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.

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.

Kashechkin's logic

Some interesting logic happening here... A court in Liège, Belgium began hearing the case between Kazakh rider Andrey Kashechkin and the UCI yesterday. Kashechkin was suspended after returning a non-negative anti-doping sample in an out of competition test taken in Turkey while the rider was on holidays on August 1. Kashechkin, whose sample allegedly showed evidence of blood doping, has taken the UCI to court as he believes that a private sports body is in breach of human rights by subjecting athletes to out of competition testing. A decision on the case is expected with in two weeks.

Human rights are a wonderful thing. They only apply to humans, of course, as animals in general (setting aside that humans are indeed flesh and blood animals) are devoid of rights, or at least of rights granted by humans. Indeed humans grant themselves these rights, which is interesting in an arrogant but understandable sort of way. For example, understandably and regrettably we have human rights abuses where one human (or more often a system of humans in concert) take as granted their right to deprive another human of one or more of these basic features of a civilised world: food; shelter; freedom to travel; freedom to speak up; to congregate; to practise their faith or beliefs; or even to live. I think such abuses are clear enough.

But the human right not to be tested out of competition? The mind boggles.

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?