Who paid the piper?
Today Alberto Contador was told the Spanish Cycling Federation have gone back on their decision to impose a ban on his participation in the sport for one year.
All I can think of is Don McClean's song "American Pie". The day the music died. A song written about the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly.
Today may well be the day the music, the glory, the majesty that was the sport of cycling finally turned over and died.
It's been sick for a long time now, but the brave and the the bold have been fighting for its recovery and rehabilitation nonetheless. Their efforts may well have been in vain and it may be time to pronounce the time of death.
If the Novitsky investigations reveal that the golden boy of the sport has been the Mr Hyde that many suspect then a whole decade of our sport has been written off in shame.
It's a sad day - even if the appeals are successful and a ban is ultimately imposed - because as long as there are elements in the halls of power ready to be easily manipulated and corrupted, then the death of (the) sport is just a matter of time.
Someone has to know who is pulling the strings in these matters, who is paying the piper and calling the tune. We need some cycling wikileaks, people. Silence has been the cancer killing the sport for 50 years. It's time to tell the truth.
It may be our last chance.
