Astana-Wurth keeps Protour license!!

[bobke]

Astana-Würth OK for ProTour licence

The UCI has announced that the new sponsorship of the Astana-Würth team is permissible - for now. The team's ProTour licence came under scrutiny after main sponsor Liberty Seguros withdrew in the wake of the Operacion Puerto doping affair. A new sponsor was found very quickly: the Kazakhstani concern, Astana, but the UCI's ProTour Council (UPTC) wished to review it in light of the ethical issues raised by the Spanish investigation.

In a statement, the UCI said that the president of the UPTC had sent a file with all the information it had on the case to the Licence Commission: "On the basis of documents currently available, the Licence Commission has informed the UCI ProTour Council President that it cannot, to this day, take any decision as to the fate of UCI ProTour licences of teams affected by this case. The Licence Commission has confirmed that it is however ready to intervene at any moment should new information be submitted."

The team's financial state has been cleared by the UCI's accountants Ernst&Young, and the UPTC "has approved the new denomination of the 'Astana - Würth Team'. The UCI would also like to note that it is still waiting for information to be provided by the Spanish authorities to open, if necessary, disciplinary procedure as foreseen by the regulations regarding riders and other persons involved in this matter."

 

[tcklyde]

To those who think the UCI takes doping seriously, let this be proof-positive. The manager of a team can literally be caught making a doping pay off and everything is okay. One wonders what a team would have to do to lose its license.

I understand that the UCI may not have all the information at the moment. Nonetheless, a suspension pending investigation seems the better response.

 

[limerickman]

To those who think the UCI takes doping seriously, let this be proof-positive. The manager of a team can literally be caught making a doping pay off and everything is okay. One wonders what a team would have to do to lose its license.

I understand that the UCI may not have all the information at the moment. Nonetheless, a suspension pending investigation seems the better response.

Agreed : I've said it before and I will say it again - the UCI will not tackle the doping issue.
They haven't in the case of Liberty.

The cycling public is not being served by the UCI.
The UCI's a disgrace.

 

[wolfix]

I'm not that familiar with how the team is set-up , But wasn't Wurth the main sponsor of the TD Suisse? If that's the case the UCI needs to tread softly.

This doping case might a little different from the rest. The info on the riders that are involved is not released yet. This may be a case if individual riders instead of entire teams like the Festina situation.

Until the UCI recieves the info, I think it has to proceed as if everyone is innocent. When the info is released, we should see some heads roll. Let's just hope it's not during the TDF and a top rider is involved. That would really taint the TDF this year.

 

[moviekindoflife]

with the two teams involved in operation puerto it seems fairly clear that the management was up to no good. surely this must show that certain members of each team were also up to no good, but it would still be to the detriment of the sport to exclude whole teams by punishing them for the mistakes made by their management. It is impossible to know at this point who on CV and AW are cheating, but the sport will suffer if athletes are punished without proof.

 

[cyclingheroes]

Agreed : I've said it before and I will say it again - the UCI will not tackle the doping issue.
They haven't in the case of Liberty.

The cycling public is not being served by the UCI.
The UCI's a disgrace.

Agreed. I know some details from inside the UCI and a lot of people wouldn't even dream (nightmare?) of what happends if people inside the UCI try to tackle the doping problem seriously....

 

[jcjordan]

To those who think the UCI takes doping seriously, let this be proof-positive. The manager of a team can literally be caught making a doping pay off and everything is okay. One wonders what a team would have to do to lose its license.

I understand that the UCI may not have all the information at the moment. Nonetheless, a suspension pending investigation seems the better response.

that would make them guilty untill proven innoccent. Not really the best idea in regards to natural justice