Spain

Confusion over Contador’s CAS case

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has been hearing the double appeal brought by the UCI, cycling’s governing body and WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, against the verdict reached by the Spanish cycling authorities just under a year ago.

To recap, Contador tested positive for clenbuterol during the 2010 Tour de France this started a saga of delay and appeal. He is currently cleared to ride but the CAS has been hearing an appeal and the verdict is expected shortly. However, things have taken a twist in the last two days and as I set out below, it is possible that many will find any verdict unsatisfactory.

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Valverde did everything wrong

Valverde Piti

I wish I didn’t have to write this. Alejandro Valverde has yet to race in 2012 but is already pedalling some bold claims. The outrageous display of denial by at a Movistar team presentation yesterday can’t go unmentioned. He told the press:

“I haven’t done anything wrong. I’ve always respected the law, my conscience is clean”

For the record, remember he was banned by the Italian Olympic authority CONI in 2009 and then tried to appeal this with the Court of Arbitration for Sport and lost. Then both the UCI and WADA successfully got the ban extended worldwide for 2010 and 2011 via the CAS.

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Sunday shorts

Yannick Noah Bernard Hinault

Oh Noah
Polls in France regular say Yannick Noah is “the most popular Frenchman”. An odd choice perhaps given the semi-retired tennis player is more famous in France for patronising rip-offs of West African music and tax evasion but he comes across as the cheerful sort, an eternal teenager enjoying life doing some good with charity work.

Go to Spain and the polling is all about the general election today. But if anyone tried asking I suspect Noah would win “most unpopular Frenchman” in Spain by some margin. He’s just managed to upset an entire nation with an article in French daily Le Monde:

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Óscar Sevilla’s trauma

Sevilla

At the start of his pro career many found Óscar Sevilla so fresh-faced they wondered if he was a junior. Now just days from his 35th birthday, his image is less angelic and it’s not just the passage of time. Yesterday he was given a six month ban by the Royal Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) for a doping offence.

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Valverde on the comeback

Valverde racing

An alert reader has spotted that Alejandro Valverde is building up for his comeback to the pro peloton. The photo above comes from newspaper La Opinión de Granada. The Spaniard has been suspended for his involvement in the blood doping network uncovered by Operation Puerto but is training hard for his return with Movistar next year (note the team issue Pinarello with Campagnolo’s electronic gears and the Nalini clothing).

Not content with training hard, he’s been taking part in organised rides. Perhaps mindful of his suspension in the amateur ride above from July he didn’t have a race number… but started with the others and went on to cross the finish line first.

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The Bulls of Spain

Toro de Osborne

A reader asked via twitter what was the Spanish equivalent of sunflowers at the Tour de France. Just as the Tour de France has pretty clichés of riders rolling past fields of sunflowers, for me the Vuelta a Espana has hilltop bovine hoardings. There’s a story behind this. It starts with vino de Jerez, the fortified wine from the city of Jerez that’s known as sherry in English…

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Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian

Clasica San Sebastian

Tomorrow sees the Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian race. It’s a good race in one of the heartlands of cycling… yet it’s struggling financially with race organiser El Diario Vasco, like many other newspapers, unsure whether to continue with the event. The field sees a mix of Tour de France heroes meet fresher challengers, the course is such that a variety of riders can win.

San Sebastian is a coastal city and the capital of the Gipuzkoa province in the Basque region of Spain. There’s plenty of politics here but sidestepping this, the area is one of the most prosperous in Spain thanks to plenty of active manufacturing. You’ll find brands like BH, Orbea and Exteondo from the area and of course, Euskaltel. The famous orange-clad cycling team represents the Basque region and this is their home race.

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What next?

Tour of Poland
That empty feeling

Cycling cannot simply be one race in July. The Tour de France must be one episode in the middle of a saga.

So says Christian Prudhomme, organiser of the Tour de France. You’d half expect him to say this given ASO runs the Tour de France but it runs many other races from the Tour of Qatar in February to the Vuelta a Espana in September, where it recently bought a controlling stake in the organisation. Not to mention the likes of Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the Critérium du Dauphiné.

But Prudhomme is right. If the Tour de France is the biggest and, arguably, the best race of the year then there’s plenty more to look forward to this year. This Saturday sees the Classica San Sebastian, a great one day race in the Basque country, the heartland of Spanish cycling. Sunday sees the start of the Tour of Poland, not exactly a rival to the Tour de France but one with World Tour points at stake and some hilly finishes in the Tatra mountains later in the week. There are also the post-tour criteriums, a series of lucrative exhibition races about which I’ll write more soon.

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News from Spain

Just time to fit in three tales from Spain amidst all the excitement and build up in Flanders.

jaime lissavetzky

Spanish sports minister says no political involvement
It’s one of those head-scratching moments. Faced with accusations that the Spanish federation’s verdict on the Contador case was influenced by political and judicial powers… Spanish sports minister Jaime Lissavetzky has said it wasn’t. Which surely only adds to the political pressure on the case give the minister has now a public position on the matter? Lissavetzky then went on to say UCI President Pat McQuaid opens his mouth too quickly, saying “he is very talkative“.

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What Mosquera didn’t say

Ezequiel Mosquera was supposed to be Vacansoleil’s second star signing but the only reason for the Dutch team to be happy is that he hasn’t brought as much bad publicity as Riccardo Riccò. He was suspended after tests showed both he and then team mate David Garcia Da Peña had tested positive for hydroxyethyl starch … Read more

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