Operation Ilex

[Sciatic]

So CAS have already concluded that "there is no basis to consider as proven that Superman used any type of prohibited substance, or that the injury suffered and that led him to abandon the 2022 Giro d'Italia was due to the use of menotropine. "
Have UCI got more info or what has changed?
Now, I suppose Astana will sue Lopez to get their money back as the UCI have banned him.

CAS is a joke on these cases

 

[Tim Cahill]

Superman will be launching his appeal, I like the way he has his own header and branding on his letters to the UCI

https://twitter.com/x/status/1795845059436576835

 

[Rob5091]

Just to make this more "fun", if I'm correct, it's not a criminal offense to take a WADA banned substance in Spain (unlike Germany). The police in Spain only get involved with traficking, medical malpractise, financial irregularities with money laundering to hide "extra income".

Spain's National Anti-doping Agency (CELAD) could not get hold of the info from the case in November 2022, so I assume they have done so since then -
https://as.com/ciclismo/mas_ciclism...an-lopez-investigados-en-una-red-de-dopaje-n/
The CELAD (Spanish Agency for the Fight against Doping in Sport) is finding it difficult to act and proceed to open files that could lead to sanctions or, for the time being, provisional withdrawals of licenses, as in the case of the athletes or Belda's son (considered 'support personnel'). Judge Aida María de la Cruz de la Torre, according to AS, who is handling the case in the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 4 of Cáceres, has denied the information to CELAD until the proceedings are dismissed, although the Anti-Doping Law established that there should be channels of collaboration. CELAD cannot, therefore, send the information to the ITA (International Testing Agency) to which the International Cycling Union delegates doping matters, for possible action against Superman López.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

So they say he doped at the 2022 Giro but only banned him from July 2023 onward so he gets to keep his results? Seems like they just want to end his career.

 

[samhocking]

So they say he doped at the 2022 Giro but only banned him from July 2023 onward so he gets to keep his results? Seems like they just want to end his career.

The period of suspension doesn't always begin at the date a positive sample is collected or a violation happened (or it seems both in this instance), it is often from when provisionally suspended, which is the case here. ie Lopez was provisionally suspended in July 2023 so that's when his suspension must begin according to the rules, because the provisional period counts towards the suspension.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The period of suspension doesn't always begin at the date a positive sample is collected or a violation happened (or it seems both in this instance), it is often from when provisionally suspended, which is the case here. ie Lopez was provisionally suspended in July 2023 so that's when his suspension must begin according to the rules, because the provisional period counts towards the suspension.

Quite often, though, they make the suspensions retroactive where there is a specific point of offence as the provisional suspensions can start at the date of the publication of the positive test, whereas there wasn't one of those to actively implement a provisional suspension in Supermán's case.

I think this may have caused some confusion because López's issue isn't a longitudinal positive as these after-the-fact ones often are (take Rosón or Alarcón, where several years of results were removed, but the suspension was forward-dated), but while he had become persona non grata at the top level and been terminated by Astana, he was not riding while an actual active case hung over him like, say, Contador in 2011, meaning they can't just take his 2023 results from him and backdate the suspension the way they were able to on that occasion.

Mind you, while he may be done at the top level, he'll only be, what, 33 when the suspension is done? He could still have a decent career in South America afterward if he cares enough to.

 

[samhocking]

Quite often, though, they make the suspensions retroactive where there is a specific point of offence as the provisional suspensions can start at the date of the publication of the positive test, whereas there wasn't one of those to actively implement a provisional suspension in Supermán's case.

I think this may have caused some confusion because López's issue isn't a longitudinal positive as these after-the-fact ones often are (take Rosón or Alarcón, where several years of results were removed, but the suspension was forward-dated), but while he had become persona non grata at the top level and been terminated by Astana, he was not riding while an actual active case hung over him like, say, Contador in 2011, meaning they can't just take his 2023 results from him and backdate the suspension the way they were able to on that occasion.

Mind you, while he may be done at the top level, he'll only be, what, 33 when the suspension is done? He could still have a decent career in South America afterward if he cares enough to.

I'm not aware there's any such thing as a retroactive suspension. They can retroactively null results, but as this is from the Giro 2022 he had no results in terms of ranking points so nothing to null as other riders didn't lose points because of his offences. Under some circumstances the suspension can be backdated to an earlier date if the athlete promptly admits the violation and accepts the sanction if that's what you mean by retroactive suspension? But obviously Lopez will fight this until he's out of money paying his lawyer probably so that wasn't an option he took.

 

[Netserk]

Contador and Valverde were retroactively suspended. I don't think Valverde admitted anything.

 

[samhocking]

Contador and Valverde were retroactively suspended. I don't think Valverde admitted anything.

I'd have to check for Valverde, but Contador's suspension began 25th Jan 2011 but he was already provisionally suspended 6 months beforehand so his net suspension was already running the same as Lopez. Contadors suspension therefore started in August 2010 and ended 6th August 2012 to cover the two years.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

I'd have to check for Valverde, but Contador's suspension began 25th Jan 2011 but he was already provisionally suspended 6 months beforehand so his net suspension was already running the same as Lopez. Contadors suspension therefore started in August 2010 and ended 6th August 2012 to cover the two years.

Contador was in fact not provisionally suspended (kinda difficult to win the Giro while suspended), but his ban was backdated to the date of his positive.

 

[Netserk]

Contador was in fact not provisionally suspended (kinda difficult to win the Giro while suspended), but his ban was backdated to the date of his positive.

He was by his team until the NADO cleared him.

 

[samhocking]

Contador was in fact not provisionally suspended (kinda difficult to win the Giro while suspended), but his ban was backdated to the date of his positive.

UCI press release says he was first made aware of the positive test on 24 August so that's when he was provisionally suspended. A Clenbutorol positive isn't in a substance class where it's possible to carry on racing after an AAF you have to be suspended, unless the code was different back then?

 

[Sciatic]

Just to make this more "fun", if I'm correct, it's not a criminal offense to take a WADA banned substance in Spain (unlike Germany). The police in Spain only get involved with traficking, medical malpractise, financial irregularities with money laundering to hide "extra income".

Spain's National Anti-doping Agency (CELAD) could not get hold of the info from the case in November 2022, so I assume they have done so since then -
https://as.com/ciclismo/mas_ciclism...an-lopez-investigados-en-una-red-de-dopaje-n/
The CELAD (Spanish Agency for the Fight against Doping in Sport) is finding it difficult to act and proceed to open files that could lead to sanctions or, for the time being, provisional withdrawals of licenses, as in the case of the athletes or Belda's son (considered 'support personnel'). Judge Aida María de la Cruz de la Torre, according to AS, who is handling the case in the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 4 of Cáceres, has denied the information to CELAD until the proceedings are dismissed, although the Anti-Doping Law established that there should be channels of collaboration. CELAD cannot, therefore, send the information to the ITA (International Testing Agency) to which the International Cycling Union delegates doping matters, for possible action against Superman López.

Shades of Puerto . . . Testing of those blood bags will happen maybe, possibility, soon, later —and finally not at all.

 

[pastronef]

any news about other riders involved in the Ilex investigation? (any Caja Rural riders?)

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I'm not aware there's any such thing as a retroactive suspension. They can retroactively null results, but as this is from the Giro 2022 he had no results in terms of ranking points so nothing to null as other riders didn't lose points because of his offences. Under some circumstances the suspension can be backdated to an earlier date if the athlete promptly admits the violation and accepts the sanction if that's what you mean by retroactive suspension? But obviously Lopez will fight this until he's out of money paying his lawyer probably so that wasn't an option he took.

By retroactive suspension I mean those suspensions where a rider was active between the offence and the enforcement, where they backdate to where the offence is as this is where provisional suspension comes in, which he was appealing and so riding on while it was being contested.

Valverde is an especially unusual case as his suspension came in in Italy a long time before his formal suspension. He was banned in Italy as of May 2009, running until May 2011, but was for some time free to ride elsewhere. When the ban was extended worldwide in May 2010, it was backdated to January 1st - presumably designed as a compromise of sorts in order to keep the suspension to approximately 2 years; extending it worldwide for 2 years from May 2010 would effectively be sanctioning him more because of the races he couldn't enter in 2009 (including the Tour as it detoured into Italy that year), but allowing him back in May 2011 would in effect only have been a one year ban as it would either allow him to keep a Dauphiné and a Vuelta won while supposedly suspended, or entail reallocating races that had been, on the surface, won fairly; there was not the opportunity to use a positive test to void results back to a specific date like there was with Contador either, as the offence in Valverde's case was his DNA matching one of the Puerto blood bags.

The eventual outcome was always going to be a mess in Valverde's case and so it's rather anomalous because the retroactive date of the suspension was somewhat arbitrary and presumably the result of some intensive behind-the-scenes negotiations.

 

[samhocking]

There was quite a lot of Spanish NADO / Spanish Federation power back then so I see what you mean, but in terms of WADA, nothing was retrospective, simply aligned to when he was notified which is the normal way provisional suspension start date forms the period of ineligibility until officially sanctioned through a tribunal.
As for Valverde it was even more complex with Italy involved.