Sella positive

[Chuffy]

I think that something should be done but I can't see a way round the above probs. Anyone got any answers?

Yup. The random sniper.
Everytime a positive test comes up, the random sniper picks off three riders. That should make sure the peloton polices itself...

 

[Skip Madness]

Oh dear, oh dear. Matteo Priamo has been exonerated (scroll down the linked page) of supplying Emanuele Sella with CERA.

Italian Matteo Priamo was exonerated on Friday of charges that he supplied doping products to his former teammate Emanuele Sella.

...

[Sella] was reported to have named Priamo as his supplier, but Priamo's attorneys were able to discredit Sella's testimony in the hearing with the National Anti-Doping Tribunal in Rome this week.

According to tuttobiciweb.it, lawyers Morgagni Luca and Celestino Salami showed that Sella repeatedly "changed the date of the alleged delivery of the vial of Mircera". Sella gave date ranges of before July 13 and between July 10-15 before finally settling on June 30th as the day Priamo delivered the drug. However, Priamo had an alibi for his whereabouts on those occasions. After July 6 he was training in Val d'Agordo with his teammate Tiziano Dall'Antonia, and on June 30 he was receiving treatment related to a fractured elbow sustained in the Giro d'Italia.

...

Sella expressed disappointment that his former teammate's acquittal had not gotten more press. "If the courts have decided there is not sufficient evidence against Priamo, I am happy for him, but the fact remains that I have told the truth and I accepted the consequences of my behavior. And when the time comes, I will return more mature as a rider and an athlete."

What a bizarre case. Let me get this straight:

1) Emanuele Sella tests positive out-of-competition for CERA.
2) He names Matteo Priamo as his supplier and gets a reduced suspension of one year.
3) CONI tries to bring proceedings against Priamo, who they want suspended for four years.
4) Priamo has an alibi for all of the dates on which he supposedly supplied Sella with CERA, and is exonerated.
5) Sella appears not to mind that his CERA supplier is not being punished (something may be lost in translation from Italian, I wonder).

So we have one of two scenarios. Either a) Matteo Priamo supplied CERA to Emanuele Sella but has managed to escape prosecution and is free to continue his career; or ( Sella just made up the stuff about Priamo in order to get a lesser suspension (which presumably will not be extended to the original two years despite the fact that his whistle-blowing has provided bugger all). To be honest, that quote from Sella at the end of the story inclines me toward the latter.

I think we can all agree that cycling is the loser, as usual.

 

[rich p]

To punish Priamo there would have to be more evidence than Sella just pointing the finger and it seems that there wasn't. He had alibis so while I suspect he was guilty I can see why they had to 'exonerate' him.

 

[maurice]

Reading that account, I'm thinking scenario B. Don't pros have very meticulous training schedules, lots of recorded data? How would he change his claimed time of the CERA delivery so many times?