Astarloa sacked for blood irregularities

What can one say? He didn't get caught doping, but his blood is apparently showing some irregularities. Expect more of this, and more legal action to test the 'biological passport' as a means by which we determine who is "in all probability" doping.

Team Milram has terminated its contract with former World Champion Igor Astarloa, it announced Thursday, following disclosures that he had shown "irregular blood values", as reported by Focus magazine. 

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Well this could be interesting

Oh what a tangled web we weave. Remember the year when Jan Ullrich was injured and missed Le Tour? He was a tad depressed about it all, or at least at a loose end for a while. Remember also when he was caught taking, umm, recreational drugs? And he had to switch teams for a while until the heat cooled. So you do remember team Coast? I hope so because it will be important.

Recall how he wasn't paid all that he was owed by Coast when it all went sour? Well he naturally is still chasing his money for that lost year... and is prepared to go to court to get it... but what if he has to testify that he was clean whilst riding for Coast? Will he own up, or does he have nothing to hide?

We shall (possibly) see: Jan Ullrich may have to testify in court as to whether he was using illegal doping products or methods while he was with Team Coast in 2003. A court in Düsseldorf, Germany, is hearing a case between Ullrich and Günther Dahms, the former team owner. "I can confirm that the senate plans to ask Mr. Ullrich to testify as to whether he doped or not," court spokesman Ulrich Thole told the dpa press agency.

Justice done, and seen to be done

There's a difference between simply dispensing justice and in being seen to deliver justice correctly in accord with and open and fair procedure. Many of the perceived problems of cycling and doping have come about when justice may well have been served but it was done oddly, in an unfair manner, or in a way that breached a stated (or even assumed) procedure. When this happens you get conjecture, speculation and perhaps legal loopholes for individual cases to fall through... of course this has nothing to do with the following blood doping case...

Spanish website Todociclismo.com claimed to have seen a letter from the Kazakh federation, stating that "there are elements against opening a procedure against the cyclist Andrey Kashechkin," and guaranteeing that he "is free to return to racing." The letter is said to be endorsed by the Ministry of Sports and the national Olympic committee. The letter details the case against Kashechkin. The rider had protested against the timing of the test and other irregularities in the testing procedure. Allegedly, the UCI did not send documentation to the federation explaining how the control had been conducted.

There you go, nothing to do with following established procedures or doing the right thing in an open manner. Hmmm. Unless of course it was all done in the approved manner and someone just doesn't get it.

Will Petacchi race again?

Will he find a team? Of course he will, he's too good to lose and after all, it was just a breathing problem.

Alessandro Petacchi may be under suspension until later this year but he maintains that he has been treated unfairly. The Italian sprint sensation was handed a suspension by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on May 6 and late last week his Milram squad announced it would part ways with the sprinter. "My case is extremely weird," said Petacchi. "CAS concluded that I never tested positive. "I have not cheated or undermined the rules," he added. "I just had problems breathing."

Accsuations in Portuguese

We have to be careful when translating from other tongues into English, but this looks clear enough: Judicial Police, the Portuguese criminal investigation department, has raided the headquarters of the cycling team LA MSS. The department confiscated doping substances, medications, equipment to conduct blood transfusions and instruments for clinical use, according to Marca.

When then makes this quite a bit more than sad: On the same day LA MSS had its headquarters raided by Police, questions have surfaced over the death of rider Bruno Neves. The 26 year-old passed away while contesting the Grande Prémio de Amarante earlier this month.

More to come I'm sure.

Father pulled over, son pulled out

IT may be a mistake, or a co-incidence, or both. These things happen, don't they? Those Italian drug cops can get a bit carried away at Giro-time and pull anyone aside for questioning, and it's just by chance it's a rider's dad this time around.

Team Gerolsteiner has removed Andrea Moletta from the Giro d'Italia and placed him on inactive status, following his father's involvement in an anti-doping action. He did not start Wednesday's 11th Giro stage "for private reasons", it was said Wednesday morning.

We shall see.

Ahhh the mystery of it all

The UCI's biological passports are a great idea - if only the administrators, media and the lawyers all had one as well. Anyway, it's a practical way to monitor changes in blood values over time, so any deviance from a rider's baseline can be investigated. However it's also a great way to 'innocently' announce that some riders have already deviated from the norm and to start a new round of the 'who is it this time?' game.

So who is it? And which teams? Well apparently no-one and everyone. Confused? In this respect nothing has changed...from CN: "The teams involved have been informed," Gerolsteiner team manager Hans-Michael Holczer told the Suedwest-Aktiv newspaper. "Thank God, I didn't receive a letter." The two Dutch teams Rabobank and Skil-Shimano both confirmed to telesport.nl that they had also not received such a letter from the UCI. There's a good reason for that, McQuaid told the website, "That is correct, because we have absolutely not sent any team such a letter."

Certainly Steegmans is not amused by the UCI's tantalising annoucement "It is a perfect example of how not to deal with such things," an annoyed Steegmans told Het Nieuwsblad, "Why was that announced in this way? Either you say the full names, or you shut up and go about your business. This is only good for making everyone suspicious. I am certainly not the only one in the peloton with this opinion."

Same lawyer, different drug: Patxi Vila

Not Salbutamol but testosterone this time. Apparently the same lawyer though as Pettachi. From CN: Spain's Patxi Vila has tested non-negative for testosterone according to the International Cycling Union (UCI). The 32 year-old from Italian ProTour squad Lampre is requesting a counter-analysis.

There will be more to come on this one.

Petacchi gets a year off

Ouch. That's a bad result for Petacchi. At least we was already out of the Giro through sickness (or do we believe that now?) and he's already served 2 months. But there goes the season.

From CN: The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced this morning that Italian Alessandro Petacchi would be suspended for one year for having tested positive for an asthma medication during the 2007 Giro d'Italia. It ruled that the Team Milram sprinter did not use the Salbutamol – an asthma drug – as doping but for medicinal purposes. Since the sprinter did not race for two months after the positive test on May 23, 2007, those two months were removed from his ban. The ban will run from November 1, 2007 to August 31, 2008.