I guess these guys feel they came from an era when­ 'everyone' was doing it. So they feel perfectly­ 'clean' in their own eyes. I would have liked­ to see a bit more fessing up though.

If the A and B sample test positive it should be over.­ This is not a court of law. Reasonable tests have­ determined guilt, a trial is a waste of money and time.­ If we are going to put the genie back in the bottle we­ must be ruthless. In addition to stripping titles from­ riders - make them return any winnings - take them to­ court. They have damaged the sport, the governing body­ only "damages" a rider who violates the­ rules. I can be legally fired at work for wearing the­ wrong clothes - at will employment - so these guys can­ be let go for mere suspicion of PED's. Let 'em­ have it.

Pure and simply he is a cheat. No one who saw him­ struggling at the Tour Of Britain last year can have­ found his Tour of Italy performance credible.He is­ clearly guilty and should just retire rather than­ further damage cycling with jis ridiculous conspiracy­ theories. The only real conspiracy is why has it taken­ so long for Di Luca to be found out and why is Valverde­ still riding for anyone?

Personally, I think the dopers are always one step­ ahead of the testers. The difference is the power of­ retrospective testing and the power to deal with cheats­ once technology catches up. To any sane rider, this­ should be deterrent enough. Some riders clearly still­ believe what they are told be certain Doctors regarding­ detectability, which is often a load of garbage. ­ Riders need to smarten up.

Yes, that's what I mean. Exactly the same as Di­ Luca. They are still not (maybe never will) giving­ suspensions without a lab-tested positive. i.e. they­ aren't just saying "your blood profile has­ returned positive".

Quote from the original Di­ Luca positive Press Release "These adverse­ findings were a direct result of a targeted test­ programme conducted on Mr Di Luca using information­ from his biological passport’s blood profile, previous­ test results and his race schedule,"

With Decker, the recent irregularities in his bio­ passport were deemed suspicious. This then focussed­ the testers and they retrospecitively anaylised past­ blood results using up-to-date methods. This then­ exposed Dekker as a past user of EPO, rather than a­ current user. Not sure whether they have the­ money/resources to do it, but if they took this­ approach with every rider, who has competed in the­ ProTour over the last 10 years, then surely all hell­ would break loose. There must be some very nervous­ riders in the peleton, who are worried about past­ indiscretions catching up with them - not just­ Valverde!

@djwiners - Are you sure - I thought he was another EPO­ case?

The laws of probability aside, this is simply an act of­ desperatation, straight from the Floyd Landis/Tyler­ Hamilton Hamilton school of defence. Of course, he has­ a right of appeal, but to claim conspiracy/mix up with­ samples is not the most sophisticated approach. His­ 'form' doesn't help his cause either. I­ think this has been sparked by LPR's announcement­ that they plan to sue Di Luca for damages (lost­ revenues, damage to brand etc, as a result of his­ positive test) - otherwise he would've simply­ retired, as originally announced.

campirider -- the sample is tested twice, so the chance­ of a false positive is 1 in 22500, not 1 in 150.

For comment #15...would you fly in an airplane if the­ chances of crashing were 1 in 150?

Get him banned.

Could it be that Di Luca expected the Giro of this year­ to be like the Giro of yesteryear - no dope­ testing?

(see 'The Cobra' on "How­ didn't I test positive at the Giro" or the­ many times no one was caught there only to be caught at­ The Tour)

A'z

In one breath DiLuca says 'conspiracy' ....­ then he says his lawyers 'have some serious doubts­ about the methods'. Which is it lad?

EPO testing­ is pretty bulletproof, I thought. I remember reading­ an interview with a former USADA med advisor that the­ chance for a Type 1 error for EPO is like 1 in 150 for­ each sample, making the chance of both A & B sample­ errors incredibly small.

Perhaps someone could explain this to me because I am­ at a loss. How can someone who has no access to the­ facts, no basis to make a legal decision, and no legal­ framework upon which to guide sentencing be so­ definitive as to the appropriate punishment? Athletes­ are at a serious disadvantage against most sports'­ governing bodies. Doesn't it matter that no athlete­ has EVER won an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for­ Sport? Doesn't it matter that doctors and team­ managers were (or are) supervising doping regimens for­ their riders? It would appear that the equation is­ somewhat more complex than doping + cyclist = lifetime­ ban.

yeah dekker has been banned through blood profiling!!

Will DiLuca's lawyers play the 'Wada's test­ sites are not secure' card following Kohl's­ manager explaining how he bribed testers to confirm how­ much dope could be in a riders system without being­ caught? 30 extra days is a long time for a lawyer­ earning 200 keuros for that month to put together a­ case.

Nice photo choice. Personally I think that they would­ have confirmed the positive with the Blood Passport­ system. The CERA positive is only there to make it a­ clear cut case.
Have they actually handed out a­ suspension purely on Blood profiling yet?

maybe di luca is right. there could have been a mix up­ during the tests.

"I would have to be a man without a brain to have­ used Cera, which stays in the blood and urine for a­ month, especially during the Giro."

Well, I guess­ you are an idiot. But, if you weren't riding the­ bike you sure wouldn't be doctor, so be happy you­ earned lot of money, and stfu.