The Five Names: Bio-passport Case
by Jen See on Jun 17, 2009 10:58 AM EDT
in News
Email
PrintThe UCI has announced that five riders will be sanctioned as a result of apparent violations found in their bio-passport data. The five are:
• Igor Astarloa Ascasibar of Amica Chips
• Pietro Caucchioli of Lampre-Ngc
• Francesco De Bonis of Diquigiovanni Androni
• Ruben Lobato Elvira, a Spanish rider who is not currently under contract
• Ricardo Serrano Gonzalez of Fuji-Servetto
The UCI will begin the proceedings shortly, though they have offered no specific time-line. The decision to open cases comes on the recommendation of independent experts the UCI has asked to interpret the passport data.
According to the press release, the UCI has conducted tests on 840 riders in the passport program. "An assessment of the first year of the bio-passport would not be complete without mentioning the fact that the overall analysis shows... that a very large majority of their profiles do not display any anomalies," claims the UCI. While these numbers sound like good news, the positive tests returned by several riders in the last year suggest the limits of the passport's reach.
The press release concludes by extolling the merits of the passport program and declaring that "today's announcement is a very important step in the battle against doping." "The UCI is proud, once more, to be the pioneering international federation in this field. After the introduction of blood tests in 1997 and the EPO detection test in 2001, it is now through the biological passport that the UCI is confronting the scourge of doping." Apparently, this announcement also marks the "dawn of a new future." Ahem.
No reaction has yet surfaced from the teams or riders involved, but two of the riders involved have previously come under suspicion. Astarloa has previously come under doping suspicions, and Milram cancelled a contract with the former World Champion and withdrew him from the 2008 Giro d'Italia. Francesco De Bonis met a similar fate at Gerolsteiner last season. The 27 year old Italian raced through May with the German team, who hired him on the recommendation of Davide Rebellin. Gerolsteiner quietly put him on the inactive list and he disappeared from sight, until he received a contract for this year from Diquigiovanni-Androni.
Source, The UCI Press Service.
Update: Lampre-Ngc has suspended Pietro Caucchioli as a consequence of the UCI's announcement today. The team doctor Carlo Guardascione has confirmed that the team has received the information from the UCI. The potential violation dates from September 2008, before Caucchioli rode for Lampre-Ngc, and results from a blood test taken before the Tour of Poland. "For 2009, considering the information we have in our possession, we have not seen any anamolies and the behavior maintained by the rider has a normal health profile," explained Guardascione. — Source, Tuttobiciweb.it.
Update: Diquigiovanni-Androni has issued a statement in relation to Francesco De Bonis. The team has suspended the rider pending the outcome of disciplinary proceedings. Similarly to the Caucchioli case, the Diquigiovanni-Androni statement notes that the possible violation ocurred during the 2008 season, according to the information they have received from the UCI. The team confirms that De Bonis has not recorded any anamolous test results during the 2009 season. —Source, Tuttobiciweb.it.
73 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
The 5 are:
Igor Astarloa Ascasibar, Pietro Caucchioli, Francesco De Bonis, Ruben Lobato Elvira, Ricardo Serrano Gonzalez according to l’Equipe (or are you still writing the article?) :)
sometimes life is a false flat
yes
I am still writing. I put up a stub because I don’t want to have to delete my story if someone else puts up a link or something.
by Jen See on Jun 17, 2009 11:04 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
this could proves
they are dopers?!
This results came from the last year’s tests, or already this one?
Everyone from Spain then
Bork, bork, bork!
by TheFigurehead on Jun 17, 2009 11:15 AM EDT up reply actions
de Bonis is in
Serramenti, and came from Gerolsteiner!! a deja vu, coincidence too, is he has been increased his level. Rebellin call him bro. :P
Came from a french team last year (AG2r) to a italian!! So, why now this suspicious values…
No big names
I wonder if this is part of a strategy. If it were me, I would get a few easy convictions to set the precedent before proceeding with the harder cases. And the bigger names are harder cases, at least in the sense that they’ll spend more to defend themselves. I doubt we’re done here.
Abruzziamo!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jun 17, 2009 11:19 AM EDT reply actions
+1
I sure hope not, or this is going to be one of those upsetting cases of ’let’s bust the little / unimportant / poor guys because they’re easy targets and it makes us look like we’re doing something.’
I don't fear widespread
doping among the biggest names. But surely it can’t be this easy?!?
Abruzziamo!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jun 17, 2009 11:37 AM EDT up reply actions
Eeeh they're dredging up semi-retired riders and stuff from last year
This is obviously a little something to keep the wolves off their back for awhile. If they ever do get around to more serious names it will be a long time in the future.
Also I would suspect if there was a big name that they had uncertain evidence against I would bet all my shirts that they would rather sit on that info, target test him at the Tour and hope they get an old fashioned clear positive test to nail him with.
Yup, I think we would do the same had we been in UCI position
Better win a few court cases before going up against the big guys’ lawyers.
could be...
going from Leipheimer’s twitter comments…
“That’s 6 blood and 3 urine samples in 2 days.”
http://twitter.com/Levi_Leipheimer
live to ride, ride to live
Asterloa is the nearest to a big name.
He was fired by Milram in ‘08 for irregular blood values, so shouldn’t be a surprise
Thanks Gav
for the writeup. And Chapeau to the UCI for this watershed moment. It’s a step. Now don’t do something stupid like declare final victory….
Abruzziamo!
by Chris Fontecchio on Jun 17, 2009 11:38 AM EDT reply actions
no problemo
I wanted to try the new twitter linker thingy. But it only prompts for that on the first publish, and not the edits. Missed my big chance to try out the new toy ;-)
There's the odd triumphalist note sneaking into that press release, isn't there?
The UCI is proud, once more, to be the pioneering international federation in this field.
Well, I suppose so. But no mention of the apparent discrepancy between positives in UCI-sanctioned and other races (i.e. last year’s TdF/Olympics), naturally…
I guess to give them a bit of credit, the out-of-competion testing seems to be rather more successful & I wonder whether the passport does actually have something to do with that (& the promised targeting etc.). I suspect with these cases they have gone for a very high threshold of proof.
Indeed
They are mighty proud of themselves in this press release. Or, at least, their PR writers are.
A bit over the top, really.
I do think they are doing considerably better with out of competition testing than they have in the past, though, and deserve credit for that.
oops
Hit send too quick.
So do the teams, though, who are after all paying the bill for the passport program.
Weren't the UCI on the front with EPO testing too?
I’m just glad that the wakeup call from ASO last year has kicked things into motion, so cycling now is the sport doing most in the war against doping(not that it says much).
Yep
I’m pretty sure you’re right about that, starting with the 50% rule.
So yeah, I’m not sure it’s the dawn of a new age, or anything, but it may be a step forward or sorts.
It is a bit disquieting that the riders on this list are relatively low profile and low salaried, and that the alleged offenses date from 2008.
Yeah
This is looking underwhelming. I also wonder if the peloton in general has figured out how to game the profile.
You need blood values from a long period
That’s why we’re seeing these riders having suspect values from 2008 – I don’t think we’ll be seeing blood passport-cases hit with a boom like EPO- and testosterone-cases. Many months will pass by from a rider took doping to the allegations come official, I think.
by Forstoppelse on Jun 17, 2009 5:42 PM EDT up reply actions
Sorry...
But I cannot wait to know the indignant excuses Savio dreams up for his two precious riders in trouble while, unforuinately, Holczer has some form of breakdown since four ex-Gerolsteiners are on the naughty list.
Mon coeur appartient à les forçats de la route.
Holczer sidelined De Bonis last year
I think he did all he could in this case without actually outright calling him a doper (which he probably didn’t have enough evidence to do at the time). HMH shouldn’t bear the burden here.
Savio is another matter entirely.
Great write up, as usual.
One small correction: tests on 840 riders, not 840 tests.
I can't understand why people cheat--Mark Cavendish
Like shooting fish in a barrel
I said a few days ago that I thought the UCI would go strictly for low-hanging fruit with the test cases, but this list is a joke.
It’s one thing to go after guys who can’t afford the best lawyers money can buy, but, with the possible exception of Caucchioli, I’d be surprised if any of these guys can afford to mount any defense at all.
I must say, I’m impressed by how ridiculous the UCI is willing to look in order to maintain the status quo. When other organizations take control of the testing and prosecutions, stars like Basso, Valverde, Rebellin, Kohl, Schumacher, and Ricco go down, but when the UCI is in charge, it’s Francesco De Bonis and Igor Astorloa.
Oh well, I guess it’s a relief to know that only has-beens, pack fodder, and unemployed riders are blood doping these days.
+1
This is just disappointing in the extreme. Someone should pony up a legal defense fund for these guys to get them real lawyers just to force the UCI to defend what they clearly don’t think they actually can defend if they’re only going after these guys.
I’d like to believe in the BioPassport. But if this is as much confidence as the UCI has in it, we should have it exposed now, rather than later.
So If some of these violations came in 2008
then why did this program catch none of the big names that were caught in and since 2008?
sometimes life is a false flat
My guess
It’s as worthless as Kohl says it is. :(
But didn't this all began at the outset of 2008?
The Bio passport system I mean. Wouldn’t Moises Duenas, Kohl, Davide Rebellin, Manuel Beltran, etc been named already if the program was actually effective at uncovering blood irregularities in these riders?
No, because to see irregularities you first need to have a longitudinal graph
And even when the irregularities could be seen the passport had not been put into effect, meaning the race ban tools(due to health) and suspension had not been put into effect.
The best example would be Kohl as a criminal where the UCI is the police sitting outside in the surveillance car. Kohl thinks he has avoided getting arrested but the police is in reality just waiting for the court order.
We must not forget that the French when targeting the riders which they would use the expensive CERA test on were using mini versions of the bio-passport. :)
"Apparently, this announcement also marks the "dawn of a new future." Ahem." - gav
sheer elegance. my compliments.
lol
Well, I tried to post it without commentary, but man, that was some seriously silly over-writing there. Holy purple prose, batman!
Damn, got the tata’s all wrong (heh). Rookie mistake. Now you’ll never guess what I was on about! (rolleyes). So anyway, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWnmCu3U09w
Ta for heads up! Good read. (Thought unusual CN was first!)
Would like to read full decision but not up at CAS site as yet. No v happy something to do with bp type testing has failed at CAS same day UCI announce.
Do these people people not talk to each other?
lol
But I twittered it hours before CN ;-)
Too much we don’t know about the Gusev case to make any connections to the bio-passport.
I can validate this!!
Gav broke the news ahead of CN…go Gav go!!…and many thanks for the heads up! It was absolutely fascinating reading!
find this aspect very interesting indeed...
I think one of the outcomes of this (& actually the passport so far) is that internal testing programmes in general are up for a bit of a kicking, too. It’s curious that even the so-called “clean” teams don’t seem to think there’s the same PR mileage in the whole concept that there was last year. I’d love to hear from Damsgaard, not that we will, if he wasn’t damaged enough by the bike-accepting, hospital disassociating shenanigans over the winter.
Gripper interview is required reading
Why on earth they allow McQuaid or the Department of Pomp, Exuberance and Self-aggrandizing (UCI PR-department) to speak when they should all shut up and let Gripper do the talking is beyond me.
She's surely clearer than McQuaid...
…but there’s this great big grey area in between “not pushing cases against big names for political reasons” and “only going forward where we’re sure we’ve got all our ducks in a row” that leaves an awful lot of room for ‘optimism’ to color her perceptions of what’s going on.
Her response to Kohl is interesting though, and makes sense. On the other hand, it sort of avoids the question, since what Kohl seemed to be implying was that the UCI tests gave them a clear barometer of what they could and could not get away with.
No not the least
One thing is to be brave, another ting is to brainless.
Just look at Damsgaard’s problems just because he hadn’t done his juridical research. The court system isn’t geared for the fight against doping and that’s why so many clearly doped riders have escaped due to the exact EPO type couldn’t be identified even though there was no doubt about it being EPO.
By winning court cases setting precedence, the case can be used by the judges in the future when setting the penalty for similar cases.
And as she said, they can’t fake the numbers just because people crave for the blood of famous riders.
>8 cut
Great read, thanks for the link.
Wow
5 Spaniards and Italians. Who would have thought?
"Where there’s a will, there’s a way.": Alberto Contador, shortly after waking up from brain surgery.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
Featured Stories
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recommended FanShots
Recent FanShots
![This is funny on so many levels. [Html should open bigger]](http://cdn3.sbnation.com/fan_shot_images/239959/flagged_small.jpg)
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
