I don't want to spend every single blog talking about Lance and his comeback, but the subject is a pretty target rich environment and it makes for very interesting commentary. The topic of this blog is to address some of the comments made by Greg Lemond at the Lance Armstrong press conference last Thursday at the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas.

One of the points Greg appeared to be making was that he felt it was insufficient to just test Lance's biological parameters. Lemond wanted Lance to also be tested for such things as Max V02 and power output. Lemond's comments bring up two interesting points. First, if the UCI, and WADA for that matter, are going to use biological passports as their primary weapon against doping, WADA needs to come up with an official list of the parameters which will be tested. Basically, there needs to be some agreed-to official list that makes everyone feel good about the comprehensiveness of the monitoring.

Secondly, I think it is unfair to Lance to require that his Max V02 and power output be made public. Remember, Lance has stated that the results of all his drug testing will be put on a website for all the world to see. I commend Lance for doing this, but he is taking a bit of a risk in that his public values might give his competitors an inside look into his conditioning. That is why things such as power output can't really be made public. Lance 2.0 has stated that he didn't feel ready for the Tour unless he was generating 6.7 watts/kg. If his power output is made public and it is below that level, his competitors may sense weakness and attack.

Of course, Lance could use the website to provide some disinformation to his competitors, but that would be against the purpose of the site so that is out of the question. If Greg Lemond really feels that the parameters specified by WADA for the biological passport are inadequate, he should take his case directly to WADA.

Bruce

In a stunning move today, John Burke, president of Trek Bicycles announced that the company has severed ties with Greg Lemond. Trek has sold bicycles under the Lemond brand since 1995; the current contract between Trek and the three-time Tour de France winner was set to expire in 2010. Trek has similar contracts with bicycling icons Gary Fisher and Keith Bontrager which are not affected by this announcement.

The action by Trek appears to be precipitated by a recent lawsuit filed by Lemond against Trek on March 20. In the suit Lemond contends that Trek has not been fulfilling its obligations to grow the Lemond brand. Of particular concern to Lemond was the lack of any penetration for Lemond bicycles in the international market something which he contends was specifically called out in the existing contract.

Trek contends that Lemond's actions, Greg has given many public statements to the press in recent years about the drug problem in pro cycling, have seriously impaired Trek's ability to successfully market the Lemond brand. Burke also confirmed that Trek had met with Lemond this past fall and at that time indicated that Trek would not be renewing their contract when it ended in 2010.

We can spend a lot of bits and bytes prying into what is really happening behind closed doors. I am sad to see the relationship end because the partnership between Trek and Lemond produced some really cool bicycles. In fact, it could be argued that the Tete de Course, the flagship ride of the Lemond line was just as good or better than Trek's vaunted Madone.

Obviously, Lemond and Trek, within legal boundaries, are free to do whatever they choose. Hopefully, after the dust has settled from their split, both will flourish and we as consumers will be even better off.

Bruce