McQuaid attacks Bettinin for not signing anti-doping commitment

McQuaid states he is " very angry " with Bettini for not signing the anti-doping letter. He stated that he was tired of Bettini and riders like him not signing the letter. He is also very angry with the Italian Federation for not having forced all riders to sign.

Di Rocco, the President of the Italian Federation, politely told him to get lost. He stated that the Federation would not enforce different protocols with different categories of riders (he stated that women, U23 and MTB racers are not requested by the UCI to sign a similar statement).

He also confirmed that the Italian Federation informed UCI on 13 September that they would not require pros to sign the letter to participate in the Worlds, until the entire legal picture was clear.

This last tidbit helps me to understand that Di Rocco is challenging the UCI... let us see what happens. Fun, fun, fun. Our sport is again all over the news before the racing even begins.

http://www.gazzetta.it/Ciclismo/Primo_Piano/2007/09_Settembre/25/mcquaid.shtml
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/25092007/58/mcquaid-slams-bettini.html
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/070925/sports/cycling_world_ger_doping_bettini


Edit: added English links.

 

Can someone please enlighten me as to why Bettini wouldn't sign the charter?? (sarcasm intended...)

 

He appears to be protesting the withholding of the year salary, without due process. In other words for a failed test the rider is immediately penalized before being able to contest or provide an explanation for the result. he has supposedly agreed to the DNA testing and anything involved with Puerto investigation.

 

At this point in the worldwide cycling climate, all pro riders should understand that they're presumed guilty until proven innocent and as such should being doing anything and everything in their power to prove their innocence - IF, in fact, they are innocent. It stands to reason that if one is not innocent, then one gets defensive...

Bettini's reticence(sp?) to the charter as it stands only means, IMO, that he's concerned about getting busted...

 

If the document is a "charade", why doesn't he sign it as it reads instead of having his lawyer alter it???

And the "they all do it so it's ok if I do it" rationale for doping doesn't hold water anymore...

 

My pun was intended...

Furthermore, come back to cycling, my friend...and if you can not, please don't confine your ranting to the NFL as doping is an equal opportunity activity...

 

With todays climate of "guilty until proven innocent", I don't blame anyone not wanting to sign a document that will be challenged in court the first time it is used.
It's obvious that the document is a publicity stunt trying to cover up the mess the UCI has made of cycling.
The UCI already has policy documents in place to punish riders. If they need additional documents, then they must feel as if the documents they already have are faulty.

Bettini has good counsel. The UCI needs to do it's job.

 

If you're not part of solution, you are part of the problem...

 

However, your logic is flawed........
Bettini is part of the solution......He is World champion with no hint of doping attached to his name. What more can you ask for? He has agreed to DNA testing and has not been named in OP. He is the solution.
The UCI is part of the problem....It allowed uncontrolled doping go on for years. It is acting upon bad evidence and has tried to punish riders without due process. . It has caved into the Germans that are hosting the Worlds.

 

Uh, Bettini has just been implicated as providing testosterone to another pro rider (Sinkewitz)...

 

Also, don't forget his connection to this case, which preceeded Festina and should have been the wake up call for cycling:

http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=10163

Cyclists can't expect sympathy from the public over due process compromises when they are part of a sport that is so completely out of control with doping and cheating from top to bottom. Over 100 pro cyclists - a fair chunk of the pro peleton - were implicated during OP, and this was only ONE sting operation investigating ONE member of the dope supply chain. Other sting operations in Belgium and elsewhere have shown that OP was no isolated incident. IMO, cycling organizers have no choice but to resort to tougher measures to get things under control, regardless of their past complicity in letting things get to their current sorry state. Business as usual isn't an option.

 

Wait a second. Please don't include Ricky Williams in that list. He smokes pot because he has dibilitating social anxiety disorder. He has taken way too much shit from the press that merely reports the headlines of the positive marijuana tests without knowing, or pointing out, that he is really doing this stuff as treatment for his problems. Plus, weed ain't EPO or cow blood.

From what I've seen, Williams seems like an upstanding, soft-spoken, intelligent and principalled guy. He doesn't deserve more shit.

 

I wish the UCI would just layoff Clasicomano Luigi.

 

Implicated by a TV station with false information. So now we ban a rider on the word of a journalist?
Let's face it....... The Germans have fucked this up. They were awarded the right to present the World's to the public, not awarded the right to set policy. Even their own courts said they overstepped their bounds.
The UCI needs to step up and have firm policys.
I would think the sport would have been on the track to recovery by now after the Spanish doctors bust. But we are witnessing the destruction of a sport that we all love.
I hope Bettini wins this tomorrow. Like someone else said........ a podium of Zabel, Valverde, and Bettini would be great.........

 

You are shitting me aren't you? Even fucking serial killers get due process consideration.

 

I don't really want to get legalistic. Due process only protects rights and property interests. It does not protect priviledges. I personally think that, at this juncture, riding a grand tour or a pro tour event is a priviledge and not a right. Racing in the world championships is a priveledge and not a right. Bettini should be ashamed of himself for refusing to make a pledge that he hasn't cheated and that he won't cheat. I don't buy that he is a crusader for civil rights over the DNA testing. If he was, he would be holding press conferances telling people that DNA testing is bad. He should go home with DiLuca.

 

Also, Germany holding the World's is a priviledge , not a right. By agreeing to hold the World's, they need to accept what the UCI has set in front of them.

Wrong....... Bettini has the right if the Italian Federation gives him that right. The UCI has granted that right. The German courts agree that Bettini has that right. If you are wearing the rainbow jersey you have the right to ride in the following World's. That right was granted to all World Champions. If any priviledges were granted, it was to Stuggart to hold the World's.

There is no such pledge.What you are refering to is Bettini's right to refuse to give the salary back, which is totally unrealistic anyway.

He has agreed to give DNA. That "moral obligation" of McQuid's has no legal binding. Even McQuid has stated that.

 

I can see both sides of the issue. I want to believe that the riders are clean, but in this climate, I will not blindly and naively defend their innocence anymore either.

the UCI is totally messed up. If it were proficiently run and honest in its intentions to clean up the sport I would support their actions. But we have seen that they are sooooo egregiously inconsistent. I can understand why a rider, being an insider with access to the dark underworld, would be hesistant to take 100% of the fall when he knows full well it is the culture that is corrupt.

The entire front is disengenous. I hate drugs, but sometimes I long for the blissfully ignorant days of old...

 

The people who run cycling have to set the rules, as is true for the governing body of any sport. Doping is out of control and threatening the survival of the sport. The policies of the past are not working, and the governing authorities have no choice but to tighten up the rules in response. Riders under investigation can’t expect to be granted the same degree of restriction-free participation as they have in the past, and all riders have to accept that there will be a whole range of increasingly stringent anti-doping requirements to comply with in the future. This concept is neither incredible nor unprecedented in sport or any other business segment for that matter. When things get out of control, management is responsible for implementing changes to get them back under control. What’s so controversial about that?

 

And the German city is the one that is trying to enforce the rules. The governing bodies have allowed Bettini to ride.

Bettini is not under investigation........ the media has reported something that the media source has denied.
Not one governing body of cycling is attempting to ban Bettini at this time. It is the German city prosecutor that is doing so without the backing of thier own court system ..........

Bettini has every moral and legal right to ride...........