Doping git thread

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smutchin

smutchin

Cat 6 Racer
Location
The Red Enclave
Found a horse's head in his bed this morning, I expect.
 
HF2300

HF2300

Insanity Prawn Boy
The Couch said:
I was really expecting a stronger signal to be honest. Since they took their time having this (independantly) investigated and in combination with the pretty harsh/strong comments that Cookson was giving lately towards cheating in general and Astana in particular.
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psmiffy said:
Have the UCI been having under the table chats with CAS people? - If CAS had ruled against them it would of been very embarrassing - to the point of why even bother involving the UCI in issuing licences in the first place
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I think part of the problem might be that the Licencing Commission is, as I understand it, independent of the UCI. I'm not an expert at reading between the lines of these decisions, but what little they've said really does read as though they've wimped out of a definitive decision one way or the other, or passed the buck back to ISSUL:

UCI Press Release said:
... ISSUL were asked to propose special measures which the Team will be obliged to put in place ... The team committed to respecting all the measures recommended by ISSUL ... the Licence Commission announced the suspension of the proceedings ... The Licence Commission shall be able to re-open the proceedings.
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I'm not sure I can see the UCI would have influenced the Licencing Commission to keep Astana's licence, given they were pressing them heavily to withdraw it and presumably had looked into the legal / CAS implications before doing so.

It might be that external pressure made a difference, or maybe the Licencing Commission felt they couldn't withdraw the licence. The Licencing Commission had already given Astana time to prepare a case, so they obviously didn't think the ISSUL report was an immediate killer blow; they will have been well aware of what happened with Katusha; and Astana may have gone in with some procedural arguments, for example saying that the licence couldn't be withdrawn as a licence can't be issued provisionally in the first place. It might also be that, given the spectre of the CAS they were well aware of due process and sticking to the letter of the regulations, and felt the politically best option was to keep Astana under scrutiny, put the evil day off and make it ISSUL's problem again.
 
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psmiffy

psmiffy

-
Location
Midlands
HF2300 said:
I think part of the problem might be that the Licencing Commission is, as I understand it, independent of the UCI.
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That says they are not independent and are part of the UCI -chaired by a management committee member - makes you wonder who is steering the ship in light of the noises that were being made before
 
O

oldroadman

Veteran
Location
Ubique
No-one who was not in the room at the hearing will know what was stated and what went on, or what implications were thrown about. Astana are government backed, there is plenty of resource for taking a case to CAS, and the whole thing would drag on and on and on. Then maybe after TdF the case might get heard, when the result would not be so much of a problem. Not that I'm an ancient old ex-rider with cynical views, of course. I'm inclined to be sympathetic to UCI and Mr Cookson, they have set up properly independent commissions and have to live with their decisions, even when they clearly don't care for them. Which is more than would have happened under the previous regimes.
 
The Couch

The Couch

Über Member
Location
Crazytown
The Couch said:
Meeusen (the cyclo-crosser) has appeared for the investigative court.
The verdict is expected by 28th April.

There are 2 parts to it:
  • Using doping practices (possesion and use of forbidden products and/or possesion and use of forbidden practices)
  • The use of Vaminolact (an amino-acids solution based on breastmilk composition) potentially combined with cortisones and adrenaline
Meeusen hasn't been actually "busted" with illegal substances in his blood/urine, so the prosecutor's evidence will be purely on mail-traffic, doctor calendar entries, raid foundings and Meeusen own's statements.

By the way, this is linked in with the same ("UV"-)doctor that was treating Van Avermaet and Wellens (another cyclo-crosser).
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Meeusen was acquitted today
The indirect evidence was sold as very flimsy by the defense and the court apparently agreed to this.

(With this as precedent, can't see Van Avermaet getting another result)
 
Pro Tour Punditry

Pro Tour Punditry

Guru
Another one caught - Roberto Javier has been provisionally suspended after doping positive (nandrolone) from a sample taken at Vuelta Republica Dominica on 23.02.15
 
HF2300

HF2300

Insanity Prawn Boy
Comment from INRNG about Valverde's 2006 LBL win - I don't suppose they were trying to suggest something about his 2015?

The Inner Ring said:
Valverde now has three wins to his name here and 2015 wasn’t that far off his 2006 win when he came off a win in the Flèche Wallonne and then sat tight ... before he won the sprint from a group packed with fellow clients of Dr Fuentes.
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smutchin

smutchin

Cat 6 Racer
Location
The Red Enclave
Is it really news? I'm sure it's been known for a long time that the bio passport is less than perfect, that it doesn't make getting away with doping impossible, just a lot more difficult.

And if it is possible to beat the passport, that just goes to prove that those who are caught by it are even more stupid than we realised.
 
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