Astana spend 460,000 Euros on anti-doping - still get dumped by ASO

Bye-bye Le Tour for Astana. Unless ASO does an almighty backflip there will be no invitation this year to Le Tour de France for the Astana team and their star riders. Riders who last year secured both 1st and 3rd, may I add. With stakes so high on either side - ASO desperately wants a drug-free Tour and Astana just want to race on the biggest stage - it may be that this ban gets contested all the way to July.

CN reports: The Astana team was given a resounding vote of no confidence on Wednesday when the Tour de France organiser, Amaury Sport Organisation, announced that the team would not be invited to any of the ASO's events. This means its star, Alberto Contador, will not be able to defend his titles in either the Tour or the upcoming Paris-Nice.

Just my opinion, but who can blame ASO? Whilst Bruyneel may claim - quite rightly - that this is a new Astana with the right attitude and tough anti-doping rules and testing in place, this is also a team that in 2007 fostered the up and down roller-coaster ride that was Vinokourov (blood doper). And Kashechkin (blood doper). And Kessler (testosterone abuser). And a team that has managed to bring into the fold the remains - both key riders and managers - of a fairly tight-knit, successful and at times questionable Discovery team. I say 'questionable' advisedly, however there are enough books and websites written on the subjects of Armstrong, Landis and Basso for you to gather some answers - or simply more questions - for yourself.

When you reflect on Astana's hasty creation from the charred remains of the bloodied corpse of Liberty Seguros - and its dreadfully tarnished image since - you have to wonder if ASO can afford to risk Le Tour's reputation once more. Obviously not, at this stage anyway.

The Tour speculation starts NOW!

It's nowhere near July but it's already started: the drug-bustin' scandalisin' name-dropping that suggests that this is going to be yet another speculation-fest.

From CN: In an interview with Spanish newspaper Marca, Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said he could make no promises over the participation of defending champion Alberto Contador or Alejandro Valverde in this year's race, after the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) recently re-opened its enquiries into Operación Puerto. "Today I cannot say that Valverde or Contador will not be in the Tour," said Prudhomme, speaking at the Tour of Qatar in Doha. "It is still early, we are not going to exclude individual riders, but instead not invite an entire team."

Meanwhile, over in the US, there's more...
Rock Racing's now former director Frankie Andreu's 2006 mea culpa about his involvement with doping during his time on the US Postal team made him a credible mentor to younger cyclists about the dangers of doping. And Andreu felt that his previous mistakes warranted him to speak to his group of young riders, frequently. But with the revelation that one of the riders on the team during his tenure, which Andreu confirmed is Kayle Leogrande, is under investigation by the U.S. Anti-doping Agency (USADA), Andreu could only say that he did his due diligence to prevent it.

Kayle's beef is that his A-sample was allegedly negative, so why is USADA asking for the B-sample to be tested anyway? Why that sounds like harassment to Leogrande's lawyers, who happen to be the Landis legal team, too. Now there's a team with some success in these matters, eh?

Wham bam thank you VAM

Is Contador super-human? Johan Bruyneel says NO, and whilst saying he wouldn't cast aspersions like this himself, manages to do just that to Moreau. It's all about VAM. Which is all about climbing speed. Contador's a climber, Moreau less so. And Simoni beats them all. So what does it all mean? Are they all doping or is it just that on a particular day and on a particular road a rider can get it "just right"? Is it science or nonsense?

It's more surprising to me that climber Contador turned in a great TT than a great climb, to be honest.

CN reports: Cyclingnews has obtained a document sent by Discovery Channel Sports Manager Johan Bruyneel to members of the International Professional Cycling Teams (IPCT) organization where he defends Discovery Channel rider Alberto Contador's recent Tour de France win from criticism from two French team directors, Vincent Lavenu (Ag2r Prévoyance) and Marc Madiot (Française de Jeux).

Dope of the Day: Kashechkin

It's still a closely fought battle, the Dope of the Day. Just when you think it's slowing down, along comes a new name to add to the list. From CN: "Astana suffered another blow Wednesday when Kazakh Andrej Kashechkin tested positive for a homologous blood transfusion following an unexpected control on August 1 in Belek, Turkey. Astana issued a statement saying Kashechkin was suspended effective immediately while waiting for the analysis of the B sample."

But wait, from the same source... "Freshly crowned Tour de France winner Alberto Contador is scheduled to issue a public statement Friday along with Discovery Channel Team director Johan Bruyneel at the offices of Spain's Superior Council for Sports according to the International Herald Tribune.

The rider has been tied to Operación Puerto, the Spanish doping investigation. He is expected to make a statement, but not answer questions. No information was provided about the content of the upcoming announcement."

The mind is boggling. Of course it's a denial, but why now? Why again?

The wheels are turning for AC

We really don't know who AC is, or was. He could be anyone. Jorg Jaksche doesn't know. The UCI doesn't know. But WADA would like to know... from CN: "WADA opens Contador investigation. The World Anti Doping Agency has opened an investigation on Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel), winner of this years Tour de France, and his alleged involvement in Operation Peurto. WADA is working with ex-Liberty Seguros rider Jorg Jaksche, who admitted that he worked with the Spanish doctor while he was a team-mate of Contador at Liberty Seguros, after it received documents from German Professor Werner Franke that supposedly links the Spaniard to Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes. Documents seized in the case are said to contain the letters A.C., which is allegedly the initials of Alberto Contador."

Of course it's denied by Contador and the matter was settled once before. It's opened up not because of new evidence but because of renewed publicity for the allegations. It had to be re-opened, surely, for the sake of our peace of mind.

Speculation of the day: Evans on Contador

Most Aussie bike racing enthusaists would have watched Cadel Evans be interviewed by Andrew Denton (a local comedian turned Parkinson-style interviewer) last Monday night. To be honest it was OK but not very revealing. Denton talked it up on ABC radio prior to the show and suggested that Cadel was unhappy about his team's support during the race but Cadel himself didn't say that in the interview. He did say that Contador was innocent until proven guilty, but that's hardly earthshaking, is it? He also regrets losing those 23 seconds, but it would be more surprising if he hadn't regretted it.

CN has a partial transcript on its site:
"Evans: Contador is "innocent until proven guilty"... 2007 Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans took time out to conduct an interview on the Australian talk show, 'Enough Rope'... After discussing Evans' childhood and life growing up on a remote Northern Territory settlement, Denton moved into the hot topic following this year's Tour: losing by 23 seconds and doping. He was specifically asked if he believed that Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel) deserved this year's Tour de France victory, especially in light of comments made by German anti-doping activist, Werner Franke, that the Spaniard's victory was "the greatest swindle" in sports history. Evans said: "I think, like everyone, there is a bit of a shadow over his winning and his reputation. For me, innocent until proven guilty is always my attitude. "Just because you win the Tour de France doesn't mean you are a cheat. People have to remember that. If something comes out... solid evidence, yes... but 'til now, no solid proof has come out. So I'll leave him innocent until proven guilty," he said. "