Trying to Look Forward

By Jessica | Permalink |

No Comments | April 4th, 2007 | Trackback

jan With the Tour of Flanders coming up this Sunday, there’s plenty to look forward to - the season has barely started, and already things have been exciting. We haven’t even gotten to Paris-Roubaix, Amstel Gold or any of the Grand Tours. Really, it’s a very good thing there’s plenty to look forward to, because looking around at the immediate situation isn’t as warm and fuzzy.

I’m still feeling ill about the Jan Ullrich news of yesterday - mainly because I don’t think this is the end of it. I’ve not been shy on this blog about my (ahem) affections for Ivan Basso, who was also implicated last year when Operacion Puerto first hit the headlines. I’d really like to believe that he wasn’t doping (see my Pollyanna post), and with these DNA tests it appears we’ll eventually be able to find out for sure.

Ullrich’s attorneys are still fighting on his behalf, saying that just because someone has a bag of your blood doesn’t mean you were intending to use performance-enhancing drugs. Even if I postpone the eye-rolling on that one, what that bag of blood does prove is that Ullrich was lying when he said he’d never had any dealings with Dr. Fuentes. Unless they’re going to come out and say Fuentes was somehow acquiring blood from athletes he’d never met or treated on, what, the black market? Please.

Cyclist Jörg Jaksche talked to CyclingNews last year and said, “Even if a bag containing the blood of one of the accused had been found in Fuentes’ apartment, that doesn’t mean that the rider had the intention of enhancing his performance,” he said in December 2006. “It only means that a certain amount of blood was given. … If someone goes into a shop and buys a knife, you can’t convict him of planned homicide, either.” Well, no. But this isn’t quite the same thing. It’s not the same thing by a long shot, in fact.

I hate uncertainty, so I’m anticipating my stomach will be in knots until the last Puerto bag is tested and matched with a human being. I might as well buy stock in Rolaids now.