Cycling Cloud Moves Over Seattle Tonight

photo courtesy of Seattlest Flickr user sonek321

With the eyes of the cycling world focused on the mountains of southern France, why would one of the best-known names in the sport be in Seattle today? Well, if you've been kicked out of cycling's top event because of your shady past and you describe your own team as "having come to symbolize cycling's doping scandal," the only obvious solution is to deny everything and go on a book tour.

Johan Bruyneel, best known as Lance Armstrong's coach during that cyclist's historic run of Tour de France wins, will be signing his new book at Elliott Bay tonight at 6 p.m.

Bruyneel joined Team Astana earlier this season when his former team, U.S. Postal Service (later Team Discovery Channel) disbanded after Lance Armstrong's retirement from the sport. Although Bruyneel reportedly implemented an internal testing program at Astana, the team was banned from participating in this year's Tour de France. Some reports have indicated the ban was a result of Astana's refusal to disassociate themselves from accused doper Alberto Contador, who won the 2007 Tour under a cloud of suspicion after his involvement in the Operation Puerto doping scandal.

With the cycling world in chaos after a decade of doping scandals, organizations like the Tour de France have taken a harsh stance in an effort to clean up the sport. Some, including Bruyneel, have said these bans are an overreaction.

UPDATE: Tour officials today announced that Manuel Beltran tested positive for EPO and was immediately suspended from the event. Beltran was a member of Bruyneel's US Postal team during the Armstrong years, and is the fourth Armstrong teammate to test positive for doping agents.