The Phonak soap opera continues . . .

[BumbleBeeDave]

From today’s CyclingNews.com . . . .

_________________________________

Phonak team doctor resigns

According to Spanish Diario Vasco, the doctor of Swiss Phonak Cycling team, Iñaki Arratibel, has officially resigned from his position in a letter to team manager Urs Freuler dated October 31. Phonak has been in the center of a recent doping scandal involving its riders Tyler Hamilton and Santiago Perez, currently suspended by the team.

"I feel very frustrated at the moment," Arratibel told Diario Vasco. "Not because of a lack of trust towards the riders, that have assured us of their innocence, but because of the behaviour the UCI's medical commission has showed during this whole process." Arratibel says he doubts the validity of the blood transfusion test - doubts that have been repeatedly expressed by Phonak team management - and is critical the way in which the UCI is managing the case.

"Firstly, the UCI continues to use a detection method that is questioned at the moment, said Arratibel, "Secondly, it leaves the cyclists completely defenceless with regard to the controls; thirdly, the UCI suspects everybody since the beginning of this affair, but directly accuses the medical management of our team. Finally, the said commission never intended to co-operate with the medical group, it only asked us for controls without giving us the necessary means to do so," the doctor continued, claiming the innocence of Phonak's medical staff. He also explained that his leave was due to "the pain my family has been going through as the ethics of the medical profession have been questioned publicly."

[Andreu]

why did he resign then?

[Dr. Doofus]

Dear Phonak:

Your Doctor is of the opinion that your doctor resigned because he wasn't up to the task of preparing the riders without getting caught..sloppy...sloppy...sloppy...everything Harry Lime (who should, if he existed, have been your doctor) said about Switzerland is true (and Lime's comments about the Borgias reveal why the Italians will always remain at the cutting edge of ethical ambiguity). Three high-profile riders busted in one year...but, as was said before...you all did invent the cukoo clock.


Your Humble Servant,

Dr. D. Doofus, Esq.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . then I guess I would assume (along with many other people) that a doctor helped them do it. I imagine he is the most likely suspect. No matter what Phonak management says in public, they are smart cookies and have to have thought of what to do if their private medical board comes back and says, “the blood test is legit, your riders doped--with help from someone.” He might be resigning because he knows he’s guilty--or because he just feels the system is rigged against the riders, they will be found guilty no matter what, and he’s being set up to take the fall. Pure speculation on my part . . . :confused:

BBDave

[Too Tall]

Elvis Costello said it best: "Blame it on Cain Don't blame it on me Oh-oh, oh, It's nobody's fault, but we need somebody to burn".

[Big Dan]

Still don't understand why the UCI would want to bring down one of its members?? Just blaming the UCI is the easy way out of this one.. :argue:

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . in politics and the deeds people will do for reasons of power and ego. We have done plenty of stories around here about little Hitlers in local or state government who have finally been booted. The head of Albany OTB (Off Track Betting) a few years ago. The head of SPAC (Saratoga Performing Arts Center) just agree yesterday to have his contract bought out after 28 years of running his own little fiefdom at the center.

UCI reminds me of that, with Verbruggen there for years and doing pretty much as he pleases. Remember how UCI was the very last sports governing body to sign on to WADA drug controls this past summer? . . . and even then , they came within days of Olympic cycling not happening because UCI would not agree to use WADA's testing standards. What was up with that? I have a strong feeling from what I have read that nothing happens at UCI unless Verbruggen wants it to. But who knows? It could be a money matter, it could be a personal pissing match of some sort, or it could just be because Verbruggen's mom doesn't like her Phonak hearing aid and nags him about it . . . but there is no reason too far-fetched to surprise me.

Anyway, here's another item about this, this one from ProCycling, which does some very good coverage.

BBDave
________________________________

Phonak doctor hits out at UCI
11/17/2004
Phonak team doctor Iñaki Arratibel quits cycling with a final blast at the UCI's stance on doping and still convinced of his riders' innocence on blood doping charges.

PICTURE BY LAVUELTA.COM

The day after it was revealed in the Spanish press that he has resigned from his post as doctor with the Phonak team, Iñaki Arratibel has told Marca that he is leaving cycling for good and with a bitter taste in his mouth. “I am a doctor and I refuse to act as a policeman with regard to cyclists. For this reason, and because my family also asked me to, I am quitting,” said Arratibel.

The former Banesto and BigMat doctor said that he found himself in an “untolerable professional situation” following the announcement of the positive tests for blood doping recorded by Phonak riders Tyler Hamilton and Santiago Perez. “Neither the team nor I myself have been able to defend me. The team wanted me to stay but my family comes first and the team have understood that,” said Arratibel, who went on to condemn the attitude of the International Cycling Union (UCI).

“The UCI considers the team doctors are guilty, and most of us have not given them any reason to think this. The UCI is trying to make us act as policemen, they want us to pull cyclists out of races at the least hint of suspicion, but without having some proof I can’t leave someone without work because they could take legal proceedings against me. I can’t work like that and for that reason I’m saying no to this, because I don’t have an anti-doping laboratory at my disposal and I can’t tell if blood levels are the result of a high-altitude training camp or something else,” said the outgoing Phonak doctor.

Having condemned what he sees as the UCI’s attitude on doping, describing them as applying “incorrect methods” and of “treading on people’s fundamental rights”, Arratibel said that “cycling is the ugly duckling, because it now seems to have become the test bed for the battle against doping.”

The Basque doctor also hit out at the blood doping tests that have provoked the recent controversy surrounding Phonak. “From what I know, scientifically there are doubts about this method… it can give false positives.” For that reason, he told Marca he believes in Hamilton and Perez’s claims of innocence on the blood doping charges, but added that “if in the end their guilt is proved I will feel I have been deceived.”

In his resignation letter to Phonak team manager Urs Freuler, Arratibel wrote: “I am leaving not because I don’t have any confidence in Hamilton and Perez, who have assured us of their innocence, but because I am not in agreement with the behaviour of the UCI’s medical commission… which has never collaborated with us, contenting itself instead with asking us to toughen the controls on riders without giving us the means to do so.”

According to this morning’s edition of L’Equipe, doctors at the UCI have sent several riders on the Phonak team letters expressing their concern at suspect blood levels, although the team refused to confirm this information.

[Needs Help]

Dear Tyler Hamilton,

Where o where are the polygraph tests showing you've never doped and bolstering your case that the test is somehow flawed?

Dear Phonak Herr Team Doctor,

Where o where are the polygraph tests showing that you never helped your riders dope?

[vaxn8r]

Better yet, why not volunteer to continue signing up for repeat tests? I mean, if he has that 1 in 5 gazillion chance of having rare blood type with two different antigens, then the test should be positive forever. Right?

[BumbleBeeDave]

That trial balloon has already been floated, and so far I think it’s still floating--hasn’t been shot down yet and seems like a good idea. If he truly does have some sort of rare blood condition, then it would keep showing up.

NH . . . Polygraphs, on the other hand, have definitely been shown to be unreliable and are not accepted as evidence in any court of law on this side of the big pond that I know of. Perhaps you could find a more plausible way to indulge your sarcasm? . . .

BBDave

[William]

The Basque doctor also hit out at the blood doping tests that have provoked the recent controversy surrounding Phonak. “From what I know, scientifically there are doubts about this method… it can give false positives.” For that reason, he told Marca he believes in Hamilton and Perez’s claims of innocence on the blood doping charges, but added that “if in the end their guilt is proved I will feel I have been deceived.”

Kind of a contradiction don't you think. He basically says the test is flawed, but yet he doesn't say that if found guilty, he feels it's bogus because of the test. Instead, he claims he will feel he has been "deceived" by the riders. Maybe I'm off here, but that sounds a little kooky to me. More like setting up "an out".

I don't know, but if one truly believes they are innocent they usually stick to their guns. Is it possible that he may suspect that the riders went around him to get the job done? Pro cyclists are like race horses, meaning they are $$$ to the sponsors. One would think that they would have a pretty good idea of what was going on physically with their charges. Coaches log and keep track of all the mileage and training stats of the team members. It would be pretty obvious to the coaches if a rider is all of a sudden going above and beyond their regular stats. Trying to say that a rider went off on their own and doped up doesn't wash with me...unless of course they train on their own and just show up at race time to ride together.:rolleyes:

This all reminds me of the 91 Tour when every member of the PDM team got sick and quickly dropped out in the middle of the Tour because they were injected by the team doctor with a batch of "un-refridgerated medication". One would think the doc would know better.

Any way, it smells. I'm not saying any one is guilty yet, but something smells here.

William

[vaxn8r]

Guilty, guilty guilty! There, I said it William and I think it stinks anyway.

Dave, I proposed that Tyler keep retaking the test a couple of months ago. If he's so dang sure of himself I wonder why he wont step forward. It's really the simplest way to tell if he's lying or not. If it were you wouldn't you be right there with your shirt sleeve rolled up saying "do it again man". I would. Instead, he keeps attacking the accusers in every media outlet that will print his side of the story.

Tyler, step up the plate and shut up already!

[BumbleBeeDave]

“More like setting up "an out".“ . . . I think that’s exactly what he’s doing. He might very see that the chances are overwhelming that he’s gonna be made a scapegoat by SOMEBODY, so he better get out now.

And Vax . . . I agree, but to be fair, we really don’t know WHAT Tyler is doing to set up a defense. He may be taking another blood test every week and having the lab work witnessed by a dozen notaries, the entire Mormon Tabernacle Choir and cast of “ER”, but until the actual hearings everything people are saying about what exactly his defense might be is pure speculation.

BBDave

[slowgoing]

He can't be replicating the test every week because they won't give him the protocol they used. And I don't see the UCI or IOC offering to let him take the test again.

[Needs Help]

The police use polygraphs all the time. In addition, polygraphs can be introduced as evidence in a criminal trial. However, Tyler Hamilton is not facing criminal charges, so the same rules of evidence, and strict standards like "innocent until proven guilty" and "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" are not applicable here or there.

In any event, there are no rules of evidence in the court of public opinion. If Tyler Hamilton is innocent, why isn't he taking polygraph tests and giving the results to the press?

[Kevin]

Just because polygraph results have not been made public does not mean that Tyler has not taken a private polygraph. It may just be that the private polygraph did not go that well. Remember OJ's private polygraph that did not become public until the civil trial?

Kevin

[William]

“More like setting up "an out".“ . . . I think that’s exactly what he’s doing. He might very see that the chances are overwhelming that he’s gonna be made a scapegoat by SOMEBODY, so he better get out now.

Or the flip side of the coin is that he had a hand in it and he's trying to distance himself now and point the finger at the test & the riders.

It'll be interesting & sad to see where the chips are going to fall on this.


William

[BumbleBeeDave]

I have to politely disagree. I ‘m pretty sure such tests are not admissible in court in this country because they are not totally reliable beyond the “reasonable doubt” standard. Phrasing of the questions can totally alter--or tailor--results, and accurate results depend on the subject intentionally or knowingly lying. If someone honestly believes they did not do something, then their answer will come up as the truth, even if other evidence clearly shows they are wrong.

But of course, I could be wrong. It would certainly not be the first time. I’ll try to locate a reporter today who can steer me to a local ADA who would certainly know.

And you are certainly right about "innocent until proven guilty" . . . It is almost impossible to protect yourself in the court of public opinion these days.

BBDave