Scandal!

Following on from Katyusha's Antonio Coloms' positive test for EPO the other day... still awaiting conformation of his B-sample but lets be honest, he's fooked!... i happened to read that the UCI will be releasing the names of an "undisclosed number of professional riders" who have been caught out by the new biological passport system which as i understand follows the riders blood haematocrit levels etc from controls and compares them to their other values throughout the season as to see if there is a large difference ... hence a product has been taken to raise said level.

An article on cyclingnews.com is saying that the names could be released as early as Monday next week (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/jun09/jun10news2) i'm thinking some big names might be about to miss out on this years Tour de France.

Was asking myself though, why is it that they release the names of busted riders just before the Tour de France each year? I know that they have to be released some time but it seems like they like to hold the suspence until the cycling worlds eyes are all focusing on who will be turning up on the start line for the tour ... or this year who won't be on the start line is a better question. This is when cycling has most worldwide attention and therefore releasing doped riders names at this time helps to further taint the sport. Joe Public already sees the sport and the Tour as a scandal... the UCI isn't helping itself in my opinion. But thats my opinion. Random post i know but beats a race report day in day out!