THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Ullrich cleared to race; Astaná-Würth will try to ride
Pre-race favorite Jan Ullrich got the green light to start the Tour de France because accusations linking him to a growing Spanish doping inquiry were deemed too weak to keep the 1997 champ out of the race, officials said.
“For the Tour de France, for now, there is no problem with Ullrich,” Tour spokesman Philippe Sudres told The Associated Press, who added the Tour would reconsider if more evidence becomes available. “He has not been formally identified.”
Tour officials notified T-Mobile representatives that allegations made against Ullrich and teammate Oscar Sevilla in a series of damning articles published in El País are too vague to keep the pair out of the Tour, set to start Saturday in Strasbourg.
“Director of cycling Christian Prudhomme assured me over the telephone that the ASO would not exclude any cyclists from the Tour solely on the basis of this kind of speculation,” Eisenga said on the team’s web page.
The pair were allegedly linked to Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes after El País has had insider access to court documents as part of Spain’s ongoing doping investigation dubbed “Operación Puerto.”
Ullrich and T-Mobile sports director Rudy Pevenage furiously denied the allegations that Ullrich’s name was found in coded inscriptions allegedly listed as “hijo de Rudicio,” which El País reported referred to Ullrich as the “son of Rudy,” in reference to the close relationship between Ullrich and Pevenage.
The paper’s revelations, however, did result in Tour officials asking Astaná-Würth to not attend the Tour, a non-binding decision that is expected to be heard by CAS ahead of Saturday’s start of the Tour.
Tour officials said reports that as many as 15 riders from Astaná-Wurth, formerly Liberty Seguros, alleged to be linked to Fuentes prompted them to ask the team not to start the Tour, citing damage to the “image of the Tour.”
Former team manager Manolo Sáiz was among five people detained May 23 as part of Spain’s largest doping investigation.
Earlier this month, Spanish continental team Comunidad Valenciana saw its wild-card invitation revoked because one of the team’s assistant sport directors was among the five detainees.
No charges have been filed in the case and a Spanish court has yet to make any indictments or release secret documents, but the revelations from the El País stories have already caused serious repercutions on the eve of the Tour start.
Astaná-Würth heads to France
Despite its uncertain status as an “uninvited team,” riders and staff of the Astaná-Würth team were scheduled to travel to France on Wednesday ahead of Saturday’s start of the Tour de France.
Team captain Alexandre Vinokourov and the other eight Tour riders and sport directors spent Tuesday night in a Madrid hotel and were scheduled to fly to France on Wednesday. Other staff members were driving the team’s buses and cars north toward France.
It’s unsure in which hotel the team would reside once arriving in Strasbourg because accommodation is provided by Tour organizers, which told the Spanish team Monday it was no longer welcome at the Tour.
It’s also unclear whether Tour officials will allow riders to undergo pre-Tour health checks scheduled for Thursday.
The Court of Arbitration is Sport is expected to make a ruling by Friday on whether the Tour can keep the team out of the race. The UCI said race organizers cannot make the decision arbitrarily because the squad is part of the 20-team ProTour league, which guarantees start positions in the Tour and other major races.
The ongoing doping investigation in Spain and its ensuing fallout threaten to distract attention away from racing on the eve of the Tour prologue Saturday in Strasbourg.
Race director Jean-Marie Leblanc said the Tour organization will respect any decision taken by CAS, but said the presence of Astaná-Würth threatens to undermine the image of the race because of alleged links between team staff and riders to the police investigation into an alleged blood-doping ring in Spain.
“It’s a decision that unjust for the riders that don’t dope, but we are talking about organized crime, with people that earn money by putting the health of riders in danger and hurt the credibility of races,” Leblanc told the Spanish daily AS.
The ramifications could spill over into international politics. New team sponsor Astaná is backed by a consortium of top Kazakh companies represented by the nation’s top natural resources producers in gas, oil and minerals.
Team member Andrey Kashechkin told L’Equipe that Kazakh president Nursultán Nazarbayev would contact French president Jacques Chirac to mediate a solution to keep the team in the Tour.
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