Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

The embattled Astana and Phonak teams are cleared to ride the Vuelta as long as they do not include any staff or rides that are implicated in the Operation Puerto investigation. Previously ther were called by ProTour teams to exclude the controversial teams to avoid further controversy in the Vuelta.

Phonak will be riding its last Grand Tour and hopes to avoid any more negative headlies after Jose Guitierrez and Floyd Landis landed in hot water after the Giro and Tour respectively. Meanwhile, many of the Astana riders who were under investigation before the Tour de France were cleared of any involvment in Operation Puerto after the Tour. This made Astana’s non start frustrating since the criteria used against those Astana riders was based on newspaper reports and an ongoing investigation.