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It's not the UCI, they've gone with the decision of the independent review committee which acted more or less as these new allegations were coming out.
If the UCI had gone against the decision of the review board, they'd just have taken it to CAS who would have overturned it in favour of Astana. It's shit but hopefully they'll be under massive scrutiny and maybe Astana will trip themselves up during the year.
So, Astana carry on doping, but Europcar have no license.
AFAIK, the latter haven't got a massive history of doping, aren't run by a doper and haven't had five recent positives among their riders. They must have done something terrible.....
[url= http://www.uci.ch/pressreleases/2015-uci-worldtour-decisions-the-licence-commission/# ]UCI Link[/url]
Ah, I see. Europcar don't have money, so can't ride. Astana have a lot of very corrupt money so can not only ride, but dope away happily! Party on, dudes!
FFS.
Decent piece on [url= http://inrng.com/2014/12/astana-uci-licence/ ]Inrng[/url] too, sums it up quite nicely for me.
Yep, that Inrng blog is spot on.
What's the news here? Which sport are we talking about?
What's the news here? Which sport are we talking about?
Poor effort by your standards.
What's the news here? Which sport are we talking about?
Accidentally stumbled into the [u][b]bike[/b][/u] forum 🙂
So confused. Did his teammates dope while riding the tour(s) he won? If they did then it taints his victories I reckon.
Like someone else was saying:
Step 1. Dope everyone else on your team up to the gills.
Step 2. Get delivered to the line while they mash everyone else.
Step 3. Profit!
I agree Nibali rode some great stages in the tour, but it's sad if this happened with or without him knowing. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt, but there should still be an asterisk against his name in the champions' roster.
EDIT: Can't find anything stating his teammates doped in the tours he won.
Well, riders who rode the tour with him have been caught. Of course they could have been clean at the tour but it seems unlikely.
I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt,
in a team run by systematic dopers, that hires dopers and has members caught doping why would you give him the benefit of the doubt?
TBH a clean rider would be publicly going apeshit and trying to move team as they know they will be tainted by association
His silence is deafening on this issue
oh and what the CPT said again....THIS MUST STOP!!!!
just call me lance.
Agreed.
Genuine question - given all the revelations about procycling that have come out over the last two years, are there any examples of team leaders riding clean while the rest of the team had a systemic doping programme?
That's one of the scenarios that's often put out there by apologists but I can't think of an example of it actually happening.
Which team can he go to that is looking for a GT contender? Probably not good form for him to bad mouth his current team without knowing someone else is coming in for him.
This isn't football where he can do a "Tevez" is it?
BMC?
A bit like buying Birthday cards with pre-written messages... it is hard to explain how I feel about all this doping in Pro-Cycling stuff so here are some quotes from another thread which sum it up for me:
It's a tough situation given the position the UCI has taken on the matter. Creating the bio passport is both a blessing and curse. You're making great progress on the anti-doping front but also creating problems other sports just choose to minimize. Taking the (relative) high road is great but you set yourself up for failure. Either way the information must be managed more carefully.I've said this many times but look at how most if not all of the other 'pro' sports manage the issue. PED's rarely come up and when they do it's government investigation (MLB) not the league blowing it up. I don't have the stats at hand but look at how often NFL player's are suspended for a few games without much fuss. It's treated by the media like an injury not a conspiracy or personal attack. And it's not even an issue for the fans. NHL players have it written into their CBA that they get surprise tested twice a year. I was debating with a friend recently who was convinced that 'no way are NHL hockey players using'. It doesn't register as an issue in other sports. Puerto is another great example of this.
To be clear I'm not lobbying for less testing or a relaxing of the rules. Pretending you're going to eliminate the issue and saying the current generation is clean when you will never have full control is naive at best and only encourages perpetual undermining of the 'credibility' so desperately sought.
It sounds like a defeatist approach. Or being a 'doping apologist'. But it really is the reality.Hard core fans and riders know the reality, in comparison to other sports. But crucially the general public and big sponsors do not. So either we carry on down this road, forever shooting ourselves in the foot, or we...gee...I guess try and find a balance between a sustainable sport and one that won't allow outright PED abuse like Lance did.
It's picking the lesser of two evils really.
Another great example - current Test match between Australia and India.Captain Michael Clarke had four injections so he could bat, went on and scored a century. Is seen as a 'true Aussie battler' and a shining example of a 'hardened' captain.
If a cyclist did that simply to get through a race, never mind win it, he's gone. Two years.
Amazing.
Interesting interview with Cookson over on Cyclingnews. He doesn't seem too happy with the outcome so far, I'd say.
Yeah but he can't do anything about it can he..
Told you the UCI needed the Team, can't run an organisation promoting the sport without them as the UCI need the money Astana pay into the UCI.. Some call it swings, some call it roundabouts.
Only real time I admired Nibbs was when he was with Cannondale and Basso blew his guts out dragging him along up the Doli's in the Giro. Since then Nibbs move to Astana has proven only one point IMO, with the right Team around you you only have yourself to blame if you don't win GT's.
Ahh well, hand wringing aside I'm more interested in Sammy Sanchez not getting a gig for 15' and he may retire. This I'm very sad about.. More than this Astana whirligig at least.
Corruption and back handers still rife in the top echelons of my favourite sport it seems, but them I'm used to that..
😕