Netserk said:
What if a NADA asks a team to suspend a rider in the middle of the season (before any ruling), but the rider later gets cleared?
That is trickier. It's true that Costa got suspended in 2010 but was cleared without an official 'ban' in 2011, but lost his results in the nationals. This was enough for Hugo to consider him as not costing his 2010 or 2011 cost for the 2012 game (which made him cheaper, which made the rules evolve so that if a more recent season than pre-ban had higher points, the rider costs that).
Kolobnev, I can't remember what the ruling was in the CQ game but he was not suspended either. I would count both those riders as costing their last prior year if this was the 2012 game (and, with Costa, even as a 'doper' he would have cost that with the new rules anyway).
For practical purposes, I don't think there are many (any?) riders that could impact this year's game much who are in that gray area, but if there is a rider you're thinking of you can PM me. mc_mountain adjusted the 'doper' scores on the spreadsheet to be honest, and that was based on a list compiled by another poster at velorooms I believe, so there was not much discussion on this gray area. I do know there is one rider that falls under the very situation you're identifying that was originally on the 'doper' list but then, on second thought, made available for the 2013 score. So like I said, let me know by PM if you have someone in mind. It hasn't come up yet.