Astana to ride the Giro

TheDarkLord

Nice to see you back. So, we can remove you from the suicide watch list?

musette

I was just awaiting an opportune time -- and this is it!

micron

musette, newsflash - Astana will NOT be getting an invite to the Tour, not before the Giro or after. You've forgotten that RCS didn't want Astana because they were going to send a lousy team - nothing to do with the doping issue or the way Astana rider Mazzoleni disgraced the Giro last year. All Bruyneel ever had to do was promise to send a star laden team and Astana were in and, once the TdF invite wasn't coming his way, he offered all his firepower to the Giro. See that action alone says to me that Bruyneel knows the Tour invite won't be in the post - he didn't have to send Kloeden and Leipheimer and Contador, any of those 3 would have done and he'd have had a team leader for the Tour in reserve - it aint Bruyneel's style to go for a Giro/Tour double - too tricky with the 'preparation', you know.

The issue with ASO is nothing to do with whether the Tour would secure the presence of Dirty Bertie, 'I'm not heavily implicated in the Fribourg investigation at all' Kloeden and 'It's just a coincidence that Dr Ferrari always seems to book into the same hotels as me' Leipheimer - the issue is with the team and the appallingly bad odour of doping and corruption that hangs around them. The lack of Astana in the Tour de France won't diminish it at all in the eyes of the sponsors, the true fans or the core TV demographic - what a handful of ill informed fan boys and girls think will make not a jot of difference to Prudhomme. The Tour will be watched by millions throughout Europe as it always is and if the tiny US viewing figures dwindle it won't make a bit of difference - there are always casual fans, die hard fans, knowledgeable fans, families on a day out and the plain curious who will line the roads and switch on their TV sets.

Despite what Bruyneel and his minions fondly imagine, the Tour de France simply doesn't need Astana. And Astana certainly aren't bigger than the race or the sport.

Drongo

I don't disagree with that statement, Micron, but...

Every man has his price.
It just depends upon whether one is prepared to pay it.

micron

Prudhomme doesn't need Astana, simple as

thoughtforfood

Another howling monkey.....

__________________
"What the world needs now are some true words of wisdom, like la la la la la la la l'la"Cracker

whiteboytrash

May 6, 2008 - 8:50PM

Tour de France organisers will stick by their ruling to bar 2007 champion Alberto Contador and his Astana team from this year's race despite the Giro d'Italia's decision to let them enter the Italian event.

Italian organisers changed their minds last week and afforded Contador's team a spot in the Giro, which starts Saturday.

But the Amaury Sport Organisation, which owns the Tour de France and other stage races including Paris-Nice, said Tuesday it will not change its decision to bar the team from all its events in 2008 following a series of doping violations.

"Our management took a decision. We will wait for one year," ASO spokesman Christophe Marchadier said by telephone. "One year to wait and see, and we will have another look next year."

ASO excluded Astana because of serious doping violations at the last two Tours.

Last year, Alexandre Vinokourov was caught blood-doping during the race and Andrej Kashechkin tested positive for the same offence in an out-of-competition test in Turkey a month later.

In 2006, several riders on the team - then known as Liberty Seguros - were kicked out on the eve of the Tour after being linked to the Operation Puerto blood-doping scandal in Spain.

In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Astana sporting director Johan Bruyneel called ASO's decision "extremely unfair, illogical, ridiculous and arrogant," saying other doping-tainted teams did not receive similar punishment.

Astana's riders also include former Tour runner-up Andreas Kloeden and Levi Leipheimer. The team is also scheduled to take part in the Spanish Vuelta, which begins August 30.

Contador joined the Kazakhstan-backed Astana team in October after his previous team, Discovery Channel, disbanded.

micron

'after his previous team disbanded' - what they neglect to say is that Discovery signed him and Paulhino (whilst under suspicion in OP) from, um, Astana...

Crankyfeet

I agree with your view that ASO won't be affected by Astana's inclusion in the Giro. I don't like doping, Bruyneel or Astana. But I find it a contradiction that some here think that Astana see themselves as bigger than the sport. When potentially the favorite for the event is effectively disallowed from competing based on subjective criteria. If it is about doping, why not the other doping teams be disallowed? If it's because they're too good...HUH???? I think ASO is acting bigger than the sport... but that is just MHO.

When I hear that fans are upset that Astana will be allowed to race the Giro, because now it won't be a close race, It is easier to see how doping apologism exists. It must have been a terrible time to watch cyling in the early 70's with Eddie winning nearly every race. What a bore.

Cobblestones

I would think Astana/LS got the boot because they took the cake during the last two years. First, the whole Liberty-Seguros team got banned. T-Mobile got only 2 riders banned, CSC only one. The next year, Vino got busted for blood transfusion after winning a stage. The T-Mobile rider Sinkewitz got also busted, but only after he was out of the tour anyway. This compares maybe with Kash. Ras got thrown out of the tour which was probably the biggest publicity nightmare, but Rabobank apparently played with ASO and they didn't create problems the year before. So, if you look at the last two tours, LS/Astana was probably the worst of the teams. Could ASO ban High Road or CSC or maybe Rabobank based on doping? Probably, but ASO choose to make a statement with the arguably worst team. Is it fair? I think this depends on your point of view. You could reasonably argue both sides.

musette

We could amuse ourselves guessing whether any other Astana riders will finish #2 or #3, after one of them wins the maglia rosa.

poulidor

Maybe we can also bet on who of them will test positive in the next month!

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Let Astana and McQuaid whine !

limerickman

I tend to agree.

As much as I like the Giro - I think that it is reasonable to suggest that in terms of their respective standings, the TDF is more central to France than the Giro would be to Italy (that's not intended as a slur on the Giro or Italy - football/F1/motorbike racing, all vie for probably more coverage than cycling there).

And with that framework, I think that Prudhomme has probably calculated that
Astana represent too much of a doping risk to be invited.

__________________
.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets" - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

Leafer

Maybe the more pertinent question is, which rider's past will catch up to them first? The ex-Saiz riders? The ex-Godefroot riders? The Vino-and-Kash era Astana'ers? Bruyneel's Disco'ers? It could be a close race.

But there again, maybe none of the current Astana riders who used to ride for Saiz at ONCE/LS, Godefroot at T-Mob/Astana, or Bruyneel at Disco/Astana ever really did dope. I'm sure Bruyneel's looked 'em all in the eye, just as he did Basso.