From Slowtwitch
Yesterday, our friend and fellow STer, G. Chris Gleason (Chris G), passed away suddenly at the age of 40 after completing the Philadelphia Marathon. Chris leaves behind his incredible wife and two beautiful children — a daughter, 9, and son, 6. He is also survived by his father, mother and younger sister. His wife asked that this news be posted so that that we have a space to share our memories and stories.
As many of you know first-hand, Chris was an amazing athlete. In July he went 10:11:04 at Ironman Lake Placid, besting his fastest Ironman time by more than a half hour in what was a non-wetsuit swim (he was pretty damn proud of that).
Most important though, Chris was a dedicated and loving father and husband. Training for Ironman, he’d set off at 4:30 AM routinely no matter how cold or wet the weather. Come hell or high water, he was back at the house when the kids woke up. His job was putting them on the bus, and I dont think he ever missed that responsibility when he wasn’t out of town on business.
You can read the entire tribute HERE
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Planet-X vient de dévoiler sa nouvelle collection pour cette année. Et c’est tout simplement impressionnant. Si vous ne connaissez pas cette marque, elle a une offre très bon marché puisqu’elle vend en direct (exit le distributeur et le magasin de vélo), cela signifie que le vélo est vendu pratiquement à la moitié du prix de son équivalent dans le commerce. Évidemment, vous devez absolument savoir ce que vous voulez et oublier le positionnage gratuit…
Pour voir la collection c’est ici. On aime beaucoup leur vélo aéro. Surtout quand on sait que le cadre sera à moins de 1500$. Ironiquement, on le trouve beaucoup plus joli que le S5 et Venge, mais bon, on ne choisit pas un vélo en fonction de son look! (photo > bikeradar).
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Il y aussi un tas de liens à lire chez nos idoles, velonations.
Surtout, ce sont les seuls qui décrivent le mieux le cas de Contador. Son procès doit couter des millions en frais d’avocats et de spécialistes. Attendus à la barre, les producteurs de viande espagnol, le boucher du fameux ami. On vient d’apprendre que finalement, il n’était pas le seul à avoir mangé cette viande… 4-5 co-équipiers aussi. Ce qui est fascinant, c’est qu’on vient aussi d’apprendre que la WADA aurait un autre dossier sur lui encore plus gros.
On ne sait pas si la fameuse trace de plastique dans son sang sera discutée. Il paraitrait que ce produit est aussi mis dans les emballages de viande afin de mieux la conserver… ah.
The latter would only apply in the case of the court deciding that he had deliberate cheated. The UCI told VeloNation earlier this year that its case pertained to Contador’s claims of food contamination alone. More recently, though, Spanish newspaper El Pais suggested one week ago that WADA would pursue a case based on more serious charges.
If the paper’s information is correct, the previously-reported presence of plasticizers in samples from the rider could see WADA suggest that Clenbuterol got into his system after the rider underwent a banned transfusion during the Tour.
Neither the UCI nor WADA have commented recently on the case, with both saying that they are unable to speak on the matter.
However El Pais’ suggestions of the witnesses and experts on both sides suggest the likely approaches to be employed by the defence and those appealing.
Much testimony to be covered:
A total of 23 people are said to be appearing, with ten of these speaking for the appeal and the remaining thirteen representing Contador.
WADA’s group is reported as including the agency’s scientific director Olivier Rabin, Australian anti-doping expert Michael Ashenden, who is part of the UCI’s biological passport analysis body, Pierre Sottas, who worked to develop the passport and two lab analysts who carried out the sample analysis.
A biostatician will reportedly try to show that to return a positive test for clenbuterol, a very large amount of meat would need to be eaten to show traces in urine. A Spanish lawyer will be called to back up suggestions that this route is unlikely, as well as the butcher who sold the steak plus the manager of the Spanish association of cattle ranchers.
VeloNation has heard suggestions that a witness close to cycling could also appear, but no further details are known.
Meanwhile Contador will have 13 people speaking in his defence, including US lie detector expert Louis Rovner, who will reportedly use the polygraph analysis of a statement by Contador to try to show he’s telling the truth.
Also part of the line-up is Vivian James, an 87 year old anti-doping expert who was part of a UK Sport Expert Committee which reported in 2000 that some Nandralone cases were caused by contamination and that minimum thresholds should be set, as well as Paul Scott, who in the past ran out-of-competition testing for teams now called HTC Highroad and Garmin-Cervélo.
It will also include the Italian hematologist Giuseppe Banfi, who was part of his case before the Spanish federation, a British biostatician who will question the UCI’s biological passport and a German expert in plasticizers. The latter will be called if WADA does indeed pursue blood transfusion charges. A civil guard [Spanish policeman] plus a private detective who tried to trace the origin of the meat reportedly bought in Irún are also said to be appearing.
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Mark Cavendish and David Cameron guests at McLaren Production Centre
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Mauvaise nouvelle pour notre ami Louis Garneau, son équipe pour laquelle il donne tant… vient de manquer la coupure pour être ProTour. Cela signifie que Europcar pourrait ne pas être présent à Montréal et à Québec. Enfin, Thomas ne semblait pas trop intéressé à venir l’année dernière. Cela dépendra des invitations de l’organisateur… donc son choix devrait être facile, tu ne voudrais pas facher quelqu’un quand même.