The Back of the Peloton: Talleyrand has a new name: Carmichael.

It’s taken a few days for me to process the past two weeks, as years of my skeptism and years of my circle giving me a one-eyed look for not believing in the myth of the yellow band has clouded my vision in some respects. However, as always, sometimes when you take a gander at the events from a distance, a different picture appears.

I have been accused of being a Lance hater and in fact, Lance himself has chosen to block me on twitter.  Of course, Lance’s reaction is no different that the hundreds, and soon to be thousands of knee-jerk reactions to the situation. In fact both camps are seemingly lining up polarities as there are thrones being built to continue to idolize him, while the crowd with the efigies seems to be growing exponentially as the days march forward.

We’ve in fact witnessed the flip flop of many journalists who seemed to be firmly entrenched in the Armstrong camp. Most notably are a few of the folks at VeloNews, and of course, Bill Strickland.

I had an opportunity to chat with Bill on a variety of subjects, which I will not speak to here. What I will say is that Bill’s take on this is one that everyone is seemingly echoing when it comes to Lance defections: Anger.

However, as the title of this post alludes to, this anger is seemingly misdirected. Yes, Lance doped. Yes, Lance is a human being that is fallible. Yes, Lance is guilty of a variety of things, and that is his cross to bear. However, he is a result of a coordinated effort to create wealth, and to create a spectacle on behalf of a few benefactors.

Here’s few names in history to recall for this phenomena, but I’ll use a few more modern ones to prove the illustration. Wait, you know what? Let’s use one: Oliver North.

Lance's Alter Ego

Unfamiliar with Oliver North? Look up his wikipedia entry here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_North. Bottom line is, while Dick Cheney, and President Bush Sr. received a free pass, North was the sacrificial lamb for the Iran-Contra business. He was a good boy, did his time, and had his charges vacated later as he kept his mouth shut.

Lance is no different. This is his Oliver North moment. And who is he protecting? Not Bruyneel, as his ticket has been already punched to never never land. No, there are two names, Thomas Weisel and Chris Carmichael.

The Vespa and the Bee

Weisel has already begun to receive press and will surely have the light shone on his involvement. However the other gentleman, Carmichael, has to date, received a free pass.

This is the same Carmichael who has already been featured in another report by Scott Pelley, this one back in July of 2001. You can read an archived article on that here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/04/10/60II/main284958.shtml

You see, there was another whistleblower then too, his name was Wade Exum. This report focused on how professional cyclist Greg Strock began suffering from symptoms to which he had no explanation. His analysis led him to the fact that he had been doped without his knowledge. Two gentlemen that he sued were Carmichael and Rene Wenzel. Both were accused of doping athletes without their knowledge.

Exum, the whistleblower in 2001

Strock settled out of court with Carmichael. The settlement details still remain sealed and intact to this very day.

Carmichael has worked with these individuals over the years, according to his own website: Armstrong, George Hincapie, Saku Koivu, Edwin Moses,  and other individuals that you can read yourself here: http://trainright.com/coaching/athletes/

Carmichael has been connected to Edmund Burke, who was fined and suspended for doing blood transfusions with US athletes (mostly cyclists) at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Carmichael is also connected with the infamous Eddy B. who came out of the Polish cycling program.

The father of 1984 transfusions, Burke, on the right

The most difficult part of all of this is that the individuals that are truly responsible already have a history of “illegal” activities that point towards a pattern of behaviour, suggesting that these individuals could have potentially conspired at USPS team, building on their past failures, missteps, and lawsuits to create the program in place at that particular team. Putting the bankroll of Weisel behind it creates a very powerful program with vast resources at its disposal.

Weisel's pic seen more in a week than the past two years.

The worst part of this is now that in the United States we have seen the proliferation of  ”time crunched” weekend warriors being busted for doping in cycling. The marketing of many organizations, including Carmichael’s, has led those that aren’t even in the professional realm to consider many options in order to “achieve results” from their training programs and racing programs. This is not saying that Carmichael’s or other organizations are encouraging doping in any form; however, there are some alarming episodes that are occurring.

Before we continue our respective crusades to rid our sport of the scourge of performance enhancing drugs, we need to begin to shine a light on these individuals who “coach” from the sidelines, outside of the regulation of sanctioned amateur coaching ranks, as well as the pro peloton. Many of these individuals, and you can include Ferrari in this, hold powerful sway over the cyclists for whom they work. One just has to witness the fawning commentary that Tyler Hamilton offered up on Ferrari as a prime example, on this past week’s 60 minutes.

What is utterly amazing, as it stands now, is that Carmichael has escaped any apparent scrutiny, while Ferrari’s ties to Armstrong are blown up in vast technicolour. Is it because the FDA, US Cycling, and the USADA have something to hide in this respect? Are they wishing to keep folks on US soil as clean as possible? Ferrari may have “monetary links” up to 2010, but who was on the scooter riding beside Armstrong bellowing at him throughout his career? Who was by his side constantly?

Carmichael.

Needless to say, we’ve been down this path so many times that the everytime it rains, we’ve got a canal. Will this business stick this time? If the FDA is true to its word, and Novitsky’s track record is to be examined, then yes, this time we’re about to see a difference.

However, those who were not directly employed by USPS, or by Tailwind Sports Inc., but paid as an independent contractor may have the opportunity to skip out on any responsibility. This part of the investigation, would certainly have Talleyrand’s lips curling in smug approval.

Carmichael, our true modern day Talleyrand may not go down with this ship, yet again.