In an effort to clear their names and get their wildcard ticket to the Tour reinstated, the 20 cyclists on the Comunitat Valenciana squad have preempted the UCI’s quarterly drug controls and have sent blood samples to the Spanish Superior Council of Sports and the Spanish Cycling Federation.

The riders, eager to distance themselves from the “Operacion Puerto” investigation which led to their wildcard invitation being revoked, have asked authorities to perform any doping tests they want on the samples provided, and even to compare the samples with the blood bags seized during the initial raid on the Madrid clinic at the center of the investigation. The team has apparently offered to be tested since the scandal broke last month, but no one had taken them up on their offer - so they got proactive.

I’m pessimistically thinking it’s a wasted effort, and I also can’t help but think of the poor person in the mail room who had to open up that package full of blood…