After the leak that another rider tested positive, the speculators came out in force. Trying to guess who was guilty. Ras? Contador? Soler? Must be Soler. An unknown from Colombia. More speculators fed this frenzy until cries of "off with his head" could be heard. The kid & his team were condemned without proof or even the press conference. This is the problem I have with the testing & more importantly, with the leaks to the press. I'm sure performance drugs are prevelant in cycling as in other professional sports. But the controls & testing need to be better controled as well as having a tighter leash on the riders. I don't know how to completely eliminate doping, but inciting a mob is not it. That's my .02. Enjoy the ride.

well said...although I don't think this was related to a leak from the lab.

I am mystified how the lab cannot get to the bottom of the leaks and stop them. It only serves to undermine the integrity of their findings. Although this was not a leak from the lab, its amazing how people can run with something they have heard and take it as truth.

No question the Danish paper was completely irresponsible to report on this without confirming. And other "news" sources such as eurosport and cyclingnews should have waited for comfirmation before quoting the Danish paper. And I watched with amusement how this thing grew into a real life incident on all the cycling forums, including this one...

I felt mislead by this from cyclingnews:

It suggested there would be an announcement of a positive, when in reality the press conference was on a different topic, an they simply squelched the rumor in the process..

. . .as if people have been not giving the pros the benefit-of-the-doubt for the past 3 seasons. This is the sort of thing that might happen when fans are repeatedly lied to by the athletes.

Though the standard reply to that is to get your head out of your ass, this is not new, you should have known about it you silly newbie.

Makes you question their journalistic integrity, that's for sure. Harder to believe the riders, and now it's getting harder to believe the press. What a mess.

Yeah, but it's not hurting the sport any.

You make a good point for sure. If a laboratory cannot control leaks, how to we trust said lab to test fairly? There's obviously at least ONE person in the know that is crooked. Just another chapter in this year's book of dopage I guess.

... Brad