Vavlerde gets his

[BroDeal]

Two year suspension by the Italians.

EDIT: Eek! Beaten by seconds.

 

[Jasper]

This also means no Tour for him, as it passes briefly through Italy this year

 

[Bala Verde]

Why not? I mean can't he just particpate and then drop out the stage that runs through Italy?

 

[Belokki]

Sorry to hear that

See ya in 2 years

 

[ingsve]

Isn't the standard that if someone gets suspended in a country they will also get suspended by the UCI? Or will that not happen in this case?

 

[Escarabajo]

Why not? I mean can't he just particpate and then drop out the stage that runs through Italy?

I doubt it. I don't think the Tour organizers will let him in anyway. Even if they don't have jurisdiction in Italy, they have a history of not accepting anybody with any current doping controversy

 

[Bala Verde]

Isn't the standard that if someone gets suspended in a country they will also get suspended by the UCI? Or will that not happen in this case?

Depends on the UCI, sometimes they take over a ban, so that it becomes a worldwide ban. I bet they are going to do that, but it prob requires time to satisfy all criteria

I doubt it. I don't think the Tour organizers will let him in anyway. Even if they don't have jurisdiction in Italy, they have a history of not accepting anybody with any current doping controversy

Good point!

 

[jaylew]

Oh well..not like I didn't see it coming, though.

 

[Dr. Wattini]

If you are a crusader against doping, the actions taken by the Italians are worthy of recognition. While the Spaniards never brought this to anything close to resolution, the Italians took the bull by the horns and slapped 2 years on Valverde.
I know some of the guys on the forum have good understanding of the relationship between CONI and UCI. Can you guys opine whether or not the UCI is going to slap a worldwide 2 year suspension on Valverde

 

[Stelvio]

Why not? I mean can't he just particpate and then drop out the stage that runs through Italy?

The downside to that is if you are aiming for the GC..

(But, as already said, with ASO's history of uninviting unwanted riders (like Astana and Boonen last year) it is unlikely that he will be allowed to start.)

 

[Bala Verde]

If you are a crusader against doping, the actions taken by the Italians are worthy of recognition. While the Spaniards never brought this to anything close to resolution, the Italians took the bull by the horns and slapped 2 years on Valverde.
I know some of the guys on the forum have good understanding of the relationship between CONI and UCI. Can you guys opine whether or not the UCI is going to slap a worldwide 2 year suspension on Valverde

I think that if they find the evidence convincing, ie that no mistakes have been made, they'll do that for sure. I don't know when this will happen, as Valverde is likely to appeal, and if the UCI respects a fair trial, I believe they might have to wait for the case's final verdict.

 

[BikeCentric]

I think at the end of the day this makes the UCI look ineffectual yet again. Why does CONI have to do the work that the UCI should be doing but is not doing?

 

[franciep10]

If you are a crusader against doping, the actions taken by the Italians are worthy of recognition. While the Spaniards never brought this to anything close to resolution, the Italians took the bull by the horns and slapped 2 years on Valverde.
I know some of the guys on the forum have good understanding of the relationship between CONI and UCI. Can you guys opine whether or not the UCI is going to slap a worldwide 2 year suspension on Valverde

Well usually that is the case but they have been a little late to the ball game, o rmaybe they are waiting on the Spanish Fed to step up

 

[BroDeal]

Well usually that is the case but they have been a little late to the ball game, o rmaybe they are waiting on the Spanish Fed to step up

I expect that to happen right about the time Gordon Ramsay stops using the F word and Hollywood goes back to making R rated horror films.

The UCI will likely throw Valverde under the bus. Maybe he could scrape together a $500K under the table payment and get another Vrijman report.

 

[Bala Verde]

I think at the end of the day this makes the UCI look ineffectual yet again. Why does CONI have to do the work that the UCI should be doing but is not doing?

UCI did not want to burn its fingers (and taint its rep) by using 'evidence' that is supposedly not accessible to anyone besides the Spanish judiciary. Even the spanish cycling fed has been trying to get a hold of that evidence/blood bags from OP, so that they could test it and, if anything had been detected, suspend him.

The Spanish judiciary is blocking these requests, alleging that the evidence requested is still under investigation, and can therefore not be used by anyone else. In a way that rule in itself makes good sense I think, because someone could tamper with the evidence and screw up a case, any case, not only doping related cases.

The real problem is that it takes the Spanish judicary too much time to resolve this case, perhaps intentionally trying to stall it so that it, at one point, falls outside the time frame for convictions.

Since the Italians are upset that Basso et al got suspended, but no spanish riders/athletes, they have given it a political twist, and pursued their investigations regardless of Spanish laws (some of them which could not have extraterritorial reach. In this case, with evidence that is under investigation, I don't know if that's law that should be respected by other authorities invested in the case).

UCI, I think, is happy that CONI has done this, because UCI is an international organization, and I don't think they could afford to go against national sovereignty.

 

[jaylew]

I expect that to happen right about the time Gordon Ramsay stops using the F word and Hollywood goes back to making R rated horror films.

Did Hollywood stop making R rated horror movies? What did I miss? Are they PG-13 now?

 

[BroDeal]

Did Hollywood stop making R rated horror movies? What did I miss? Are they PG-13 now?

Pretty much. I love these commericals that hype an upcoming horror film with a cool imagery and a deep voice building tension about how scary it will be. You start thinking, "Hey, this looks pretty good." The commercial ends with, "Dragged to Hell, opens May 15, rated PG-13." Then you are like, "Awww, crap."

We really need a general socializing forum. Does the administrator here even read the feedback forum? It does not seem so.

 

[hfer07]

I think at the end of the day this makes the UCI look ineffectual yet again. Why does CONI have to do the work that the UCI should be doing but is not doing?

UCI is useless!! CONI is just fed up with all the italians testing positive that they are enthusiastic on banning riders from another countries to share the shame on. Now that the police seized all blood samples from last year's Giro, I wouldn't be surprised if A.C. name comes up, along with Kloden & some other Ex OP implicated
Now we're going to witness another chapter of cycling battle in the court rooms instead of on the roads--very sad.
OP should have been closed by now if UCI had enforced full investigation & penalized/banned every cyclist involved.

 

[Bala Verde]

UCI is useless!! CONI is just fed up with all the italians testing positive that they are enthusiastic on banning riders from another countries to share the shame on. Now that the police seized all blood samples from last year's Giro, I wouldn't be surprised if A.C. name comes up, along with Kloden & some other Ex OP implicated
Now we're going to witness another chapter of cycling battle in the court rooms instead of on the roads--very sad.
OP should have been closed by now if UCI had enforced full investigation & penalized/banned every cyclist involved.

UCI has no jurisdiction over Spanish criminal investigations. And to be honest, given their proven incompetence, I would fear the day they do.

The only thing UCI does is maintain a list of banned substances, test, and suspend. They do not organize stake outs, collect evidence, tape shady transactions and uncover medical labs that manipulate someones blood. That's the police's job...

Given the fact that Spain did not have doping laws at the time, the whole sitation becomes more complicated. If there is no law, how would the police observe potential breaches? I think in the OP scandal, they are trying to nail the people for things that were criminal offenses at the time and can be linked to the what happened during OP. That's got to be difficult.

There is also no way they can retroactively implement current laws, ie use todays laws to convict offenses that weren't offenses in the past...

 

[Dr. Wattini]

Vala,
So it is up to the UCI to pursue Valverde based on the findings by the CONI? Of course assuming that the CONI did everything the right way.

 

[ridley]

Two year suspension by the Italians.

EDIT: Eek! Beaten by seconds.

Who the heck is Vavlerde !!! Which team is he riding for

 

[BroDeal]

Who the heck is Vavlerde !!! Which team is he riding for

Vavlerde is Valverde's twin. Many pro cyclists have one.

 

[Bala Verde]

Vala,
So it is up to the UCI to pursue Valverde based on the findings by the CONI? Of course assuming that the CONI did everything the right way.

That's what I believe they are likely to do.

In this case they would only have to corroborate that DNA x matches blood y, and therewith prove that Valverde was implicated in OP. He could then be found guilty of 'intent to use blood doping'. That should be sufficient to pass a global ban, as happened in Basso's case. They will probably never prove he actually did, unless they retest all his samples from races he participated in.

Since they (UCI) have not collected the evidence themselves, they can defend themselves and say that they aren't really infringing the proceedings in Spain, while it still enables them to tout a crack down on doping.

On a second thought, I still fear there are some difficulties "proving" that the blood they match his recent DNA with is actually coming from an OP blood bag... How would that be proven, and which would prove that somehow evidence was 'stolen' from an ongoing Spanish investigation...

 

[Dr. Wattini]

ahh the good ol' intention to dope. So the Basso case is going to have some relevance on this whole thing.
If this Valverde thing sticks to the wall, it will probably open the gates for more bans.
If one has the time, it would be interesting to see how the team rosters change for races that take place in Italy.

 

[Blakeslee]

I sincerely hope that the UCI will make the two year ban for Valverde worldwide. It has really bothered me to see riders like Valverde and Frank Schleck (with the bank transfer issue) who have clearly been involved in doping continuing to be allowed to race without being sanctioned.