One point Joe eloquently addresses that we’ve raised repeatedly has to do with institutional barriers to exposing doping. While doping does indeed come down to individual corruption — whether it be the riders, their team managers, corporate sponsors or regulatory officials — the real motivator here is money. The doping culture isn’t based on any innate joys that come from cheating a fellow cyclist or team out of winning. It’s based on the amount of dollars at stake.

That point is well worth remembering when the urge to point fingers strikes. Big Money calls the shots in professional cycling, and all culpability ultimately resides at the door of the almighty dollar.

To the surprise of no one, former Lance teammates are implicating him in a culture of doping.

To the surprise of no one, Lance’s attorney is trying to cast Armstrong as the victim. But — no surprise here either — Joe Papp is having none of it.

To the surprise of no one, Lance himself continues to stonewall. But when he puts forward syllogisms like, “You can’t prosecute somebody for something they didn’t do — normally,” you have to wonder if he wasn’t just doping but smokin’ something as well. We repeat — fess up, Lance, and we can all move on.

A useful public service from Cozy Beehive, preserving the Floyd Landis — ABC Nightline interview before the links disappear.

And the crackdown continues on the little guys, this time Brit Dan Staite.

And Swiss rider Thomas Frei is taken down as well with a two-year penalty.

An offer like this would imply that authorities have actual evidence in hand. If so, such evidence could prove to be the crack in the “we like our credibility” defense Lance Armstrong has offered so far in response to Landis’ allegations of systematic doping in the early 2000s.

In a larger context, the timing of this scandal raises questions. Coming during the height of publicity for the Tour of California, naming primarily Americans — the most prominent of whom were competing in the race — and putting the focus on Armstrong as he was poised to make a statement in the Tour … all of it raises questions about a backstory based on an investigation further along than has been suggested.

Remember that Landis did not “release” his email — nor, apparently, did he intend for it to be made public.

Something is going on behind the scenes that we the public do not yet know about.

Other links:

Joe Papp on Floyd Landis: Speak No Evil?

Lance ups the ante, releasing emails between Landis and the Tour of California in attempt to show Landis as a grubber.

Greg LeMond believes Floyd, mostly.

Regarding unequal treatment of riders by doping authorities for political and financial reasons, Joe Papp has reposted a fascinating article from the Danish weekly publication Weekendavisen discussing the curious case of Vladimir Gusev, a Russian rider who was fired for apparent political reasons but won vindication in a lawsuit. The article’s typos stem from auto-translation technology.

Papp muses eloquently on the future that faces Zirbel.

“Having escaped a corrupt system in which doping was a practice as accepted and normal as brushing one’s teeth, I strongly believe in clean sport and for several years have been fighting against doping both publicly and in ways that I simply can’t comment on…” Papp said.

What Joe did — both his own doping and acting as an international pimp of sorts for other pro cyclists — was wrong and should not be excused. But in the context of his extensive work to bring doping problems to light and his own campaign for cleaning up the sordid state of pro cycling, his past transgressions hold little relevance today.

We wish Joe well and hope this works out for the best — for him and for the sport. Although he faces possible prison time, it’s obvious his presence can do far more good outside of jail.

We continue to wonder why Lance does not join the BikePure pledge. It would be huge PR for him, and for the organization.

At 35, Michael Rasmussen is on the comeback trail. But tell me how a guy who was never found out, only suspected, in the first place is going to stay clean this time around.

One point I’d like to see Joe or someone else close to pro cycling address: Just how much looking the other way goes on. I’ve discussed this before, that even if Tour officials found Contador or Lance doping, would they take action? The consequences to the sport would be beyond devastating. Better to just look the other way and beat up on the smaller guys in an attempt to 1) show you’re doing SOMEthing about doping and 2) present an illusion of cleaning up the sport.

We remain convinced that doping is a political and financial, not physical or athletic, issue, and must be dealt with on those terms.