No Tour for Astana

snood

No Piti in the Tour. Coni will say that.

Crankyfeet

Good point.

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TheDarkLord

UCI consider legal action over Contador ban

The International Cycling Union may take legal action against Tour de France organizers in a bid to overturn their decision to bar Alberto Contador from defending his title in July.

UCI president Pat McQuaid told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Tour organizer ASO took an "arbitrary, absurd decision" to exclude Contador's Astana team from the 2008 race following doping scandals in the past two years.

"We need to take action, which we'll do as a consequence of their decisions," said McQuaid. "The reason goes completely against sport. There is no way that the UCI can allow it.

"It's up to our legal department to study the situation and then begin discussions with ASO before action can be taken."


Full story at http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/0...eref=rss_latest

TheDarkLord

On a related note, McQuaid pushes for Astana reversal

http://www.velonews.com/article/72488

UCI president Pat McQuaid promised Friday to put the full weight of the organization behind an effort to ensure that defending Tour de France winner Alberto Contador will take part in this year's edition of the world’s biggest bicycle race.

The Tour's organizers, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), announced on February 13 that Contador's Astana team would be barred from competing in this year's race because of doping scandals over the past two years.

"We will do everything that is possible to ensure that Contador takes part in the Tour,” McQuaid told the Spanish newspaper El Pais on Friday. “It would be a tragedy if Contador could not defend his title."

"It's unjust and unjustifiable,” he said. “It’s a decision taken by people who don't understand this sport."

Tour organizers said they had decided to prevent Astana from competing in any of their races because of "the damage caused by this team to the Tour de France and cycling in general, as much in 2006 as 2007."

The Luxembourg-registered Kazakh team was forced to withdraw from the 2007 Tour de France and were snubbed by the Vuelta a España in September after a string of doping scandals.

The team's former leader Alexandre Vinokourov was fired after testing positive for homologous blood doping during the Tour, while riders Andrej Kashechkin and Matthias Kessler also failed doping tests.

Since that drug-tainted 2007 season, Astana has undergone a makeover, hiring new riders, including Contador and Leipheimer, along with their manager, Johan Bruyneel, from the now defunct Discovery Channel team.

Bruyneel helped Lance Armstrong to seven consecutive Tour wins, and led Contador to his first yellow jersey last year.

Contador, a member of the team in 2006, joined Astana in a two-year deal in October.

Astana has also been left out of a list of 21 teams due to compete in this year's Giro d'Italia as well as this year’s editions of Milan-San Remo and Tirreno-Adriatico.

Crankyfeet

Oh.. ASO are going to love that public quote. I can see them being very agreeable to changing their position now.

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Leafer

What crap. If anything, ASO clearly understands this sport as it exists now a hell of a lot better than do the UCI, who apparently still have the "doper? what doper?" attitude that I thought would go the way of Verbruggen. Idiots.

er, by "what crap" I meant McQuaid's quote, not your post cf.

whiteboytrash

McQuaid is a dick...... what legal premise is he working on ? In addtion to this the UCI agreed to let the Grand Tours out of the ProTour.... so he has no control over teams just federations. Question remains why did not show this type of support for Jan when he was left out of the Tour or Unibet ? Bruyneel must have some good photos of McQuaid with his cock in a sheeps arse.... ASO run the Tour & they pick the teams...... without Astana it will he the best Tour in years.....

lucybears

Well, a bit inconsistent,,,

February 22/08 11:30pm EST - Tour of California: McQuaid Makes Contradictory Statement on UCI Position on Tour Entries

poulidor

No, he his perfectly consistent in his failures! Never right, always false.

tambourlain

A. Because Jan is a proven doper, moron. No one one Bruneel's team is a proven doper.

B. If I remember right, McQuaid did go to bat for Unibet.

In any case, the Tour has screwed themselves royally. As all of us know, this year's Astana is not last year's Astana. This year's Astana is last year's Team Discovery. And as we also know, no Bruneel team has ever tested positive. So, as a result of removing Astana, the odds of someone in the Tour testing positive are lowered by about 0%.

So now what has the Tour left itself with? Competitiors for the podium are Evans, Menchov, and Valverde. Menchov will show up doped to the gills. Valverde may come doped as well. Menchov will win the race - I guarantee it! Sastre will occupy his favorite position - fourth.

As everyone knows, Evans, Menchov and Valverde are all wheel-suckers. So there is no doubt in my mind that this will be one of the lamest, sleepiest Tours of all time.

Astana will win the Vuelta. They will win the ToC. Kloden will win the Tour of Germany this year. Gusev will win a classic. Contador will win several of the Spanish stage races. They have a good chance of going to the Tour of Switzerland, and they will probably win that also. Without the Tour de France, all of that talent will put their energy into a diverse group of races. And as a result, Astana will still end up as one of the most successful teams of 2008. And Trash will go on grazing on manure as usual.

Bro Deal

There are about twice as many 2006 Astana riders on the team as there are ex-Disco riders.


Benoit Jaochim tested positive for nandralone.

Armstrong tested positive for EPO.

Other riders on Postal admitted that they doped.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

confusedfan

I've seen many times where it is mentioned how the ASO decision is unfair because "this year's Astana is totally different than last year's Astana" (and following from there, this year's Astana is last year's Discovery, therefore the ASO is unfairly biased against Discovery/Bruyneel, ASO hates America, etc etc).

But, IMO, there is a serious flaw in the argument (that Astana has totally changed), because the main sponsor of this year's Astana is identical to the main sponsor of last year's Astana = consortium of Kazahk companies. This consortium was headed/brought together by a high-ranking government official who as I understand is/was the president of the Kazakh cycling federation. And the Kazakh cycling federation are the ones who gave Vino that ludicrous 1 year suspension that goes against all the established guidelines. So, in a sense, with all the close connections there, you have the *sponsor* sanctioning the athlete who tested positive - if that isn't corrupt, I don't know what is, and if the ASO was thinking along those sort of lines, I can't blame them at all for excluding Astana. Yeah, it's too bad for Levi and anyone else who has a clean record, but they chose this team obviously without thinking through possible consequences.

I read an article that Trek even tried to convince the sponsors to change their kit colours and name in the hope that then the "new Astana" would seem even more different than the "old Astana", but it was a no-go. ("Let Levi Ride - for Joe's Concrete, though, not Astana").

another interesting article with some of these ideas, also has more about problems with the Astana sponsorship/management itself:
http://www.thevirtualmusette.com/po...astanagate.html

So, maybe in the end it has nothing to do with anti-Americanism, anti-Bruyneel sentiment, Operation Puerto, etc - maybe in the end, ASO just doesn't trust that the sponsor is trustworthy and running a non-corrupt organization.

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whiteboytrash

Tosspot what are you on about ?

1999 after the Festina scandals Dutch team TVM, ONCE boss Saiz, ONCE doctor Nicolas Terrados (Bruyneel's good mates) and French riders Richard Vinrenque, Pascal Herve, Phillipe Gaumont and Laurent Roux are all barred. So Saiz and Virenque appeal to the UCI and what does the UCI do ? Forces ASO to let them in the race ! We know all about Saiz so why should ASO listen to the UCI and why should they let the dirtiest team in 07 into the race ? Its simple mathematics.

In addition to this former winner Marco Pantani and his team were left out of the 2001 Tour: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/oth...rts/1308461.stm

ASO have done this before with dirty teams and will do it again. If you don't like it take your bat and ball and go home.

and finally; Bruyneel is spelt Bruyneel not Bruneel. Get it right if you're going to be a fanboy locked in your mothers basement.

micron

Let's not even start with the human rights record of the sponsors of 'America's Team'...

Of course Vino is still pulling the strings to get more Kazakh riders signed. Of course Kas is training with the Astana feeder team. Of course Kloeden, Paulhino and Contador have simply gone back to where they came from - they were all Astana riders on the ill fated 2006 team.

Astana - under that exact same sponsor - burned ASO twice already. Why should they believe it'll be third time lucky? Astana are so dirty it's not funny - yet the UCI are happy to keep giving them a PT licence. It's the Useless C**t Imbeciles that want sorting out, not the ASO