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06-30-2006, 09:30 AM
Tour thrown into turmoil as Basso and Ullrich ejected
By AFP
This report filed June 30, 2006
The Tour de France was thrown into its biggest crisis since the 1998 Festina scandal Friday following the suspensions of the men most favored to take the yellow jersey in this year's edition.
A day before the start of the race, the first since seven-time winner Lance Armstrong retired, organizers said even more riders could follow Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich and Oscar Sevilla in being suspended from the race by their teams.
Earlier in the day, 1997 winner Ullrich, and his teammate Spanish teammate Sevilla, were suspended by T-Mobile when fresh evidence from an ongoing doping probe in Spain - which has implicated a reported 58 riders to blood doping - was released late Thursday.
That decision was soon followed by Ivan Basso's exclusion from CSC's Tour squad, as team manager Bjarne Riis told reporters here Friday that Basso's link to an ongoing doping probe in Spain had forced the team's decision. Basso, the recent winner of the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France runner-up last year, is also named on a 58-strong list which Spanish investigators claim have been involved in blood doping.
Francisco Mancebo, who finished fourth overall last year, was also suspended by his AG2R team because his name appears on the list.
If the 28-year-old Italian is thrown out by his team, it would mean that three of the top five finishers from last year's race would be absent.
There are also doubts over Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan, whose team Astana was given the green light to race the Tour by the Court of Arbitration for Sport late on Thursday.
Astana is the team which has most riders' names on the list.
After a series of crisis meetings Friday between the recently-installed Tour director Christian Prudhomme and the AIGCP, the body which represents the managers of all the teams taking part, Prudhomme was unequivocal in the race organizers' position.
"We're happy about T-Mobile's decision to suspend Sevilla and Ullrich," said Prudhomme, who is directing his first race in place of the retired Jean-Marie Leblanc. "Last night we received official documents from the Guardia Civil (Spanish police) via the Spanish cycling federation.
"We then had a meeting with the AIGCP. During that meeting it was decided that the race's ethical code will be applied to the letter and that none of the riders suspended will be allowed to be replaced. "The sporting directors of each team will now contact the riders concerned."
Tour organizers, who have been keen to avoid any repeat of 1998 when the race almost collapsed due to a major drugs scandal, are putting pressure on teams whose riders are being linked to the probe in Spain.
CSC team manager Bjarne Riis, a Tour winner in 1996, emerged from one of the crisis meetings saying nothing had been decided over Basso's participation.
"We had a good meeting. Everyone agreed on the ethical program we have with the different teams. Now I'm going to talk to my team, and make a statement a little later," said the Dane.
Riis later said he personally made the decision to exclude his top rider.
"It's my responsibility to make this decision and suspend Ivan from the race," Riis said. "I have to think about the team, that is now the most important thing. I trust Ivan Basso, but now it is up to him and his lawyers to show he has nothing to do with this affair."
Prudhomme meanwhile reserved special criticism for the Astaná-Würth team of Vinokourov, suggesting organisers could put further pressure on them to pull riders out.
Prudhomme said fresh evidence from Spain which arrived late Thursday was even more damning and would have condemned them in the eyes of the CAS had it been made available earlier.
"Astaná-Würth is a bit more complicated because there are so many names from that team being linked to the doping probe," added the Frenchman. "Some of those implicated are on the Tour, and some are not. To us, it looks like they have been operating a team doping policy."
By AFP
This report filed June 30, 2006
The Tour de France was thrown into its biggest crisis since the 1998 Festina scandal Friday following the suspensions of the men most favored to take the yellow jersey in this year's edition.
A day before the start of the race, the first since seven-time winner Lance Armstrong retired, organizers said even more riders could follow Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich and Oscar Sevilla in being suspended from the race by their teams.
Earlier in the day, 1997 winner Ullrich, and his teammate Spanish teammate Sevilla, were suspended by T-Mobile when fresh evidence from an ongoing doping probe in Spain - which has implicated a reported 58 riders to blood doping - was released late Thursday.
That decision was soon followed by Ivan Basso's exclusion from CSC's Tour squad, as team manager Bjarne Riis told reporters here Friday that Basso's link to an ongoing doping probe in Spain had forced the team's decision. Basso, the recent winner of the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France runner-up last year, is also named on a 58-strong list which Spanish investigators claim have been involved in blood doping.
Francisco Mancebo, who finished fourth overall last year, was also suspended by his AG2R team because his name appears on the list.
If the 28-year-old Italian is thrown out by his team, it would mean that three of the top five finishers from last year's race would be absent.
There are also doubts over Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan, whose team Astana was given the green light to race the Tour by the Court of Arbitration for Sport late on Thursday.
Astana is the team which has most riders' names on the list.
After a series of crisis meetings Friday between the recently-installed Tour director Christian Prudhomme and the AIGCP, the body which represents the managers of all the teams taking part, Prudhomme was unequivocal in the race organizers' position.
"We're happy about T-Mobile's decision to suspend Sevilla and Ullrich," said Prudhomme, who is directing his first race in place of the retired Jean-Marie Leblanc. "Last night we received official documents from the Guardia Civil (Spanish police) via the Spanish cycling federation.
"We then had a meeting with the AIGCP. During that meeting it was decided that the race's ethical code will be applied to the letter and that none of the riders suspended will be allowed to be replaced. "The sporting directors of each team will now contact the riders concerned."
Tour organizers, who have been keen to avoid any repeat of 1998 when the race almost collapsed due to a major drugs scandal, are putting pressure on teams whose riders are being linked to the probe in Spain.
CSC team manager Bjarne Riis, a Tour winner in 1996, emerged from one of the crisis meetings saying nothing had been decided over Basso's participation.
"We had a good meeting. Everyone agreed on the ethical program we have with the different teams. Now I'm going to talk to my team, and make a statement a little later," said the Dane.
Riis later said he personally made the decision to exclude his top rider.
"It's my responsibility to make this decision and suspend Ivan from the race," Riis said. "I have to think about the team, that is now the most important thing. I trust Ivan Basso, but now it is up to him and his lawyers to show he has nothing to do with this affair."
Prudhomme meanwhile reserved special criticism for the Astaná-Würth team of Vinokourov, suggesting organisers could put further pressure on them to pull riders out.
Prudhomme said fresh evidence from Spain which arrived late Thursday was even more damning and would have condemned them in the eyes of the CAS had it been made available earlier.
"Astaná-Würth is a bit more complicated because there are so many names from that team being linked to the doping probe," added the Frenchman. "Some of those implicated are on the Tour, and some are not. To us, it looks like they have been operating a team doping policy."