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TdF 2014 Vincenzo Nibali wins in Sheffield - picture credit Welcome to Yorkshire, Le Tour Yorkshire comUpdated: Astana keep WorldTour licence
Astana have kept their WorldTour licence, which the UCI asked its Licence Commission to revoke in February. However, the Kazakh outfit will be subject to unspecified special measures, agreed at a meeting in Geneva today, and will be strictly monitored.
In a statement released this evening, the UCI said:
As part of the proceedings following the request for withdrawal of the Astana Pro Team’s licence, the Licence Commission today held a hearing in the presence of representatives of Astana Pro Team, representatives of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and representatives of the Institute of Sport Sciences of the University of Lausanne (ISSUL).
On the initiative of the Licence Commission, ISSUL were asked to propose special measures which the Team will be obliged to put in place at specific times over the rest of this season.
The team committed to respecting all the measures recommended by ISSUL.
At the end of the hearing, the Licence Commission announced the suspension of the proceedings.
In the meantime, the registration for the 2015 season remains in force. However, the Team’s licence is subject to strict monitoring of the conditions laid down. This monitoring will be carried out on the basis of reports transmitted by ISSUL to the Licence Commission.
The Licence Commission shall be able to re-open the proceedings if Astana Pro Team fails to respect one or several of the conditions imposed, or if new elements arise.
The full reasoned decision will be published in due course.
The UCI had asked the Licence Commission, which operates independently of the governing body, to take away Astana’s licence in February following a report into its anti-doping measures and its management compiled by the Institute of Sport Sciences of the University of Lausanne (ISSUL).
Astana, run by Alexander Vinokourov and featuring Tour de France winner Vincenzo Nibali as its star rider, put its case to the Licence Commission earlier this month at a hearing in Switzerland.
UCI president Brian Cookson, who warned last year when Astana was initially awarded it licence for the current season that the team was on probation.
That followed two of its WorldTour riders, the brothers Maxim and Valentin Iglinskiy, testing positive for EPO, and three failed drugs tests among its under-23 development team.
By keeping its licence, Astana maintains the right to participate in cycling’s biggest race’s, including Nibali’s defence of his Tour de France crown this July.
Reacting to the news this evening, the team said:
Astana Pro Team is grateful to the License Commission for the opportunity to present the team’s commitment to observing the UCI’s ethical criteria.
Astana Pro Team is committed to respecting all measures recommended by ISSUL, and to collaborate in the implementation of further measures that enhance our procedures above and beyond the UCI's minimum requirements.
Our focus now returns to racing.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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25 comments
Greg Henderson is quite easily up for a fucking with that tweet.
Aru and Astana's legal bods could very quickly and very easily take him to the cleaners.
Unless of course.....
we been here before, someone said there was doping, he was kicked off the peloton, only for it to be true. It is clear what he thinks and I would imagine a number of other riders.
You can not ignore it.
I propose that ISSUL come up with the following special measures:
1. Stay away from races.
2. See 1.
If the current rules and regs. don't give the UCI sufficient power to revoke World Tour licenses with stacked evidence then why doesn't Cookson change them?
Brian Cookson must be very frustrated by this, but unfortunately he has to abide by the rules & regs or Astana will simply appeal to the CAS.
However, we are all free to boycott those companies who choose to associate themselves with Astana, and equally importantly tell them why we're doing it.
Good idea with the boycott, but if you go to their website and look at their sponsors you will find a bunch of companies that either a) you've never heard of or will never use or b) your bike will fall apart without. Nice idea though.
not the UCI fault and see Aru has dropped out of the Giro 'sick'
Greg Henderson @Greghenderson1
I am so sick of it. It becomes common knowledge within days. Why try cheat.
Greg Henderson @Greghenderson1
Sad to see @FABARO1 "sick". Mate make sure next time u come back to our sport "healthy". Aka. Clean! #biopassport! Or don't come back!
He has since apologised for this but not deleted the tweet. If this is coming from a pro cyclist within the peloton we should be worried.
There is more than one way to look at this. There was a time when the code of silence or omerta would have prevented anyone speaking out. Now we have riders feeling able to call others out. Time will tell where this end for Aru.
On the new boss, same as the old boss. Remember that the organisation that Cookson heads up wanted to remove the licence form Astana.
Nice Who reference Fretters
Well let's hope the UCI don't get fooled again.
What's the problem? It must mean they are clean, I think?..
Things might be about to take a turn for the worse again for Astana if Greg Henderson is to be believed. He has tweeted that Fabio Aru has bio-passport irregularities. A very strong accusation from a fellow professional. How many more scandals and positive tests can they survive?
Meet the new boss.
Same as the old boss
I'm not surprised to see the Astana keep their license - it's a committee decision after all, however I kind of expecting to see a bit more 'negotiation' between the two parties. In F1, there have been a couple of examples of teams getting into similar trouble ( i.e. caught cheating) - they were given a second chance once the management had been removed/changed.. and I was kind of expecting something similar in the Astana case.
I do hope that the reasoned judgement is published, as at face value, it seems a very week response from the licensing commission (another set of conditions??? Good luck with that)
Money talks
Can't say I'm too shocked. I can only hope that the special circumstances/monitoring is VERY thorough. Perhaps the Licensing Commission should have made one of the conditions that the team pay the cost of extreme monitoring procedures if they wished to retain their license?
Well that's brilliantly undermined the UCI's attempts to deal with worst doping teams - Astana and the other dodgy teams will be laughing their heads off. Message to teams = carry on doping. Sad.
1. The UCI has seen the evidence, and they obviously thought it was enough for Astana to lose their licence.
2. People who follow and read about cycling are entitled to express their opinions, even if they haven't studied every last document.
3. It's easy to dismiss people sarcastically as 'keyboard warriors' just because you disagree with them, but that doesn't mean you should. You're engaging in online argument. Does that make you a keyboard warrior?
Interesting scenario.
At least now we can all get behind Astana 100% when one of their riders is 15 minutes up the road pulling a break along for the 4th day on the trot!
That is brilliantly prophetic. Just watched stage 9 and I feel like I should be putting more Astana riders in my fantasy team.
I also feel fairly peeved because as a team they look loaded up the eyeballs. Anyone like to make a U.S. postal comparison?
Too right
Because they've seen more information and evidence than all the keyboard warriors.
So positive tests in a team is not enough ?
Or reports of Ferrari 'coaching' them ?
can not blame the UCI for this but why has an independent body bottled it ?
You cheat, get caught and you
still get away with it! Nothing changes?