Anyone need a good mountain helper outside of France?

iainf72

Beltran has a license and is allowed the compete anywhere except France and is looking for a ride

http://www.cyclismag.com/article.php?sid=4782#ancre1

So I expect the Mekon will have a license soon enough...

blazing_saddles

iainf72 wrote:

Beltran has a license and is allowed the compete anywhere except France and is looking for a ride

http://www.cyclismag.com/article.php?sid=4782#ancre1

So I expect the Mekon will have a license soon enough...

There's Baden Cooke's spot at the Rock.
Something is amiss with the AFLD's groundwork, or is someone from you know where, deliberately throwing a spanner in the works?

iainf72

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Something is amiss with the AFLD's groundwork, or is someone from you know where, deliberately throwing a spanner in the works?

It could be both. There's talk that if challenged the AFLD cases might fall apart. Or the UCI are being a bit "funny"

I did warn this would happen last year....

andyp

It's a joke isn't it? I'm not sure if the AFLD are at fault though as other cases have been successfully concluded, i.e. Kohl, Ricco and Peipoli so presumably they've raised this with the relevant national federations. The UCI must've been involved in this too so they don't appear to be deliberately obstructing.

One wonders if certain national federations have the best interests of the sport at heart.

iainf72

andyp wrote:

It's a joke isn't it? I'm not sure if the AFLD are at fault though as other cases have been successfully concluded, i.e. Kohl, Ricco and Peipoli so presumably they've raised this with the relevant national federations. The UCI must've been involved in this too so they don't appear to be deliberately obstructing.

They all confessed which means it's a lot easier to sanction them.

I'm sure more will come out on the story over time but it's a right royal mess.

Kléber

What is the UCI doing granting him a licence? Both A and B samples showed traces of EPO, so the UCI should be throwing the book at him, not posting out a licence.

I just don't understand what goes on in the UCI's swanky offices in Aigle, Switzerland. They seem so inconsistent when it comes to doping. One minute they don't want to retest samples from the Giro for CERA, the next they are trying to make the bio passport watertight. In other words, they seem willing to let some off the hook but are trying to nail others.

DavMartinR

Is There a problem with the TdF last year being run outside the UCI jurisdiction?
I'm sure the lawyers of these riders will be pushing something like this and chief Wiggum will be looking at his elbow and shouting AR$E!!!!

deejay

DavMartinR wrote:

Is There a problem with the TdF last year being run outside the UCI jurisdiction?
I'm sure the lawyers of these riders will be pushing something like this and chief Wiggum will be looking at his elbow and shouting AR$E!!!!

That is the exact point of why the TDF went it's own way.
The ASO company thought that the UCI are not "Strong" enough on the Drug Question.

If you didn't get the innuendo of a previous poster above then try, that he is a former team mate of the 7 times TDF winner.
The feeling around most knowledge parts is, that man has influence in the UCI.
The above story fits rather well with that theory, I think. !!!!!!!

blazing_saddles

From today's CNs:-
Spaniard Manuel Beltrán may have tested positive for EPO during last year's Tour de France, but that may not mean he will be denied a racing license, according to reports on Saturday. The former Liquigas rider revealed that the UCI and the Spanish federation have communicated to him that he would be allowed to race anywhere except the Tour de France, much to his surprise.

Beltrán and fellow Spaniard Moises Dueñas along with German Stefan Schumacher (CERA) have yet to be handed suspensions.

Seems to me, that if the ASO and UCI have really kissed and made up, that this is a tantrum that should not be happening.
Pat's lot are going to get the sport yet more bad press over this lack of action. They are sanctioning the unsanctionable in Omerta.
It'll get worse when the give Schumacher the green light to ride.
Where's Dick pound when you need him?

Kléber

So he tests positive, A and B samples, and the UCI says "he would be allowed to race anywhere except the Tour de France". Why can't we have a governing body that says he would be allowed to race anywhere except Planet Earth?

iainf72

Kléber wrote:

So he tests positive, A and B samples, and the UCI says "he would be allowed to race anywhere except the Tour de France". Why can't we have a governing body that says he would be allowed to race anywhere except Planet Earth?

I'm going to dig my original post on this out. If you read the WADA rules and UCI rules this situation was entirely predictable and I felt it was never ironed out how it would work when the AFLD did the testing.

micron

I see your point but, since every other rider caught at the 08 Tour has received a regular sanction, and since the UCI and ASO have achieved a raprochement, surely to make an exception in Beltran's case lays the UCI open to all kinds of accusations from ASO and other federations about their commitment to anti-doping. Publicly supporting the most lax federation in the sport doesn't look great and surely looks like petty point scoring against the TdF.

It really is time for McQuaid to walk - he is an incompetent fool who has made the UCI look ever more like Useless C**ts and Idiots

And thew fact that Beltran was a faithful lieutenant of HWSNBN doesn't exactly add to the transparency either.

DaveyL

For cycling forums, is there a variant of Godwin's Law involving Armstrong?

iainf72

The significant difference is all the other riders have confessed which is as good as an positive from the UCI.

There's an interesting new FAQ which just appeared on the WADA site

Who is responsible for managing the results of doping controls and potentially sanctioning?
The anti-doping organization that initiated the test is responsible for managing the results of doping controls and sanctioning the athlete if it establishes that an anti-doping rule violation occurred.

So it's up to the AFLD to manage this, not the UCI. The standard procedure would be for the AFLD to notice the federation / ADA of the country where the athlete holds their license. Judging from what happened with the Mekon there was a disconnect there and there hadn't been this level of communication.

The AFLD can only issue sanctions in France. Also, if they had passed on results to a national fed or ADA then they should not be issuing sanctions and respect the national ADA of the athlete.

I'm not fan of Pat McQuaid (how does he run Little Chef and the UCI I wonder) but the UCI aren't really at fault here. The AFLD did an excellent job of catching 'em but forgot about the small print it appears.

Arkibal

micron wrote:

I see your point but, since every other rider caught at the 08 Tour has received a regular sanction, and since the UCI and ASO have achieved a raprochement, surely to make an exception in Beltran's case lays the UCI open to all kinds of accusations from ASO and other federations about their commitment to anti-doping. Publicly supporting the most lax federation in the sport doesn't look great and surely looks like petty point scoring against the TdF.

It really is time for McQuaid to walk - he is an incompetent fool who has made the UCI look ever more like Useless C**ts and Idiots

And thew fact that Beltran was a faithful lieutenant of HWSNBN doesn't exactly add to the transparency either.

The only ones who have received a regular sanction, are the ones who confessed, Ricco, Piepoli and Kohl.
As Iain said last year, this was going to end up in a big mess.

Linking Beltran's case to Lance is ludicrous.

stagehopper

Think ian's reading of the situation is spot on. Either tardiness by AFLD, a lack of communication between AFLD and the Spanish doping authorities or a lack of action by the Spanish. It was a non-UCI sanctioned race so as such they can't act.

deejay

Arkibal wrote:

Linking Beltran's case to Lance is ludicrous.

But it Fits though !!! along with Hamilton, Landis et al, They are all former team mates at Discovery.

dave_1

will any big race organisers let him in? I think he will not be welcome

iainf72

The French did ban him and communicated this to the UCI

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id= ... /nov26news

There's the small matter of him not holding a French licence which means until the Spanish fed bans him he can be granted a licence.

Yet another reason for centralising doping controls and sanctioning.

dave_1

iainf72 wrote:

The French did ban him and communicated this to the UCI

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id= ... /nov26news

There's the small matter of him not holding a French licence which means until the Spanish fed bans him he can be granted a licence.

Yet another reason for centralising doping controls and sanctioning.

yes definitely...am puzzled by how Vino was only given a 1 year ban by his mates oin kazhakstan....2 years minium by all feds is surely the way...can the UCI not punish, or the IOC punish the country concerned for their disregard of the doping rules

DavMartinR

I hope the UCI Bio-passport has picked up these riders so they can sanction them?
Bit of a worry if the bio-passport doesn't pick them up?
But if they were out of the UCI jurisdiction for the month of July in the TdF would the UCI have still been able to test them?

blazing_saddles

Beltrán facing two-year ban
AFLD rules on EPO case, UCI studying decision
Contrary to earlier reports suggesting that he could get a licence this year, Spanish rider Manuel Beltrán has been banned for two years from French competition and looks set to suffer the same punishment on the world stage.

The former Liquigas rider claimed in recent days that the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the Spanish federation have communicated to him that he would be allowed to race anywhere except the Tour de France. The UCI refuted this to Cyclingnews shortly afterwards, saying that it had never communicated this message to either the Spanish federation or Beltrán himself.

On Thursday the governing body then further clarified the situation. "UCI received the AFLD's decision on February 9th," said its spokesman Enrico Carpani. "This decision, which imposes a two-year suspension on the rider and, at first glance appears to conform to the WADA's international code (Beltrán did not appear at the hearing and therefore renounced his right to defend himself), is currently being examined by our services concerned.

"If the decision is confirmed – and therefore recognized by the UCI regulations – it would come into effect without any geographical limits."

It is expected that the UCI will follow suit and ban the rider, effectively ending his career.

Over to you, Pat.

steviedonut

"Tricky" Beltran indeed.Does the "U" in "UCI" stand for unbelievable?

steviedonut

Dave_1 wrote:

will any big race organisers let him in? I think he will not be welcome

im sure he'll be more than welcome at races run by such avid anti-drugs campaigners as the Italians and spanish federations.