Doping

Mosquera on standby

Mosquera

Ezequiel Mosquera is a Spanish cyclist who finished second in the 2010 Vuelta a España. A climber, he took the stage win on the Bola del Mundo climb and he made the move from the modest Xacobeo squad to the big Vacansoleil squad. Certainly that’s how he’d like to be known.

But things have turned out differently. Mosquera was, like Riccardo Riccò, hired by Vacansoleil in part because of his giant points haul, the Dutch team was busy trying to secure a UCI ProTeam licence. But disaster struck and Mosquera was suspended after anti-doping controls showed both he and then team mate David Garcia Da Peña had tested positive for hydroxyethyl starch (HES) in the Vuelta. Garcia also tested positive for EPO and was subsequently banned.

Read more

Variable rules for Contador and Kolobnev?

Kolobnev
At least his saddle is horizontal

Alexsandr Kolobnev has “suspended himself” from competition but I suspect the decision wasn’t taken that freely. After all, here’s the UCI’s press release on the matter:

The UCI Anti-Doping Rules do not provide for a provisional suspension given the nature of the substance, which is a specified substance. However the UCI is confident that his team will take the necessary steps to enable the Tour de France to continue in serenity

You don’t need to be Nico Machiavelli to realise the first sentence contradicts the second, that Kolobnev is free to continue under the rules yet the UCI is waiting for his team to take the “necessary steps”. Or more poetically, to throw Kolobnev down the staircase.

Read more

Dekker returns

Thomas Dekker
Scope for improvement?

A quick mention of Thomas Dekker. In case you’re not familiar, he was once a promising Dutch rider but got busted for EPO. His ban is coming to an end and now he has a book out. If this sounds familiar, yes it is similar to the case of David Millar given the Scot has been banned, has comeback and also released a book this month.

Thomas Molenaar
As much as it sounds like Millar all over again, each case is individual. We can draw parallels but the picture isn’t identical. Yes to the doping bust, the partying, the alcohol and now the desire to make a fresh start is similar, not to mention the book release within weeks.

Read more

Germany, Europe’s largest consumer market

German riders are having a very good season. Andre Greipel’s a dependable winner and this year Tony Martin’s confirmed his abilities whilst neo-pros John Degenkolb and Marcel Kittel have been highly impressive. And if you want a tip, look out for a guy called Tino Thömel.

Germany isn’t quite Europe’s premier cycling country but it is certainly Europe’s biggest country. It’s got the largest population with 81 million inhabitants and the continent’s biggest GDP too. Put simply it’s big and it’s rich and for a sport that rhymes with commerce, where teams are named after companies and brands, it’s a key market. Germany is hard to ignore.

ARD
ARD to ignore

Only that’s exactly what the UCI is doing. It’s refusing to do interviews with German broadcasters ARD and ZDF. For context, switch on a German TV and “channel 1” is ARD. Hit the remote and next comes ZDF. These are broadcasting giants and the German equivalent of Britain’s BBC, CBS in the US or ABC in Australia.

Read more

It’s impossible to treat Contador normally

Sword of Damocles

The Sword of Damocles is an ancient Greek fable that tells of a sword suspended by a horse’s hair above the head of Damocles, a courtier in Athens. At any moment the hair could break and the sword will plunge towards poor Damocles. It’s a tale that says the threat of something looming over us can be as disturbing as the act itself, that we would be unable to live normally with this threat to our life literally hanging over us.

That’s exactly where Alberto Contador is today. With the positive tests for last July still unresolved, there is a giant question mark over him and it could land on his head sometime soon. Faced with this the UCI has issued a communiqué asking that everyone treats him normally… but the very fact that Contador is the sole subject of a press release proves things are not normal.

Read more

So how did the Italians manage to stop Riccò?

Ricco

The reality soap opera that is Riccardo Riccò public life might be tiring. In the latest episode, today his comeback is over before it even started. After announcing a deal to ride for the discreet Meridiana-Kamen team, today brings news that he’s been temporarily suspended “on grounds of health” by the Italian authorities. But if you’re tired of  Riccò, stay with me as this is more a story about local federations having the power to stop a rider from racing if they feel it’s in a rider’s interest.

I got an email from a reader asking why the UCI couldn’t stop him yet the Italians have. Here’s an explanation…

Read more

Revising past results

Michael Rogers

When Winston Churchill wrote “history is written by the victors“, he didn’t count on long term storage of anti-doping samples, judicial investigations and eventual confessions. These days were are seeing sports officials and fans alike question past results. Right now Tyler Hamilton has handed back his gold medal from the 2004 Olympic games time trial and that Michael Rogers could grab a bronze medal.

Read more

Is Contador welcome at the Tour de France?

Christian Prudhomme

Tour de France organiser Christian Prudhomme has said he wants the matter of Alberto Contador’s Clenbuterol samples settled. “The only thing which we want is to have a response. It is the most important thing. Too often we are in a grey area” he told AFP in March.

But things are now set to stay grey for some time. Yesterday we heard that Court of Arbitration for Sport has postponed the double appeal from the UCI ad WADA at the request of Alberto Contador’s defence team. Fair enough, a hearing should always go ahead when both sides are ready. But at the same time, I can’t help noticing lawyers are paid by the hour and Contador is paid monthly and the incentives to play this one for as long as possible. The “contaminated beef” hypothesis was first presented in late August after all.

Fast forward to the present and Contador hadn’t reached cruising speed in the Giro’s opening team time trial before the Italian TV commentators mentioned the pending appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. It wasn’t an auspicious start for the Giro. To mention the race favourite is linked to an appeal and allegations of doping is like a magician opening his act with the words “this isn’t real and don’t watch my left hand too close“.

Read more

+ More