Puerto is Over
- Thread starter JRMDC
- Start date
A doping scandal comes, a hope of salvation for the sport is seen in the distance, once again carried by a nations police force rather than the UCI. Then the UCI sticks its tail between its legs and runs off, cacks the whole thing up completely and all the dopers are welcomed back into the peloton with open arms. Obviously its possible some on the Puerto list weren't dopers (if you believe that there is such a mythical entity as a non doping proffessional cyclist) and it would be unfair to brand them all with the same brush but still, cycling (including fans) seems to be very good and being forgiving to dopers. E.g the public still adores Virenque.
Another oppurtunity passed up, hope for the sport fades a little more.
Another oppurtunity passed up, hope for the sport fades a little more.
So now it seems you just throw some charges against the wall and hope they stick? We were robbed of all those great riders in the TDF for no reason? Jesus, someone come up with a way for these charges, if they are true, to stick. And some clue better than your dogs name I hope. I cant express my disgust at this enough!
You gotta hate the influence of the big $$$ in any major sports. The athletes poison themselves for the sake of some brief glory and it all gets kept quiet as long as dollars are there to be made.tcklyde said:
The fact that FIFA managed to stop any connection of Dr Fuentes to footballers is a joke. Ditto for tennis.
Or maybe we just judged everyone in the media first! UCI is a joke either which way you cut it. They have a duty to protect the reps and life of each rider, and UCI has failed misserably in the past few years to do either. Personally, they should toss all those bumms out and bring in some fresh head hunters!
Before reading go to the toilet (just in case you have to throw up..):
http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/11105.0.html
Mcquaid (UCI):
No word about their own resposibility like, well actually we already knew about massive blood doping from our study in 2004 and well actually we did nothing and well ofcourse we could have installed the Frenc anti-doping rules and well than Puerto would have never happeed and well ofcourse we are responsible because we are cycling's world body NOTHING like that... the UCI doesn't take their responsibility not even for the AIGCP DNA proposal:
"but the message from the teams' representative body (AIGCP) is clear. They want riders who have been implicated to provide DNA samples. It's a reasonable solution. They don't want to welcome back riders who may have a cloud of suspicion hanging over them."
McQuaid out!
http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/11105.0.html
Mcquaid (UCI):
No word about their own resposibility like, well actually we already knew about massive blood doping from our study in 2004 and well actually we did nothing and well ofcourse we could have installed the Frenc anti-doping rules and well than Puerto would have never happeed and well ofcourse we are responsible because we are cycling's world body NOTHING like that... the UCI doesn't take their responsibility not even for the AIGCP DNA proposal:
"but the message from the teams' representative body (AIGCP) is clear. They want riders who have been implicated to provide DNA samples. It's a reasonable solution. They don't want to welcome back riders who may have a cloud of suspicion hanging over them."
McQuaid out!
Top managers rarely take responsibility. The jobs and benefits are far too pleasant for something like that.cyclingheroes said:
Relax. Nothing is over. The real fun is just beginning. If the riders would have been sanctioned then the UCI could point to them and say they caught the bad apples. Then it would be over. Instead we have the worst possible outcome. Although a couple of riders who were not involved with Fuentes may have been sucked into the scandal, the vast majority are guilty. Fuentes was running a large scale doping ring. Riders were video taped going into and out of blood collection points. Vast sums of money were flowing through the network. Saiz was caught red handed paying for Fuentes services. Nothing will be forgotten.
The UCI and GTs will be forced to act. Having known dopers competing is intolerable. The sponsors will not stand for it. That is the reason the teams have banded together in a hard line against the accused. None of the teams' management care about doping per se; they were all dopers when they were pros and they ran doping programs during the last decade. They are afraid that doping will upturn the gravy train. Anyone involved in Puerto will find it extremely hard to race at the top levels of the sport for the next couple of years.
Information about Fuentes will continue to dribble out. Prosecutors like publicity and in the months and especially weeks leading up to Fuentes trial there will be leaks. Then there will be the spectacle of the trial itself, a slap on the wrist, and Fuentes finally going public, either in a book or in interviews. This thing does not end before at least half way through the 2008 season.
Saiz' ProTour license is worth nothing. The ProTour already gave out too many licenses. They originally planned on sixteen but more teams than that wanted guarantees to race the Tour. That has been one of the major sticking points with the GTs. They do not have the flexibility to invite regional teams. The GTs agreement with the ProTour is dead; they no longer have to invite all the ProTour teams, and you can bet that any team fielded by Saiz will not get an invite to any race put on by the ASO or RCS--Unipublic might invite a Saiz team but even that is doubtful. The GTs will probably stick together.
The Saiz situation also proves one of the points of the GTs. They want a more fluid method for teams to move between the top and the lower levels. If such a system were in place, Saiz' team would simply be made into a Pro Continental team and that would be that.
As it is Saiz has an ProTour license but he has no team and little chance of fielding a team that meets the ProTour standards. Where will he find sponsors to fund a team that has little chance of being invited to cycling's premier events? The ProTour requires a large team of at least twenty-five riders; he needs a large sponsor. Right now he cannot meet the ProTour's financial guarantees, and that is one excuse the ProTour can use to pull his license.
The UCI and GTs will be forced to act. Having known dopers competing is intolerable. The sponsors will not stand for it. That is the reason the teams have banded together in a hard line against the accused. None of the teams' management care about doping per se; they were all dopers when they were pros and they ran doping programs during the last decade. They are afraid that doping will upturn the gravy train. Anyone involved in Puerto will find it extremely hard to race at the top levels of the sport for the next couple of years.
Information about Fuentes will continue to dribble out. Prosecutors like publicity and in the months and especially weeks leading up to Fuentes trial there will be leaks. Then there will be the spectacle of the trial itself, a slap on the wrist, and Fuentes finally going public, either in a book or in interviews. This thing does not end before at least half way through the 2008 season.
Saiz' ProTour license is worth nothing. The ProTour already gave out too many licenses. They originally planned on sixteen but more teams than that wanted guarantees to race the Tour. That has been one of the major sticking points with the GTs. They do not have the flexibility to invite regional teams. The GTs agreement with the ProTour is dead; they no longer have to invite all the ProTour teams, and you can bet that any team fielded by Saiz will not get an invite to any race put on by the ASO or RCS--Unipublic might invite a Saiz team but even that is doubtful. The GTs will probably stick together.
The Saiz situation also proves one of the points of the GTs. They want a more fluid method for teams to move between the top and the lower levels. If such a system were in place, Saiz' team would simply be made into a Pro Continental team and that would be that.
As it is Saiz has an ProTour license but he has no team and little chance of fielding a team that meets the ProTour standards. Where will he find sponsors to fund a team that has little chance of being invited to cycling's premier events? The ProTour requires a large team of at least twenty-five riders; he needs a large sponsor. Right now he cannot meet the ProTour's financial guarantees, and that is one excuse the ProTour can use to pull his license.
But... i've read a Guardia Civil document today which says that there probebly won't be a trial against Fuentes......
On November 29 there will be a hearing with a member of the Guardia Civil who is under suspicion of falsifying the Puerto documents. I am recieving more information in the coming days...
On November 29 there will be a hearing with a member of the Guardia Civil who is under suspicion of falsifying the Puerto documents. I am recieving more information in the coming days...
Bro Deal said:
If the evidence gets sealed and never sees the light of day then many riders might be able to escape the consequences, but there will be a dark clould hanging over most. They need some sort of refutation of the evidence to make things go back to the way they were. Right now it does not look like the UCI and the teams are willing to forget about it.cyclingheroes said:
I think Puerto is just beginning. This was posted on cyclingnews.....cyclingheroes said:
========================================================
cyclingnews....
However, the Competition Committee has initiated disciplinary investigations of Manolo Saiz (ex-director of the Liberty Seguros team), Vicente Belda and Jose Ignacio Labarta (director and associate director of the Comunidad Valenciana team) as well as Yolanda Fuentes (Comunidad Valenciana team doctor), via the presumed infraction of article 83.2 of the Spanish National Regulations of Doping Control, but any procedures against the four are suspended, awaiting further action until the judge allows the information to be used by the Spanish Federation for any disciplinary action against Saiz, Belda, Labarta and Dr. Yolanda Fuentes.
=========================================================
I'm curious as if Fuentes goes to trial, would they make JU,Basso, & company testify?
What is the status of Fuentes?
And if there is a trial, are Spanish trials open to the public? Is it public record???
Trials are open in Spain and i will try to get in. It's unclear if riders have to testify but it's expected that they don't have to. The reason is that it appears the only point against Fuentes & co that has left is that the bloodbags where not stored in a proper way. It's believed that all charges will be dropped since the prosecution has aproblem with proofing the case..
Apparently the bloodbags that where found by the Guardia Civil where stored in a proper way. The Guardia Civil doesn't really believe in the case anymore but Fuentes is still accused of endangering (is that correct English?) public health (by storing bloodbags in the wrong way....)
Apparently the bloodbags that where found by the Guardia Civil where stored in a proper way. The Guardia Civil doesn't really believe in the case anymore but Fuentes is still accused of endangering (is that correct English?) public health (by storing bloodbags in the wrong way....)
wolfix said:
Here is the latest deal from cyclingnews.com:
"However, in order for Saiz to keep his ProTour license, the financials of his company have to be approved by auditors Ernst & Young on November 20, which might ultimately derail Saiz's efforts."
As I said yesterday, Saiz' sponsorship issues will prevent him from exercising his ProTour licence. The ProTour does not have to yank his license, they can just wait for him to inevitably fail the ProTour requirements.
I think the next step might be for Saiz to sell his ownership in Active Bay to a team that wants to be in the ProTour.
"However, in order for Saiz to keep his ProTour license, the financials of his company have to be approved by auditors Ernst & Young on November 20, which might ultimately derail Saiz's efforts."
As I said yesterday, Saiz' sponsorship issues will prevent him from exercising his ProTour licence. The ProTour does not have to yank his license, they can just wait for him to inevitably fail the ProTour requirements.
I think the next step might be for Saiz to sell his ownership in Active Bay to a team that wants to be in the ProTour.
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