We already knew that 30 riders were in the frame for biological passport anomalies, now we know that 15 riders are being targeted from the 2008 Tour de France as well. (There may or may not be some overlap here as we have different agencies at work – seemingly competing for top prize in dope sleuthing.) An earlier unconfirmed suggestion was that the 15 were targeted from the top 20 riders in last year’s tour. If true, there will be some big names here… and none of them will be from Astana…
The French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) will re-examine urine samples from the 2008 Tour de France according to comments made on Sunday by the agency’s President, Pierre Bordry. “Before this year’s Tour start in Monaco, we warned some 15 riders that in conformity with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code, we would analyze retrospectively (the) samples taken in the 2008 Tour,” Bordry told Reuters.
We already knew that 30 riders were in the frame for biological passport anomalies, now we know that 15 riders are being targeted from the 2008 Tour de France as well. (There may or may not be some overlap here as we have different agencies at work – seemingly competing for top prize in dope sleuthing.) An earlier unconfirmed suggestion was that the 15 were targeted from the top 20 riders in last year’s tour. If true, there will be some big names here… and none of them will be from Astana…
The French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) will re-examine urine samples from the 2008 Tour de France according to comments made on Sunday by the agency’s President, Pierre Bordry. “Before this year’s Tour start in Monaco, we warned some 15 riders that in conformity with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code, we would analyze retrospectively (the) samples taken in the 2008 Tour,” Bordry told Reuters.
The UCI’s biological passports are a great idea – if only the administrators, media and the lawyers all had one as well. Anyway, it’s a practical way to monitor changes in blood values over time, so any deviance from a rider’s baseline can be investigated. However it’s also a great way to ‘innocently’ announce that some riders have already deviated from the norm and to start a new round of the ‘who is it this time?’ game.
So who is it? And which teams? Well apparently no-one and everyone. Confused? In this respect nothing has changed…from CN: “The teams involved have been informed,” Gerolsteiner team manager Hans-Michael Holczer told the Suedwest-Aktiv newspaper. “Thank God, I didn’t receive a letter.” The two Dutch teams Rabobank and Skil-Shimano both confirmed to telesport.nl that they had also not received such a letter from the UCI. There’s a good reason for that, McQuaid told the website, “That is correct, because we have absolutely not sent any team such a letter.”
Certainly Steegmans is not amused by the UCI’s tantalising annoucement “It is a perfect example of how not to deal with such things,” an annoyed Steegmans told Het Nieuwsblad, “Why was that announced in this way? Either you say the full names, or you shut up and go about your business. This is only good for making everyone suspicious. I am certainly not the only one in the peloton with this opinion.”
The UCI’s biological passports are a great idea – if only the administrators, media and the lawyers all had one as well. Anyway, it’s a practical way to monitor changes in blood values over time, so any deviance from a rider’s baseline can be investigated. However it’s also a great way to ‘innocently’ announce that some riders have already deviated from the norm and to start a new round of the ‘who is it this time?’ game.
So who is it? And which teams? Well apparently no-one and everyone. Confused? In this respect nothing has changed…from CN: “The teams involved have been informed,” Gerolsteiner team manager Hans-Michael Holczer told the Suedwest-Aktiv newspaper. “Thank God, I didn’t receive a letter.” The two Dutch teams Rabobank and Skil-Shimano both confirmed to telesport.nl that they had also not received such a letter from the UCI. There’s a good reason for that, McQuaid told the website, “That is correct, because we have absolutely not sent any team such a letter.”
Certainly Steegmans is not amused by the UCI’s tantalising annoucement “It is a perfect example of how not to deal with such things,” an annoyed Steegmans told Het Nieuwsblad, “Why was that announced in this way? Either you say the full names, or you shut up and go about your business. This is only good for making everyone suspicious. I am certainly not the only one in the peloton with this opinion.”
|
|
