Astana and High Road out of Giro?

[johnnymossville]

Wow, two huge teams, not that Contador or Leipheimer were gonna do the giro anyway. Imagine if the Tour Snubs them too.

VeloNews Article (http://beta.velonews.com/article/71733)

[Erik.Lazdins]

I saw that earlier - 2 big teams ousted - I wonder if this is one event or the beginning of a very tough year?

[ada@prorider.or]

its to see or they also can enter tour the france and spain

i doubt it
:confused:

[swoop]

gonna be a tough year for astana. i don't know what they were thinking.
what's the bush quote(?):
there's an old saying...it says, fool me once shame on.... you, you fool me ... you can't get fooled again.


i'm not sure i understand what informed the choices. highroad seems like a 'leader' in protecting its riders from the shady stuff (?).

[chakatrain]

Maybe I'm naive...but don't you think that Astana and High Road this year are being penalized more from past sins that their current behavior? With the programs they've put in place, aren't they more proactive against dirty riders than most other teams?

Astana's problems last year were infamous, but this is a whole new team, with a new testing philosophy, right?

[jeffg]

gonna be a tough year for astana. i don't know what they were thinking.
what's the bush quote(?):
there's an old saying...it says, fool me once shame on.... you, you fool me ... you can't get fooled again.


i'm not sure i understand what informed the choices. highroad seems like a 'leader' in protecting its riders from the shady stuff (?).

Really? Really?

I read the Sinkowitz interview in Spiegel where he admitted he could not believe they were serious about doping and then found out otherwise ... Should Cofidis get booted because of Moreni last year? What about Rabobank and Rasmussen? Euskatel?

I think there is no doubt Astana and High Road are being scapegoated despite the fact they now are doing as much or more than any other team, whether it's metrosexual Chipotle or any member of last TdF's movement for credible cycling. Everyone was sucking T-Mobile's di** while Gerdemann was winning and until Sinkowitz was caught

Slipstream is as clean as Hillary Clinton is mexican for lunching over tacoes with the mayor of LA. Millar, anyone? He has the gall to get worked up over Astana and a ProTour license? He should just shut it ...

[BdaGhisallo]

I don't get the hysteria over the 2008 Astana team. The only thing it has in common with last year's team of the same name is the name and a few riders. It is a whole new setup with new management, a new management company, a new service corse and everything else.

This just stinks!! Pro cycling is killing itself. Make it stop!!

[soulspinner]

Gives Deluca a better chance of winning again....

[brians647]

I don't get the hysteria over the 2008 Astana team. The only thing it has in common with last year's team of the same name is the name and a few riders. It is a whole new setup with new management, a new management company, a new service corse and everything else.

This just stinks!! Pro cycling is killing itself. Make it stop!!

It's phenomenal, isn't it? Watching a sport do everything it can to mess things up is frustrating.

[regularguy412]

Gives Deluca a better chance of winning again....

This sounds like an insightful statement. Politics, politics.......


Mike in AR

[jerk]

I don't get the hysteria over the 2008 Astana team. The only thing it has in common with last year's team of the same name is the name and a few riders. It is a whole new setup with new management, a new management company, a new service corse and everything else.

This just stinks!! Pro cycling is killing itself. Make it stop!!


it's not hysteria over astana. its hysteria over postal/discovery.

jerk

[e-RICHIE]

it's not hysteria over astana. its hysteria over postal/discovery.

jerk
Obtusepedia 7.0 atmo -

[BdaGhisallo]

And again, this bull**** is going to kill what's left of the sport at the pro level. They never got anything on USPS/Disco (and not for lack of trying) and they have nothing on the current roster of riders contracted by Astana, so leave them the f*ck alone!!!!

If the riders have to adhere to the absolute letter of the UCI/Wada/IOC law, why can the UCI, WADA, and the IOC run roughshod over their own rules and laws.

This whole crap going on now with the random tests and athletes having to log where they are going to be every minute of a day two and half months from now is more bullsh*t. Sure you want random testing but this is getting ridiculous. How long before some of the riders just throw in the towel and write it off as not worth the pain? If Astana don't get invited to the TdF, I wouldn't be surprised to see a few go.

[ada@prorider.or]

they have nothing on the current roster of riders contracted by Astana, so leave them the f*ck alone!!!!

there is much more they know, then what you see on the outside. :argue:

[BdaGhisallo]

I am sure there is but the powers that be have purported to set up a system of rules and laws and they should have to adhere to them too. Until they have some firm evidence of wrongdoing that will stand up in court (or what passes for a court in the kangaroo system of justice this sport is subjected to) they should keep their suspicions to themselves. The teams and riders shouldn't suffer in anyway from suspicions.

There should be no room in cycling, or in any form of sport for that matter, for the old "I know he did it... I just can't prove it" mode of doing things.

[ada@prorider.or]

I am sure there is but the powers .
Yes but if you are owner of a race then they also they can invite the teams they want that´s i found good.
They do then they same what some teams do.
And beleive me its a jungle and mafia out there ,i guess you still live in ideal world.
Out there it´s a world where only money counts,
and not the sport and where you look at it

[jeffg]

there is much more they know, then what you see on the outside. :argue:

That may be, Cees.

Why I have difficulty understanding is the press (particularly the German press) and the TdF praising Telekom and Gerdemann's stage win as part of the movement for clean cycling, and then blackballing them when Telekom pulled out. What then happens if Slipstream has a positive test? The hypocrisy lies in the fact that internal doping programs are designed to discourage and catch cheaters, but if you catch someone then you are blackballed ...

I think it was a mistake for Levi (and perhaps Contador) to ride for Bruyneel again. Postal/Disco hate will never die ...

[ada@prorider.or]

That may be, Cees.

Why I have difficulty understanding is the press (particularly the German press) and the TdF praising Telekom and Gerdemann's stage win as part of the movement for clean cycling,.

Well as you know not evrything what is written is true!!
and there is more behind the scene that you will ever see.
If sponser know that there is use a doping they do nothing as long there sale´s go on.
Making money that only thing that counts out there
they have low moral.

[93legendti]

http://beta.velonews.com/article/71733

The decision by Giro race director Angelo Zomegnan to exclude High Road comes as a surprise after the team enjoyed a dramatic run in the pink jersey last year by renowned clean rider Marco Pinotti as part of the T-Mobile lineup.
Astana, which is undergoing major changes with the arrival of former Discovery Channel sport director Johan Bruyneel, saw its third-place finisher Eddy Mazzoleni from last year dealt a two-year ban for links to the alleged "Oil for Drugs" doping scandal.

Others left out include the Crédit Agricole team of Pietro Caucchioli, third in 2002, and Bouygues Telecom. Also missing is 2000 winner Garzelli's Acqua e Sapone team.

Among the invites are 14 ProTour teams as well as seven continental teams.

Beleaguered 2007 champ Danilo Di Luca, who was handed down a three-month ban for his alleged links to the doctor at the center of the "Oil for Drugs" scandal, will be allowed to defend his title, as his new LPR team was among those invited.

?!?!