Monday, December 06, 2004

Rest day. Team meeting tonight. I am tired today.
Weight: 156

News Item of the Day: DENDERMONDE, Belgium (AP) -- Belgian cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke was sentenced to 200 hours of community service on Monday after police found illegal performance-enhancing substances during a raid on his home two years ago. Police discovered endurance-enhancing EPO, muscle-boosting clembuterol and morphine during the 2002 search, and Vandenbroucke was suspended for six months.

Vandenbroucke's lawyer, Luc Deleu, had argued that the suspension was punishment enough for the cyclist and that there was no need for further sanctions. "Frank wants to get all the procedural issues over with. He still has to decide whether to appeal,'' Deleu said. Vandenbroucke could have faced a five-year prison term, but the prosecution called for a lesser sentence.

The 29-year-old Vandenbroucke was once one of Belgium's most promising cyclists. His best season came in 1999, when he won eight races, including the Liege-Bastogne-Liege World Cup classic and two stages in the Spanish Vuelta. He finished that year third in the International Cycling Union standings.

Viewpoint: VDB's history since '99 is a sordid mess. I really liked the guy and still do root for him to come back to the level he once was but think that the will be impossible. He was huge in '99. Of course, the EPO and other stuff probably played a role.

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