Vernaut dies; Tour riders face dope tests; Armstrong ruling by Friday; Rob Roll predictions; Book has Armstrong all fired up.
By VeloNews Interactive
With wire services
This report filed June 30, 2004
Former U.S. Postal rider Stive Vermaut died early Wednesday morning in Roeselaere, Belgium. 
Vermaut suffered a heart attack on the morning of June 13, while out on a training ride. The heart attack deprived Vermaut's brain of oxygen and his death Wednesday was the result of the effects of the resulting damage. Doctors had initially expressed hope of an eventual recovery and kept the 28-year-old Belgian on life support in an artificial coma, but Vermaut's condition deteriorated over the past three days and he died on Wednesday.
Vermaut suffered from a congenital heart defect, first detected in 2001. He began his career in 1998 with the Vlaanderen 2002 team, moved to U.S. Postal for one season in 2000, before joining Lotto-Domo in 2001.
Lotto, however, opted to cancel his contract as evidence of the severity of his heart condition emerged. Vermaut tried to continue his career the following season and signed a contract with Palmans-Collstrop in 2002 before deciding to retire permanently. His one professional victory came in 1999 in a stage at the Circuit des Mine.
UCI and Tour promise rigorous testing
Riders on this year's Tour de France could become the first in any sport to undergo new blood tests which will target the use of banned synthetic blood boosters and growth hormones.
The three-week Tour starts in Liege, Belgium, on Saturday in the wake of several doping controversies.
However, UCI medical director Mario Zorzoli says new tests have been developed for synthetic blood plasma products and previously undetectable growth hormones.
"It would be a first in any sport if we introduced these tests," he said. "French law already allows any kind of biological sample to be taken from riders with a view to testing them for banned drugs. We are very confident we can introduce them on the Tour de France."
The new tests could be carried out both in the morning prior to racing at riders' hotels, or in the doping control near the finish line of each stage.
The UCI, which has been battling doping claims and controversies involving some of the sport's top names this year, including Britain's David Millar and American five-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong, has sent letters to all Tour riders warning them of recent advances in detecting synthetic hemoglobin (blood plasma), blood transfusions and growth hormones.
Samples from riders could be frozen and, in the case of growth hormones, tested at a later date, according to the UCI.
Zorzoli said they had also made significant progress in detecting illegal blood transfusions which some riders claim has made a return to the sport.
However the UCI doctor said no samples taken so far this season showed any use of synthetic hemoglobin - a product which can boost performance by increasing the oxygen in the blood.
The current EPO screening involves both testing for hematocrit levels which indicate the volume of red blood cells and a urine test designed to distinguish the isoforms - proteins produced by different genes - present in synthetic EPO from the natural form of erythropoietin which is produced in the human body.
Synthetic - or recombinant - erythropoietin is derived from the cells of hamster ovaries and the resulting isoforms produce a measurably different electrical charge than do the isoforms produced by human erythropoietin. Nonetheless, both tests have limits and, according to medical experts, are actually easy to beat.
The new tests, said Zorzoli, may offer more assurances of accuracy and are less likely to be defeated by riders able to employ relatively sophisticated means to beat them.
French court promises Armstrong ruling by Friday
A Paris court said it will make a decision on Friday on Lance Armstrong's appeal against a ruling denying him the right to insert a denial against accusations of doping published in a book released last week.
The five-time Tour de France winner's lawyer Christian Charriere-Bournazel has taken action over the book "L.A. Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong" by award-winning Sunday Times journalist David Walsh and Pierre Ballester, a cycling specialist formerly with French sports daily L'Equipe, which alleges he used banned drugs.
The book focuses on statements attributed to Emma O'Reilly, a soigneur who worked with Armstrong from 1998-2000. O'Reilly claims Armstrong used the banned blood booster EPO.
Armstrong, who starts his bid for a sixth successive Tour de France victory on Saturday, has never tested positive for banned substances and has always strenuously denied taking any such products.
2004 Tour de France Preview
by Rob Roll @OLNTV.com
Bob has written three books, including the newly released Tour de France Companion. His cycling experience includes:
· Member of the Cycling Hall of Fame as part of the original 7-Eleven Cycling Team
· Former member of the Motorola Cycling Team
· 4-time Tour de France racer, 3-time Giro d'Italia racer, 8-time Paris-Roubaix racer, 3-time Tour de Suisse racer
· Won stage 3 of the 1988 Tour de Romandie
· Won stage 11 of the 1985 Coors Classic
· Won the 1997 & 1998 San Franciso Hill Climb
· Raced in eight World Championships
Lance. Jan. Tyler. That is your podium in Paris.
I believe Lance can win six. That is not to say he is a greater champion than the other four who’ve won five – Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault and Indurain – but only to say he has focused on the Tour more solely than the others.
And if any man had won six Tours before Lance, then people would give him a much greater chance at winning and we’d have a more similar situation to last year when everybody believed Lance would win and we were treated to the most thrilling, competitive duel at the Tour since LeMond and Fignon in ’89.
Anquetil was beaten by Lucien Aimar in ’66 when he tried for six after sitting out the ’65 Tour won by Felice Gimondi.
Merckx was beaten by Bernard Thevenet after being attacked by a spectator. Hinault was beaten by his own teammate, Greg LeMond, after a furious battle throughout the mountain stages.
Indurain was beaten by Bjarne Riis in 1996, exactly one decade after Hinault’s quest for six Tours came to an end.
There is only one common thread in all these loses – time. Time caught Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, and Indurain. When you think of winning five, you must be flawless for around 115 days of racing. To win six bumps that number up to about 138 days. That is five months of racing without hard crashes, sickness, flat tires a inopportune time or a million things that can go wrong.
If anyone can repudiate time’s grip on a would-be six-time winner, it is Mr. Lance Armstrong.
Book has Armstrong all fired up
ProCycling News June 30, 2004
Lance Armstrong says that allegations levelled against him by the book "LA Confidential" will make him "more motivated than ever" when he begins his quest for a record sixth Tour de France title in Belgium on Saturday.
Armstrong made the comments to Italian journalist and long-time confidant Pier Bergonzi in an interview published in today’s Gazzetta dello Sport. This afternoon the US Postal superstar was due to leave his home in Gerona, Spain, and fly to Belgium by private jet.
Four days before his tenth Tour de France appearance – and his assault on that unprecedented sixth yellow jersey – Armstrong pronounced himself "close to his best form".
"You have to recognise that the crucial days of the race are still three weeks away, so it’s important to be ready, but not at the limit," the 32-year-old affirmed. "It’s better to be at 90 per cent on the eve of the race, as opposed to 101 per cent. Nevertheless, the results from last few performance tests are very, very good."
Such positive noises may re-assure uneasy fans, but not entirely convince those who saw Armstrong cave in to Iban Mayo on Mont Ventoux in the Dauphiné Libéré three weeks ago.
Despite that defeat to the Euskatel climber, Armstrong is adamant that Jan Ullrich – and not Mayo – remains his most dangerous rival: "Jan is the biggest threat. Several factors play in his favour: his team, experienced technical staff, huge motivation and his specialist ability in the time trials," Armstrong said.
"[Tyler] Hamilton and [Iban] Mayo are just behind Ullrich, but let’s see what condition they’ll come to the Tour in. Tyler has a definite advantage because he’s very strong against the clock and the final time trial is 60 kilometres long! That’s why I’d put him above Mayo."
Armstrong has two more rivals, neither of whom will be competing at the Tour. Their spectre alone serves as further motivation for the reigning champion. Their names are David Walsh and Pierre Ballester. They are the co-authors of "LA Confidential – the secrets of Lance Armstrong."
Asked whether accusations made by the book, or his ongoing legal action against its authors were playing on his mind, Armstrong answered with a categorical "No!"
"For me it’s just another spur," Armstrong said. "Walsh and Ballester are journalists that the press room knows well, and for whom I don’t think it has much respect."
Armstrong then alleged: "Ballester had to leave L’Equipe due to unethical behaviour. He seems a desperate kind of guy… He and Walsh worked on this book for three to five years, perhaps even longer. They spoke to hundreds, maybe thousands of people and in the end found two people who told a few nice little stories – all of which were false – and declined to print what the other 99 per cent of the people told them. Is that right or just?"
Armstrong then vowed to pursue his legal action against the pair "until the bitter end, until justice is done".
"I hope they are ready to defend themselves," Armstrong signed off
