Cycling Conflict Between Uci And Aso Continues

The conflict between the sports organizer ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation) and the International Cycling Association UCI has not been solved yet. The announced sanctions with which the UCI already threatened the teams last March if they would start at the French stage race Paris-Nizza stayed away. After large negotiations the teams decided all together to not be browbeaten and participate in the race. But UCI will not abandon the field! The main point of issue between these two unions is the different opinion regarding the assortment of the participating teams. The International Cycling Association assures every team which owns a ProTour License the right to participate in all races. After the disagreement between the organizers ASO, RCS-Sports and Unipublic started, their races were taken off the 2008 ProTour calendar. This includes the races of the Tour de France, Giro dItalia and Vuelta a Espaa. The controversy raised as ASO announced the Kazakh squad Astana will be excluded from this years events due to the doping occurrences in 2006 and 2007. If the team proves they wont have any drug trouble this year, the organizer ASO will reconsider their decision and future participations could be possible again. The reigning champion of the Tour de France Alberto Contador who joined the Astana-Team in 2006 wont be able to defend his title this year. He takes it calmly after the victory at this years Giro dItalia. He said he prefers this Giro victory than a second victory at the Tour de France. The victory from the Spaniard was a surprise for everybody. At the 8th of 21 stages he came by an injury on his forearm bone. The World federation threatens the participants once again with possible sanctions if they start at the Tour de France. Since the organizer ASO hand over the responsibility of the Tour to the national cycling federation the UCI will not perform the doping control. The test will be carried out by the French Anti Doping Agency (AFLD) who already did the test at the Paris-Nizza race in March. The decision was based on the bad experience with the UCI who did not consequently take drastic decisions in the past. The organizer ASO wants to start the test already in the forefront to determine possible doping delinquents before the beginning of the Tour. According to a concluded agreement all participating teams need to provide the ASO with the whereabouts of their cyclists to take the tests. From the 20 subscribed squads 15 have already fulfilled the request. The general manager of the Tour de France Christian Prudhomme warns the teams if they wont provide them with the requested information. Besides blood and urine tests there is a hair analysis but only in case of a positive result from the first tests. The declaration about an introduction of an official blood passport for each cyclist which was signed last October will not be valid this year because the UCI wont release the dates they have collected so far.

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