The Operation Puerto case against Ivan Basso was suspended back in October due to a lack of evidence. The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) did not have substantial evidence to prosecute Ivan Basso, so they suspended the case with the caveat that it could be reopened if new evidence arises in the future. It is not immediately clear if any new evidence has turned up, but CONI has decided to summon Basso to appear before officials on May 2nd.
The committee said on its Web site (www.coni.it) that the rider had been summoned to appear before officials in Rome at 1500 local time (1300 GMT) on May 2 and had been notified personally of the summons.
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Discovery Channel must have seen this coming when they decided to sign Basso. Christian Prudhomme is cracking down on the Operation Puerto people, 50 in all. Armed with the news of Jan Ullrich’s positive DNA match with the Operation Puerto blood bags and news that Fuentes is back to his old ways, the ASO must have a queasy feeling in their stomachs. But I can’t say I do not blame them.
Operation Puerto was a mess in many ways. the investigation was sloppy and inconclusive. There were more leaks than actual evidence. The Spanish Guardia Civil looked about as bad as Alberto Gonzalez does now. Poor management of information and a bumbled investigation do not help the cause of eliminating drugs in cycling.
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(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
The race is lower key than the Tour of California especially as it comes right in the middle of Classics season. But the beauty of cycling is the fact that there is enough talent to go around. So the Tour de Georgia sees George Hincapie (Phil and Paul’s favorite cyclist) appear for his return after suffering a thumb injury at the Tour de California. He has been working hard to stay in form and recover from his injury.
Disco’s Race?
We are not sure which Hincapie we will see at this race as Discovery have quite a few cards to play. First is Hincapie, who can probably climb as well as anyone especially now that he does not have to focus on the Spring Classics this year. Then there is Tom Danielson the winner two years ago and runner up last year. Levi Leipheimer is just coming off a Tour of California victory and would probably like to continue that winning streak. He is now a winner with Discovery Channel where he found the extra push to get to the top step of the podum in California.
Don’t Tick off Tinkoff
Tinkoff are a new team and they are on a mission to win as much as possible. Tinkoff guys have been seen at the front of many races and have also bagged a few wins. The owner Oleg Tinkoff looks like a guy you would not want to mess with.
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Discovery Channel’s Alberto Contador was only six seconds behind Davide Rebellin going into the final stage 7 around Nice. The final stage was a brutal one with climbs up the Col D’Eze. Alberto Contador showing great form attacked Rebellin whose Gerolsteiner teammates were left far down the road.
More later…
Go Clipless has a nice writeup on a recent USA Today article that talks about how cycling is growing in the US. The fans lining the roads of the Tour of California definately show that there is a large interest in the sport, but just how large is this interest?
Race organizers are predicting that the eight-day event that ends in Long Beach Sunday will attract more than 1.3 million spectators and break its own record as the biggest sporting event held in California since the 1984 Olympic Summer Games.
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(Levi warming up from flickr)
The Tour of California is the dominant cycling news at the moment. The second edition of the race is a mix of excitement and controversy. There was great action on stage 3 with breaks happening all day, and a great victory by Jens Voight who was in most of those breaks. Small controversy arose with the Stage 1 crash and the decision to neutralize the race since most of the field was caught up in a freak crash.
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Ivan Basso was interviewed by SkyLife.it where he was asked about the current problem in Italian Soccer, Marco Pantani, the USA and his objectives for 2007. The interview is quite frank both the the interviewer’s side and Basso’ side. This is really a refreshing let’s not beat around the bush type of interview. Unfortunately Basso does not want to talk much about Operation Puerto and does not care to see the Pantani movie.
On Soccer:
“My first thoughts are with the policeman that died. I would like that no one forgets him and what happened. Then I would like to add that last year on the Giro course there were 6 million spectators and not one punch was thrown. There aren’t as many police present and usually nothing bad happens.
Then soccer connotates violence?
At the moment yes. Why is there violence in soccer and not in cycling? It is difficult for me to give an answer that will satisfy everyone. But my take would be like this: Soccer is closely followed. All it takes is one error by a referee, any mistake could reignite tension with fans. In my world fortunately this does not happen.
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(pic from thepaceline.com)
A change in the top level management at Discovery Channel has resulted in a loss of sponsorship for the cycling team at the end of 2007.
Armstrong’s agent spoke to USA Today to relay the news that was released on the Friday which is when most high profile people like to dump bad news.
Stapleton told USA TODAY Friday that the Discovery’s decision to not renew for a fourth year is connected to Monday’s firing of Discovery Network’s president Billy Campbell by new Discovery Communications president and CEO David Zaslav.
Campbell was the major force behind the company’s decision to sponsor the team in 2004. He also pushed the team to sign Italian star and Tour favorite Ivan Basso this year despite a since-resolved controversy about the rider’s role in a Spanish doping scandal.
“This would not have happened if Billy Campbell was still there,” Stapleton said. “This is about their change in management.”
Stapleton said the company is already evaluating potential replacements for Discovery and could sign another company before the 2007 season is over.
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Black appears to be the new blue for 2007. Team kit designs for the pro peloton seem to follow common trends as each team has their own variation on a popular theme. The previoulsy trend was a blue team kit that started getting popular in the 1990s when cyclist realized they did not always have to wear black shorts. For a while it seemed as though just about every team sported a mostly blue colored team kit. It was tough to tell some teams apart. The most confusing moment came in the 2005 Paris-Roubaix when Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo), George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) and Tom Boonen (Quick-Step) where in a final break away. Their respective team kits looked so similar that it was tough to tell the riders apart from the helicopter. Now the team kit designers love affair with blue has come to an end as black seems to be the new popular color.
With Caisse D’Epargne and Team CSC daring to sport the almost all black look, many teams are following through and going dark too.
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(pic from flickr, UPDATE: Actually this is from Graham Watson)
Ivan Basso wasted no time climbing on a new Trek and donning the Discovery Channel kit after word of his signing was released to the world last week. To say that Ivan is motivated for 2007 is an understatement. Basso is already dressed in Discovery Channel blue and has the matching blue SiDis. This move must have been close for a while since the matching blue SiDis are not a standard color in their 2007 lineup. They need to be custom made and the turn-around time on those must be more than a few days.
Basso is probably counting down the days until the December 3rd Discovery Team training camp. No cold nights in the Norwegian tundra this year. Just some warmer nights getting to know a team that is probably just as eager to meet him.
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