What's most interesting is that back in 2010-11 guys like Pourseyedi and Emami were on Azad University and getting spanked to all parts by Ghader Mizbani, Hossein Askari and Mahdi Sohrabi on Tabriz. A bunch of the Azad guys then got busted for doping, returned in July and were immediately way better than the same guys that were smashing them all over the place... when the former Azad guys were on EPO. Now admittedly Mizbani and Askari are now pretty old (38 each), but three years ago Pourseyedi was riding for Tabriz and domestiquing for those three, as well as Tobias Erler, Andrey Mizourov and the very talented and far younger Hossein Alizadeh, who promptly broke out in 2012 and has now gone off the boil, racing for Amore e Vita and struggling to assert himself in Europe.
But, like di Luca, there were literally no racing days needed for Pourseyedi and Emami to be back up to pace. Pourseyedi's ban ended on June 29th, making June 30th his first day of eligibility. On July 1st his contract with Tabriz began, and on July 9th he won stage 3 of Qinghai Lake and held on to the lead in the face of attacks for over a week. Emami took a bit longer; like Pourseyedi his first day of eligibility was June 30th, and his contract with RTS began on July 1st. He took until stage 7 of Qinghai to hit his stride, being 3rd on the big MTF (finishing with Pourseyedi, his former Azad teammate). In his favour is that his good finish in Langkawi in 2011 meant he was at least on a similar level prior to his doping ban, whereas Pourseyedi is quite demonstrably a superior rider now to the one he was when he was banned.
But, like di Luca, there were literally no racing days needed for Pourseyedi and Emami to be back up to pace. Pourseyedi's ban ended on June 29th, making June 30th his first day of eligibility. On July 1st his contract with Tabriz began, and on July 9th he won stage 3 of Qinghai Lake and held on to the lead in the face of attacks for over a week. Emami took a bit longer; like Pourseyedi his first day of eligibility was June 30th, and his contract with RTS began on July 1st. He took until stage 7 of Qinghai to hit his stride, being 3rd on the big MTF (finishing with Pourseyedi, his former Azad teammate). In his favour is that his good finish in Langkawi in 2011 meant he was at least on a similar level prior to his doping ban, whereas Pourseyedi is quite demonstrably a superior rider now to the one he was when he was banned.