Fredke
08-18-2007, 10:13 AM
This has got to be a first. Numerous pro teams complaining loudly (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=features/2007/toona_no_testing07) that there is too little testing. Jonas Carney, a former racer and now director of the Kelly Benefits/Medifast team was also frustrated. "I understand that it is not possible for USADA to be at all of the NRC races," he said. "I do believe however that USADA does not test nearly enough. They rarely show up at NRC events, never do any blood testing, and their out of competition testing covers only a very small pool of US cyclists."
"As someone who never doped, and someone who works very hard to have a clean team, it is frustrating. The doping problem is not isolated to ProTour racing in Europe and steps should be taken here in the states. I for one would be thrilled if USADA would offer no advance notice out of competition testing for pro teams in America. We would be the first to sign up."
Also, WTF is with this?Beyond not testing at the highest-level events or communicating enough beforehand, a bigger complaint among some race promoters is that USADA does not follow-up with results -- either negative or positive -- which can seriously affect prize money pay-outs. "USADA has never told me anything about results," said LaPorte. "We wait a month and hope. You have to send [prizes] out eventually, and I assume it's OK since I never read anything in the news that someone tested positive."
A bigger problem happened at the Tour de 'Toona two years ago when Genevieve Jeanson tested positive (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/jan06/jan20news). Race officials were never informed by the USADA and had paid the prize money out, only to read in the news months later that Jeanson should have been disqualified and her prize money forfeited.
And, of course, we have the inevitable: Ed Beamon thinks that USADA has made priorities, just not in the best way. "USADA seems to have prioritised cycling," he said regarding its focus on the sport. "At the same time I think they should be concerned with showing up at the Red Sox-Yankee game!"
"As someone who never doped, and someone who works very hard to have a clean team, it is frustrating. The doping problem is not isolated to ProTour racing in Europe and steps should be taken here in the states. I for one would be thrilled if USADA would offer no advance notice out of competition testing for pro teams in America. We would be the first to sign up."
Also, WTF is with this?Beyond not testing at the highest-level events or communicating enough beforehand, a bigger complaint among some race promoters is that USADA does not follow-up with results -- either negative or positive -- which can seriously affect prize money pay-outs. "USADA has never told me anything about results," said LaPorte. "We wait a month and hope. You have to send [prizes] out eventually, and I assume it's OK since I never read anything in the news that someone tested positive."
A bigger problem happened at the Tour de 'Toona two years ago when Genevieve Jeanson tested positive (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/jan06/jan20news). Race officials were never informed by the USADA and had paid the prize money out, only to read in the news months later that Jeanson should have been disqualified and her prize money forfeited.
And, of course, we have the inevitable: Ed Beamon thinks that USADA has made priorities, just not in the best way. "USADA seems to have prioritised cycling," he said regarding its focus on the sport. "At the same time I think they should be concerned with showing up at the Red Sox-Yankee game!"