Heras positive overturned

[yaco]

Re:

i haven' seen anywhere the key question addressed - how a civilian court can have a precedent without the sporting body's agreement, which in this case is the uci ? shouldn't the uci agree for heras to get back his vuelta ?

i somehow doubt it.

There's a full press release with more details here (in Spanish)
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundodeporte/2011/06/24/ciclismo/1308912735.html

It's clear that the positive is overturned on a technicality, but the sport governing bodies all around the world should pay attention to the following paragraph:

En este sentido, advierte de que en los casos como en el examinado, en que se ejerce la potestad disciplinaria en relación con un corredor que participa en una competición oficial internacional celebrada en España y, por tanto, bajo la tutela del Consejo Superior de Deportes, la RFEC está ejerciendo una función pública por delegación como agente colaborador de la administración pública, "por lo que debió entrar a examinar la conformidad o no a Derecho de dicha resolución con arreglo al ordenamiento jurídico español".

RFEC ruling an international competition held in Spain, and therefore under supervision of the High Council for Sports, is running a public service per delegation as a partner agent of the public administration. So RFEC had to analyse the conformity of its resolution to Spanish Law.

The article then goes on to list the irregularities of the process focusing on the delivery of the test samples to the lab and the analytical methods not following the certified procedures.

There should be more of these cases - Just concluded a famous case in Australia involving horse racing trainers - Four trainers had horse/s test positive to a prohibited substance - The Horse Racing Tribunal found the trainers guilty even though the lab's that processed the samples didn't have the accreditation to test for that kind of substance - Trainers appealed to an Administrative Tribunal ( a step under a court ) which reversed the decision because the lab's failed to have the accreditation to perform the test.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

I'm sure the South Park creators could write something to do justice to this BS. Words fail me.

I think you will find that laws and constitutions favour those that can afford 'justice' rather than applying 'justice' in every case.

But the world of professional sport has gone way beyond south park or the simpsons in its laughability.

Dopers being awarded big sums. Whislteblowers being hounded. You cant make this shite up!!!!

You have a vengeance for justice but have no interest in correct process being followed - The saddest thing is my previous post highlighted the same shortcomings are happening 12 years later.

 

[Benotti69]

Re: Re:

I'm sure the South Park creators could write something to do justice to this BS. Words fail me.

I think you will find that laws and constitutions favour those that can afford 'justice' rather than applying 'justice' in every case.

But the world of professional sport has gone way beyond south park or the simpsons in its laughability.

Dopers being awarded big sums. Whislteblowers being hounded. You cant make this shite up!!!!

You have a vengeance for justice but have no interest in correct process being followed - The saddest thing is my previous post highlighted the same shortcomings are happening 12 years later.

No vengeance. Pointing out obvious.

Correct processes being followed in sport? Since when?

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

I'm sure the South Park creators could write something to do justice to this BS. Words fail me.

I think you will find that laws and constitutions favour those that can afford 'justice' rather than applying 'justice' in every case.

But the world of professional sport has gone way beyond south park or the simpsons in its laughability.

Dopers being awarded big sums. Whislteblowers being hounded. You cant make this shite up!!!!

You have a vengeance for justice but have no interest in correct process being followed - The saddest thing is my previous post highlighted the same shortcomings are happening 12 years later.

No vengeance. Pointing out obvious.

Correct processes being followed in sport? Since when?

Strange, I've haven't seen one post by you questioning or criticising the chain of custody issues involved in the Heras case.

 

[MarkvW]

Another awesome example why the government has no business policing the filthy circus of cycling.

Taxpayers will pay off Heras. What a sick joke.

 

[hrotha]

This has nothing to do with the government.

 

[Beech Mtn]

Re:

Never thought he was clean (was anyone who won anything back then?) but always thought he got the short end of the stick the way he was bounced from the Vuelta, then blacklisted from the sport.

There are interviews with Roberto out there (in Spanish) where he doesn't confess, but talks about regrets about decisions he made and who he associated with. You can sense he's remorseful, even shameful, about the dark days, but with all the endless lawsuits, it's impossible for him to come clean even if he wanted to, without tossing everything away, including large amounts of money.

He was definitely a great, great climber, and I always was disappointed that he never truly had a season where he focused solely on the Giro or Tour. But he did have some great Vuelta wins, and always a joy to watch in the mountains.

Good post, Alpe. Agree 100% with the bolded.

 

[spiritualride]

Re: Re:

Maybe he was mistreated because his ITT performance in 2005 was over the top? Or not, I don't know.

Nice. Roberto is a legend of our sport, one of the best climbers, but is very easily forgotten. I have only fond memories of the guy.

Sometimes he's a little forgotten, perhaps, but that's also largely because he chose his races very selectively and rarely showed much outside the Vuelta (at least after he switched from Kelme). He could have challenged Armstrong in the mountrains in the Tour, but he was either his domestique or riding a low-key-build-up for the Vuelta. Heras was my first true idol of the sport Seeing him seal the win in the 2005 Vuelta, the day Menchov cracked in the rain, remains the ultimate Vuelta memory for me.

His 2003 win where he gradually clawed back time in the mountains from Nozal, overtaking him dramatically in the final mountain ITT was one of the events that really got me attached to cycling.