The AFLD-UCI battle continues + more racing news

October 7th, 2009 by Al Fresco 590 views One Comment

Road News and Results – October 7, 2009

The finger pointing between the AFLD and the UCI looks to have legs. I don’t think that this one will die down any time soon, and may continue through the start of the 2010 Tour de France:

The French Anti-Doping Agency released the results of their re-testing of the blood and urine samples of 17 athletes (including Laurens Ten Dam and Denis Menchov) from the 2008 Tour de France today. There were no new positives. Pierre Bordry, the head of the agency, was not satisfied with the outcome, however, citing procedural problems with the taking of samples.
- Riccardo Ricco, Bernard Kohl, Stefan Schumacher and Leonardo Piepoli all were found to be using CERA, a new generation of EPO, during the race. AFLD and ASO (the organizers of the Tour de France) hoped to find more positives from the race.
- [The agency will now move to retesting samples from 2009 in their continuing quest to prove that French riders don't suck nearly as bad as they seem to. - Ed.]
Bordry added that “incongruous”, but not prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Code, materials had been found by police in the garbage of teams in the Tour de France. The materials included antihypertensives, sitagliptin (used by diabetics to produce insulin) and valpromide (an anticonvulsant used to treat the manic-depression).
By the way, the AFLD says that it was not their goal to find anything from the testing. What? They weren’t doing this for shits and giggles, I assume. There has to be some political motivation behind this, and one does not have to think to hard about what that might be.
Stefan Schumacher, still living in Bizarro World, called for the dismissal of his doping positive after hearing that no new doping positives were found.
The AFLD says that they will not work with the UCI for the 2010 Tour de France until it takes steps to correct testing and procedural “failures” observed during this year’s Tour de France. For their part, the UCI says that finding a neutral partner to do the doping controls may be the only alternative.
Britain’s Barry Broadbent, a UCI doping inspector, told BBC Sport that the AFLD claims are wide of the mark, adding that Astana was among the most scrutinized teams at the race.

“If I were to make a report on the Tour de France, I would say they were the opposite. The AFLD were subjecting them to more controls at more inconvenient times than anyone else. To say that one team had privileges when clearly they were tested more than any other team seems quite ridiculous to me.”

In regards to allegations of mishandling of samples and procedures, Broadbent went on to say that AFLD doctors were directly involved in most of the testing that took place at this year’s Tour.

“We are only observers for the French doctors who do the samples, appointed by the AFLD,” he noted. “We identify the riders, we take charge of the situation, that is we make sure we’ve got the right people. But from then on the actual procedure of taking the urine sample is conducted by the doctors, in this case appointed by the AFLD and of course ratified by the UCI that they were suitable people. The only tests conducted without AFLD doctors were on rest days. Other than those rest days, all other tests conducted were by AFLD doctors.”

Other Racing News:

Silence Lotto team manager Marc Sargeant assures fans that Cadel Evans will continue to ride with the team through the 2010 season. Evans still has a year on his contract, but he did not receive any compensation increase for winning the World Championships.
The LPR team has temporarily suspended Gabriele Bosisio upon learning of his doping positive and will await testing of the B-sample before making any permanent decision.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency announced today that amateur cyclist Mitch Comardo, has tested positive for multiple prohibited substances and has accepted a suspension for his anti-doping rules violation. A urine sample collected out-of-competition from Comardo by USADA on August 24, 2009, contained Tamoxifen, Anastrozole, Letrozole, and Clomiphene, human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG) and an Anabolic Agent [This dude wasn't taking any chances - Ed.].
Francesco De Bonis (Diquigiovanni Androni) was found guilty of using CERA at the 2009 Giro. De Bonis had already been placed on suspension from the team due to abnormalities in his biological passport.
Michael Rasmussen says that he is considering offers from three European teams and that he must certainly expects to be back in 2010. He wants to ride the Vuelta and the Giro, thinking it unlikely that the Tour de France organizers will want him in the race.
Stijn Devolder took second in the Oostrozebeke criterium, but has decided to take a pass on Paris-Tours, citing fatigue.
The 2010 Giro d’Italia is expected to be a tribute to Fausto Coppi. 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of the iconic Italian cyclist from malaria.
Skil-Shimano will start Paris-Bourges on Thursday 8 October in the following eight-rider line-up: David Deroo, Steve Houanard, Thierry Hupond (France), Floris Goesinnen, Kenny van Hummel, Albert Timmer (Netherlands), Yukihiro Doi (Japan) and Bert De Backer (Belgium).
Alexander Vinokourov will lead the Astana team for this weekend’s Giro dell’Emilia (Saturday) and GP Beghelli (Sunday).

Results:

Spaniard Javier Benitez (Contentpolis) took his second stage victory in a row at the Vuelta Chihuahua. Benitez won the sprint against the Dutchman Michel Kreder (Rabobank Continental) and his fellow countryman José Carrasco (Andalucia). Michael Rasmussen (Tecos-Trek) successfully defended his overall race lead over Daniel Moreno (Caisse d’Epargne).