When I started this thread, I named it as such because the emphasis was not on Taylor Phinney, though he was a catalyst for it. That said, if someone wants the thread name modified, tell me how to do it and I'll consider that action.
That said, I also want to address the claims that have been made to me directly, via my blog, and I think here, too, that there is some question about the validity of the web archive from Winning magazine where the sanction notice is held. Despite the fact that everyone knows such information would be nearly impossible to find online because of the year in which it occurred and the relative lack of internet penetration (And mainstream use) then, I've taken steps to seek confirmation from the original parties, and also corroboration from other journals and media outlets that may have reported on it.
That will be valuable for overcoming the objections of the wikipedia folks who keep deleting this information from L.L's entry based on bogus source claims.
Lastly, for everyone who's tried to make relativistic arguments about the "relative" lack of severity of L.L's transgression, compared to say, blood doping, that's not even the point. The point is that to be caught cheating is to be caught cheating, regardless of what you cheated with, and in fact the concept or zero-liability was developed in response to athlete's making the disingenuous claim of accidental ingestion of a banned substance in hopes of escaping punishment.
I started this thread about Levi's positive test because Taylor Phinney, who - regardless of age should realize that if he attacks in print a rider like Vino, he should be prepared to have his words, motivations and intentions subject to intense scrutiny - ... well, he attacked in print a rider like Vino, and in doing so exposed his (TP's) own hypocrisy by not offering the same condemnations of his RS pseudo-teammates, especially L.L.
And I'm not about to cut him a break when Lance Armstrong is an informal mentor of his. And specifically to avoid a scenario where people in the future have difficulty locating information on L.L's positive test, I started this thread, and am doing the laborious work now of getting confirmation in an official form from the stakeholders so that it can't be disappeared into the non-internet dustbin of history again.
Have a good weekend.
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