Astana Licence to be withdrawn?

[More Strides than Rides]

Re:

I still think the whole exercise was aimed at getting rid of Vino...

Maybe they got called on their bluff and Cookson loses first mtf...

Still a queen stage to come?

An opportunity to get Vino or Astana?

I'd like to know what Astana did to defend itself, or what the burden of proof is for such an action

Does anyone know these names? Know their leanings or bia$es?

Commission:
President
Pierre Zappelli (SUI)

Members
André Hürter (SUI)
Hans Höhener (SUI)
Paolo Franz (SUI)

 

[Benotti69]

Re: Re:

I still think the whole exercise was aimed at getting rid of Vino...

Maybe they got called on their bluff and Cookson loses first mtf...

Still a queen stage to come?

An opportunity to get Vino or Astana?

I'd like to know what Astana did to defend itself, or what the burden of proof is for such an action

Does anyone know these names? Know their leanings or bia$es?

Commission:
President
Pierre Zappelli (SUI)

Members
André Hürter (SUI)
Hans Höhener (SUI)
Paolo Franz (SUI)

Bet they all have Swiss Bank accounts.

 

[mrhender]

Re: Re:

I still think the whole exercise was aimed at getting rid of Vino...

Maybe they got called on their bluff and Cookson loses first mtf...

Still a queen stage to come?

An opportunity to get Vino or Astana?
snip

Vino...

The UCI needs Astana.. It's not like sponsors are lining up to pay for WT licence..

Another option is that they simply realised the havoc and bad PR it could create to revoke the licence now and instead will wait to show their heavy guns until season is over...

In any case this does make cookson look slightly ineffective or at the very least playing a veeeeeery loooong game.... That or it's just PR horseshit...

 

[mrhender]

Re: Re:

I'd like to know what Astana did to defend itself, or what the burden of proof is for such an action

snip

And a comment to the above..

If UCI and Cookson means bussiness for real when it comes to be transparent they really should make all information public wrt to this case..

Let us know exactly what the audit showed and what arguments and facts on both sides that lead to the decision...

All this has been a mess and no-one knows much about any details of the matter..

As always the UCI and what goes on behind the scenes is kept behind the scenes...

 

[King of Fife]

What a massive clusterfuck of a situation.

 

[mrhender]

Re:

What a massive clusterfuck of a situation.

Well said...

I'am guessing Cookson is running around the PR office with a red face putting together yet another reactive press release...

What a mess this has been..

 

[markene2]

Re: Re:

I still think the whole exercise was aimed at getting rid of Vino...

Maybe they got called on their bluff and Cookson loses first mtf...

Still a queen stage to come?

An opportunity to get Vino or Astana?
snip

Vino...

The UCI needs Astana.. It's not like sponsors are lining up to pay for WT licence..

Another option is that they simply realised the havoc and bad PR it could create to revoke the licence now and instead will wait to show their heavy guns until season is over...

In any case this does make cookson look slightly ineffective or at the very least playing a veeeeeery loooong game.... That or it's just PR horseshit...

Ditto


(10char)

 

[burning]

Lol, pretty much everybody knew that this was a pure posing from the beginning.

 

[mrhender]

Re:

Lol, pretty much everybody knew that this was a pure posing from the beginning.

I neither think the intention has ever been to strip them of their license..

But why pose as a powerless organization making a complete mess of things + a fool of themselves?

Nahh..

I really believe Cookson had his eyes on a prize (Vino) but got called on his bluff...

Not sure it's entirely over though...

 

[eleven]

Re: Re:

I'd like to know what Astana did to defend itself, or what the burden of proof is for such an action

snip

And a comment to the above..

If UCI and Cookson means bussiness for real when it comes to be transparent they really should make all information public wrt to this case..

Let us know exactly what the audit showed and what arguments and facts on both sides that lead to the decision...

All this has been a mess and no-one knows much about any details of the matter..

As always the UCI and what goes on behind the scenes is kept behind the scenes...

In the end this decision will probably allow everybody to save face (Nevermind the fact that Astana has a long history of doping and by all rights should lose their license...)

The UCI gets to keep an important sponsor and avoid the PR fiasco of another yellow jersey being soiled.

Astana gets to keep riding and acting like they have no idea why anyone would ever think Vino would even consider doing something so dastardly as doping in the Post-Postal era.

And Cookson gets to strengthen his fake anti-doping street cred by saying he TRIED to clean up the sport but the meanies that run his shop wouldn't allow it.

 

[hrotha]

A final final warning it is then.

 

[nayr497]

I just hope we get Vino in another Vino t-shirt out of this whole deal!

Also...the photo of Nibali. I've finally decided that nobody but the top PROS looks good in full kit...but the top PROS always look so goofy off the bike and in street clothes because they're so darn skinny. Thin is good, but pro tour thin looks weird.

 

[mrhender]

And as promised:

http://www.uci.ch/pressreleases/decision-the-licence-commission-the-astana-pro-team-case/

Decision of the Licence Commission on the Astana Pro Team case
23 April 2015
As part of the proceedings following the request for withdrawal of the Astana Pro Team’s licence, the Licence Commission today held a hearing in the presence of representatives of Astana Pro Team, representatives of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and representatives of the Institute of Sport Sciences of the University of Lausanne (ISSUL).

On the initiative of the Licence Commission, ISSUL were asked to propose special measures which the Team will be obliged to put in place at specific times over the rest of this season.

The team committed to respecting all the measures recommended by ISSUL.

At the end of the hearing, the Licence Commission announced the suspension of the proceedings.

In the meantime, the registration for the 2015 season remains in force. However, the Team’s licence is subject to strict monitoring of the conditions laid down. This monitoring will be carried out on the basis of reports transmitted by ISSUL to the Licence Commission.

The Licence Commission shall be able to re-open the proceedings if Astana Pro Team fails to respect one or several of the conditions imposed, or if new elements arise.

The full *** decision will be published in due course.

 

[D-Queued]

Re:

And as promised:

http://www.uci.ch/pressreleases/decision-the-licence-commission-the-astana-pro-team-case/

Decision of the Licence Commission on the Astana Pro Team case
23 April 2015

...

The full *** decision will be published in due course.

Hmmm. That closing line clinches it. Surprised they would print that, but it makes it the Best Press Release ever.

Dave.

 

[benzwire]

Re:

A final final warning it is then.

Double secret probation!

 

[mrhender]

Re: Re:

Hmmm. That closing line clinches it. Surprised they would print that, but it makes it the Best Press Release ever.

Dave.

Couldn't help myself...

 

[robertmooreheadlane]

The problem was set up when Cookson decided to use an ISSUL audit as a weapon, it is all based upon subjective evidence and behavioural science and with no concrete proof of wrongdoing. Therefore the lawyers for Astana would have an absolute field day with it in a court of law and as the WT license is a business contract they would end up in court to determine damages and loss of earnings if the UCI had tried to enforce this ridiculous decision.

Not saying Astana should stay but the way of doing this was daft beyond belief, anyone with an ounce of sense as to how business works should know you cant cancel a contract worth millions because of Hearsay and the way Vino holds meetings.

Only way to do what Cookson wants to do is to insert into the world tour licences a clause which states that should more than one rider on the team be implicated in a proven doping scandal then the team manager will be held jointly liable for the altercation and will no longer be able to hold the position on any cycling team at WT level.

Then wait for the next batch of positives and get rid of the people you dont like.

Whilst keeping all the nice people who build teams on marginal gains and hard work.

 

[Benotti69]

Astana slapped on the wrist and sent to the back of the room, with WT licence in back pocket.

A team wide doping program, no bans and the team keeps it's licence.

What does that say to someone who wants to ride clean?

 

[Irondan]

Was there ever any doubt?

 

[DirtyWorks]

Re:

The problem was set up when Cookson decided to use an ISSUL audit as a weapon, it is all based upon subjective evidence and behavioural science and with no concrete proof of wrongdoing.

This hasn't stopped the UCI before. Not with a team, but certainly at the rider level. Remember, it's arbitration based on the UCI's complicated rules and secret WT contract, not any kind of judicial sense of "proof." The very, very last stop would presumably be a Swiss court to appeal some technical aspect of arbitration, not the case itself.

Then wait for the next batch of positives and get rid of the people you dont like.

Next batch is very, very likely already available. As usual, the why of most of these cases is almost random.

Whatever the Kazakhs did to the UCI must have been pretty bad.

What would happen if the UCI dusted off some more positives?

 

[SkyTears]

so 5 positives/year + possible GT podium achiever in BP case is not enough to get you kicked from WT

this is ridiculous, to be honest i don't give this sport much chance to get out of the poo hole

 

[Pricey_sky]

Well if Aru's bubble is burst then it surely has to be goodbye Astana and Vino.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Well if Aru's bubble is burst then it surely has to be goodbye Astana and Vino.

I wonder if the UCI already knew about a problem with Aru's bio-passport before the ruling. And they thought it was better and much more solid from a legal point of view to play it this way; give a final warning and then nail Astana when one of their star riders fails (if indeed he has tripped up the passport). Would be hard for Astana to challenge that given the pretty clear final warning, certainly harder than the original case.

If they did this then it would have been quite smart tactics, which doesn't strike me as the UCI's usual modus operandi.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

Cookson needs to remove or demote one team to get his 2017 pro tour quota of 16 "Group A" pro teams. No doubt predicting what will happen with sponsors in 2016 is a risky business, but having the option to upgrade a team (vs having to downgrade a team) may help him?

 

[Velolover2]

Do you guys think that UCI is trying to get in contact witht Aru right now? That would make perfect sense. Every time a top rider is strangely sick, he should be approached by the anti-doping authorities. I think that would be the most effective way to stop dopers.