Hugh Januss said:
So given the choice between the word of Ashenden, one of the highest regarded anti doping experts in the world,
Sorry Hugh, but I have to ask, isn't Ashenden the scientist that published a paper saying the analytical test he developed could never have a false positive result?
Unfortunately, that is impossible. Every analytical method or test has a false negative rate and a false positive rate. Those rates may be very very low, but they do exist.
Anyway, I do respect his work, but given my scientific training, I have always taken issue with that one statement.
Unfortunately for the OP, the test does in fact show that synthetic EPO was in those samples. What he and many on here miss is that given the issues with sample handling and such, it cannot be definitively proven that it got there through LA injecting synthetic EPO into his body.
It is likely that he took his shots and doped all along, but he has been too good at beating the testing labs or burying the results.