A sport torn apart

This is a quote from Rolf Aldag, directeur sportif of Team Columbia, as carried in cyclingnews.com: Aldag, was not too happy. "This is really disappointing. There have been a lot of rumours about him in the last few days but this a step back as he's a big fish and he's from a different generation. It was supposed to be a young and new breed but they need to know that they risk more than their careers. They risk the whole sport of cycling. He's caused a lot of damage to the Tour."

He was commenting right after Saunier Duval rider Ricardo Ricco's positive test for CERA before last Thursday's Stage 12 of the Tour de France.

Already Barloworld announced they will end their sponsorship in cycling right after this Tour de France following Moises Duenas' positive test that followed Liquigas' Manuel Beltran's opening positive test five days before Ricco's. Saunier Duval had earlier halted all their activities, until further notice.

Then this came from Prof. Michel Audran, an anti-doping expert who acts as consultant:

"It's a delayed-action EPO, which has a different molecular mass from EPO. It's only been commercially available since the start of the year. We can tell when someone's used it but we can't declare them positive. In that respect it's like Dynepo, another EPO-like product. We know that Micera was being used on the Giro, so I'm not surprised that it's also turned up at the Tour. But I would be very surprised if they AFLD had declared Riccò positive for Micera, for the reasons I've just mentioned. Maybe they searched Riccò's room and found the product itself..."

About CERA - Quote cyclingnews.com from L'Equipe report:

"one of the climber's urine samples collected by the French Anti-Doping Agency AFLD showed traces of a third generation EPO called CERA (Continuous Erythropoietin Receptor Activator)."

Here's the latest sensational Spanish doctor, after Eufemiano Fuentes. He's known as Jesus. Jesus Losa.
Here's Piepoli spilling the beans:

First Edition Cycling News, July 20, 2008
Edited by Laura Weislo
Dueñas, Piepoli confessed

Two riders who have withdrawn from the Tour de France confessed to using EPO, the Spanish daily El Pais reported Saturday. The first, Moises Dueñas, a Spanish rider who was the second to test positive for EPO at the Tour de France, confessed to using the drugs after testing positive. After police uncovered doping products in his hotel room, Dueñas told investigators in Tarbes that he had purchased the products from a Spanish Doctor named Jesus Losa.
Losa, a former team doctor for Euskaltel-Euskadi, was quick to deny he had any involvement. "I have never given banned products to Moises Dueñas," Losa told El Pais. "In fact, I have worked with Dueñas, but only in matters of nutrition, diet and training. And indeed, I have received money from him, I do not know how much, but there are bills around."
Four years ago Losa was named by David Millar as providing him with EPO, but while he was suspended from Euskaltel-Euskadi after that revelation, Losa said he never was charged. "I was never called by a judge to testify as a witness or even less as a defendant," said Losa Saturday. "And if they call me to Tarbes I shall have no problem in going to testify."
Barloworld announced Saturday that it will withdraw its sponsorship from the team following the Tour de France because of the doping scandal.
In the same article, El Pais reported that Italian Leonardo Piepoli, the winner of stage 10, confessed to his directeur sportif Joxean Fernandez Matxin to using EPO. After his team-mate Riccardo Riccò was taken away by police after testing positive for EPO, Piepoli reportedly said to Matxin, "I have done the same as Riccardo."
No positive doping control has been announced yet for Piepoli, but the team's manager, Mauro Gianetti, pulled the entire squad out of the race. Riccò was indicted on the same charges as Duenas in a court in Foix, but denied using EPO.

Who next? That's the question we ask. But also, where are we heading?

The experts knew of CERA's existence and where it was used, by whom... It's "only" been commercially available since the start of the year, said Prof Audran, did he? That makes you IDIOTS seven months behind already doesn't it??!!!!