, and in reality, outright antagonism of the USADA process.
      - Michele
        
        I’m paraphrasing here, but Tygart offered LA an 8 year ban [according to Cycle of Lies] provided LA fully co-operated with USADA and gave them the names they wanted.
        
        I’m 99% sure LA was given just two options - fully co-operate and get 8 year ban or it would be a life-time ban.
        
        Macur quotes LA as saying ‘I’m not a snitch .. never would I through anyone under the bus’ [or words to that affect. Although Macur also reported in the book, LA was willing to name names if he could get his ban reduced to 6 months like everyone else.
        
        Not sure if you’ve read either or all of Hamilton’s ‘The Secret Race’, Macur’s ‘Cycle of Lies’ or ‘Wheelmen’, but there is no doubt Tygart really just wanted to get LA.
        
        Those riders who got ‘just’ 6 months gave some very interesting, sometimes inconsistent, and somewhat vague testimony.
        
        Several of the riders were happy to admit they doped whilst at US Postal, but “never saw LA dope”. This testimony obviously contradicts the whole ‘doping on the bus parked on the mountain side road’ episode that Flandis alludes to.
        
        I just wonder if Tygart was so hell-bent on getting Lance that USADA’s witnesses weren’t questioned/cross-examined as thoroughly as perhaps they should have been.
        
        For the record, I can handle LA getting 8 years / life-time ban. No problems with that at all.
        
        I have an issue with someone like George Hincapie who was so concerned that his clothing business would fold, he was reluctant to spill the beans.
        
        And don’t even get me started on his ‘Hotel Domestique’, complete with the ‘Restaurant 17′. I think it would’ve been more fitting to maybe call it ‘Restaurant 3 or 5′. How many times did he ride the TdF clean?
        
        And he gets a 6 month ban, post his retirement anyway.
  - velocite
    
    I’ve always admired both Lance and Bruyneel, although maybe ‘awed’ is more like it. I do agree with Bruyneel that he’s been scapegoated. but that of course was exactly what was needed - identify the ringleaders and put their heads up on long poles. Gets the message across. From the Idi Amin approach to industrial relations.
  - Arfy
    
    Bruyneel had the chance - some would say many chances - to put his side of the story across. He was the one that decided not to front up to USADA to explain himself, so I don’t buy his “scapegoat” attitude if he’s not prepared to put it all out in the open.
Paolo

This Robert Power kid is taking over the “big Aussie hope” title from Ewan if he keeps going like that. Amazing results for a first year senior in some hard euro races.
- velocite
  
  Is this a comment on something in this blog? Can’t find it.
  - Sean
    
    I was wondering the same thing.
  - http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
    
    It’s from the race results that are featured on the homepage. Robert Power came 2nd last night in a U23 race in Italy (G.P. Palio del Recioto). See full results here: http://cyclingtips.com.au/2014/04/2014-g-p-palio-del-recioto-results/
scottmanning

Wade I thought we weren’t going to have ads that flash on the page anymore? The “Get the Kit” ad is another of those very annoying adverts. Because it follows you down the page it’s downright annoying.
- http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
  
  Scott, thanks for the feedback however please understand that advertising and a few kit sales is the only thing that pays for the content and keeps this site free for all our readers. I’m happy to share with you the amount of money it costs to keep this site running (it’s far more than you might think). We try to make our advertisements as tasteful as possible while maintaining a balance of them being noticed while not being distracting.
  - scottmanning
    
    I realise that, I have no problem with the advertising on the page. Heck I even click on them from time to time to add to your click through traffic. It’s just the swapping from one image to the next on an advert, combined with the fact it follows down the page. Together it is a bit much. In the end I put a post-it note on the monitor to cover it up because I simply could not concentrate on the artcles! Could you try to make them fade rather than instantly swap, or slow it down? The Amy’s Grand Fondo one is not too bad, it’s flashing a lot slower.
    - http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
      
      Thanks Scott. I’ll definitely keep it in mind when putting new ads up. Cheers.
- Dave
  
  Have to agree. The lack of learning after last time around with the S***t C****n ads shows a pretty stunning level of contempt for the readers.
  
  Wade ought to remember that as a media business, the readership is his only asset.
  - Faz
    
    Its contemptuous to suggest this site holds its readers with contempt.
    
    While this site is free to readers I am always of the belief those who put the hard earned into it can do as they please to maintain what they do and how they do it. There are plenty of cycling blogs and websites out there, but there is a reason why I personally keep coming back to this one in particular and not some of the others.
    
    A lot of other cycling sites should be embarrassed by what they do and could learn a hell of a lot from what Wade and the rest of the crew have done with this site.
Neil

I’m a bit disappointed with USADA on this one. For me, Bruyneel was the man they should have been chasing harder than Lance. After US Postal, Bruyneel went on to Discovery, Astana, Radioshack, etc - working with riders who are still in the Peloton today.
I can’t believe that the doping stopped when Lance retired. So when did Bruyneel stop the system he had put in place, and who else was dragged into this? The amount of riders involved is enormous.
This is what WADA/USADA should have been focusing on. Changing the Peloton of today and tomorrow instead of chasing a guy who had already left the sport.
mt

CT Kudos for your ongoing support of the women’s racing calendar; have they completely replaced the men in the Fleche Wallonne (see link) or are you making them race twice? #hardtaskmaster ;-)
- http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
  
  oops…fixed!
Dave

The Giro visa thing is seriously messed up, I don’t see why turn about shouldn’t be fair when the British team was allowed into Colombia to contest the track worlds this year.

The organisers of both the Grand Tours to start in the UK this year should be giving the UK govt 24 hours notice to sort it out or have the UK stages cancelled and the stage licensing fees put to work organising replacement stages.
- jules
  
  you can’t demand certain nationals of your country be granted entry to another country, just because your country granted entry to some random nationals from their country once. unless i’m missing something here, cases are usually decided on their individual merits.
  - Dave
    
    Ummmm yes you can, international relations is all about fair play going back and forth. That’s why diplomatic missions are mutually exchanged when relations are good and mutually withdrawn when they aren’t going so well, and also why visa restrictions are exchanged fairly.
    
    That *all* the Colombian entrants are being refused entry to contest the Giro would suggest it is anything but cases being decided on their individual merits. Being well-paid professional athletes with established residency in Europe would not make them a risk of becoming economic refugees, and even if they did it would probably be beneficial for Britain to gain a few more ‘flag of convenience’ athletes to join Kevin Pietersen and Chris Froome.
    
    Regardless of the diplomatic aspect, the organisers do have the power to put the ball in the UK government’s court by serving notice that the races will be withdrawn on a force majeure basis and the Italian/French governments lobbied to refuse entry to British nationals associated with the cycling world (Haven’t you heard the suggestions that Team Sky are on the juice? Wouldn’t be good to let in people who might be druggies!) in May and July. The UK has a lot to lose if that happens, their ailing economy needs the Tour a lot more than the Tour needs the UK.
    - jules
      
      why not go all the way and nuke them? ;)
      
      i’m sure there is a more reasonable solution. i was just saying i/we? don’t know why they have not been granted visas. there could be a valid reason.
      - Dave
        
        Well they did nuke Australia numerous times in the 1950’s, that could be fair. Need to nuke South Africa too if want to see the benefits in the next Ashes series.
        
        I agree that there should be a more reasonable solution - and I would suggest that pressure from the Colombian Government, the UCI, RCS Sport (Giro) and the ASO (Tour) should help the UK government come around to it. An appropriate threat of withdrawal of the races and equal-opposite reprisals against British cyclists (nightly 2:30am police raids looking for drugs - got to keep looking even if you can’t find them the first, second, eleventh or nineteenth times!) would only need to become an actual event if the UK government chose to go down that path instead of doing the right thing.