The Floyd Watch is at Day 79.
Today is the day that the arbitrators are scheduled to meet with their technical advisor, Dr. Franceso Botre. This is said to be the last step necessary to close the hearing, but as I have said earlier, there's nothing to stop the panel from calling one last meeting before they issue their decision. Once the hearing is closed, they have 10 days to issue a decision.
10 business days from today is September 25th. I'm still hoping to hear something by the end of the month.
Of course, regardless of the decision, the whole thing is very likely far from over. It's already been stated that the losing party, whoever that may be, will appeal. Then we can start all over.
It's been said that Floyd is nearly out of money. Any appeal is going to cost him money, and even if he wins this round, I wonder if he would be able to find a team willing to take him on knowing that there is a risk that he could lose the appeal.
If he loses, would it be better at this point to NOT appeal, wait out the remainder of the two year suspension and aim to come back at the Vuelta next year?
I'll close this post with my dream for the outcome of the trial.
- Floyd will win his case.
- The USADA will not appeal to the CAS.
- The Chatenay-Malabry lab will be shut down pending a complete external audit of their policies and procedures
- Floyd will be the final, yet-to-be-named rider on the Slipstream-Chipotle team