VeloNews | Old doping accusations lead to altercation

It was over in an instant, but the altercation between a Tour of Utah race official and Garmin-Chipotle team doctor Prentice Steffen was years in the making.

During the stage 3 criterium in Salt Lake City last Friday, Tour of Utah team liaison Marty Jemison, a former U.S. Postal Service rider, punched Steffen after the team doctor made what Jemison considered to be an inflammatory remark about alleged doping dating back over a decade.

Jemison and Steffen worked together at U.S. Postal during the 1996 season; Jemison was a talented American rider on the upstart squad, and Steffen was an emergency room physician and admitted recovering heroin addict.

In 2001 Steffen told Irish reporter David Walsh that in 1996 U.S. Postal riders Jemison and Tyler Hamilton had approached him during the Tour of Switzerland looking for information about illegal doping products. Steffen said he reported the incident to then-director Mark Gorski, and at the end of that year his contract with the team was not renewed.

Whether or not Prentice Steffen’s story is true or not, it has always smacked of disgruntled former employee sour grapes to me …

We all know about Tyler’s history, but no one has ever produced a shred of evidence other than Steffen’s testimony that Marty Jemison doped, or inquired about doping. And since it’s impossible to prove a negative, Marty has no way of demonstrating that he rode clean (if that is indeed the case).

So why keep telling the story, Dr. Steffen? What’s more, as an admitted junkie, how do we know that you’re not still sticking a needle in your arm? Are you being subjected to all the same tests that the riders on Garmin-Chipotle are? Can you prove that you weren’t actively using heroin at any point over the past 12 years, especially back in 2001 when you were telling your story to David Walsh; another man who seems to have an axe to grind?

Rock Racing & Simple Living riders in an early break.

Garmin-Chipotle pulling the field to chase down the breakaway riders.

Almost 200 photos taken altogether … these were the only two of the actual race worth keeping. I’ve got a lot of work to do on action shots.

Okay, I admit it … even as much as I’ve become disillusioned with my sport over the past few years, as sick as I am of all the doping, and as much as I hate the politics; the Tour de France still is a special race, and I’ll still watch every stage almost religiously.

Today’s stage hasn’t even finished yet, and I’m literally (in the literal, not figurative sense) sitting on the edge of my seat. Will the break get caught? Who will be the first maillot jaune of this year’s race? It’s too bad DZ is still recovering from his back injury. How will the Garmin-Chipotle boys do? Will George Hincapie win a stage? Who do I want to take the overall? So many questions, and 3 weeks to answer them all.