Road Bike Racing - Tour Of Denmark Bans

As you all have probably read the Tour of Denamrk is wanting to ban Basso (and possibly discovery) and Tinkoff as well as LPR (never heard of this one). My question is why is the Tour of Denmark okay with some racers who have doped, served bans, and come back to the sport (see David Millar and Saunier-Duval as well as I believe Virenque quite a while back?) yet they're not okay with racers like Hamilton coming back into the sport. Is there a difference in the cases which merits one rider over another etc?

Note: I believe the Tour of Germany has taken a similar stand on Basso, does anyone know if they will still allow Discovery to race (say lead by Levi?) this year.

as if the tour of denmark was a race worth riding.

the only reason why basso did it in '05 was because CSC is a danish team.

They WANT to ban, but I don't believe they have the Authority to actually do anything about banning them from the race. Protour teams have contracts and obligations to race in certain races.

as if the tour of denmark was a race worth riding.

the only reason why basso did it in '05 was because CSC is a danish team.

Worth riding? Are you joking: they strap weights to their bikes to simulate a headwind and pull a plow :)

They WANT to ban, but I don't believe they have the Authority to actually do anything about banning them from the race. Protour teams have contracts and obligations to race in certain races.

Protour teams have to race Protour races but they can send teams to non Protour races as well, and non Protour race organizers can invite or ignore any teams they want to. I don't think they could invite DC but ban Basso though... of course they could send a strong message that he's not welcome and could make his time there pretty uncomfortable.

As you all have probably read the Tour of Denamrk is wanting to ban Basso (and possibly discovery) and Tinkoff as well as LPR (never heard of this one).
LPR I also don't know much about their team, but damn the Guerciotti Khaybars they ride are some of the sweetest looking bikes ever (Drool).


http://www.teamlpr.com/home.html

LPR had some decent green & black kit.

they show face during the 'semi' classics.

As you all have probably read the Tour of Denamrk is wanting to ban Basso (and possibly discovery) and Tinkoff as well as LPR (never heard of this one). My question is why is the Tour of Denmark okay with some racers who have doped, served bans, and come back to the sport (see David Millar and Saunier-Duval as well as I believe Virenque quite a while back?) yet they're not okay with racers like Hamilton coming back into the sport. Is there a difference in the cases which merits one rider over another etc?


Well, the reason for banning Basso is rather straightforward; the evidence against him is very strong; A signed fax with Basso's name on etc. from Dr. Fuentes. Faxes are considered legally binding in courts since they are easy to verify from third parties (The telecom company keeps records of the A and B-numbers. time called, duration etc). Alledgedly both phonetaps and telecom records exists. that ties Basso to Dr. Fuentes. If eg. Basso used his mobile phone to SMS Fuentes (as claimed) he is pretty much toast, since telecom records can show exactly where Basso were when carrying the the phone, or using it. (Your mobile phone contacts cell towers with regular intervals, with enough cell towers receiving the signal, one can triangulate the mobile phones position with precision).
Then there are the blood bags. Do they contain Basso blood? Nobody knows for sure yet, but it is clear that Discovery are convinced they do, hence their refusal to let Basso take a (voluntary) DNA test.

Only technicalities are keeping the evidence and Basso out of court, but at some point, operation Puerto may hit Basso hard; While doping was legal in Spain at the time, the Judge preciding the case may call in Basso as a witness, asking him whether he had ever contacted Dr. Fuentes, and has been "treated" by him. If Basso deny, then it could turn into a criminal case ( perjury ), and the police could perhaps use their telecom records against Basso. If Basso admits having contacted Dr. Fuentes, even though he has denied it from the beginning, his smell of doping becomes very strong.
And lets not forget that a parallel, Italian case against Basso is being investigated by the Italian police.

In short, only the tifosi can think that Basso is free of any suspicion of doping. It is pretty clear to me, that riders such as Basso should be suspended from riding by their teams as per the Pro Tour codex. Team Discovery won't follow that codex after all, and that is why race organizers who cares about the cycling sport need to ban riders like Basso.
I also find it likely that Basso will be banned from TdF.

Do Tour de Danmark have several standards? Yes and no, since they only seem to ban Basso, and not the entire team Discovery which is the right thing to do, and a more consequent line, since they ban the second largest Pro Tour doping cirkus on wheels, Team Tinkoff, for signing Hamilton. Read this about Hamiltons detailed doping program found at Dr. Fuentes:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/jun06/jun26news2
They ban LPR for having signed José E. Gutierrez Cataluna, another Op. Puerto suspected rider.
In short, Tour de Danmark bans teams and riders involved in operation Puerto, and is therefore totally in line with the Pro Tour ethical codex. And I do think that Ivan Basso, Tyler Hamilton, and José E. Gutierrez Cataluna, are the only operation Puerto suspected riders in the Pro Tour.

David Millar is not under suspicion for doping, and is not suspected in operation Puerto, and is therefore not banned. Same with Virenque;-)
Millar is a convicted doper, but he served his time as per the rules at that time. And at least he was man enough to admit it, not like the whining crybaby triplets from Belleville; Landis, Hamilton and his twin.

--
Regards

at least he was man enough to admit it, not like the whining crybaby triplets from Belleville; Landis, Hamilton and his twin.

--
Regards

Let's get this straight, Millar was man enough to admit it after he was caught red handed. Not quite the same as the inference you are making.


Well, the reason for banning Basso is rather straightforward; the evidence against him is very strong; A signed fax with Basso's name on etc. from Dr. Fuentes. Faxes are considered legally binding in courts since they are easy to verify from third parties (The telecom company keeps records of the A and B-numbers. time called, duration etc). Alledgedly both phonetaps and telecom records exists. that ties Basso to Dr. Fuentes.

The fax mentions the dog 'Birillo", Basso claims his dog is named 'Tarello'. There is one other document where the name Birillo is used. The phone conversations were between a DS named Ignacio Labarta of Comunidad Vanciana and Fuentes. They were made during the Giro and Brillo's name was mentioned not Basso's.

The reason the teams and the promoters are saying riders like Basso and Ulrich cannot participate in their events is because, in Basso's case, although he was cleared by his national agency he is still part of OP. The gentleman's agreement between ProTour teams says that no team will race or sign a rider while he is under investigation.

Let's get this straight, Millar was man enough to admit it after he was caught red handed. Not quite the same as the inference you are making.

I agree with your use of italics. By any normal standard, Millar isn't "much of a man", since he was using dope, and only confessed after being cought. It is just that in comparison with Landis' and Hamilton's shifting explanations and denials, even after the B-samples were tested, Millar's way of dealing with his problems seems almost mature.



The fax mentions the dog 'Birillo", Basso claims his dog is named 'Tarello'.

We must be talking about different faxes. The fax I am talking about is the fax that "Süddeutsche Zeitung" showed.
Look at the picture here:
http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/sport/aktuell/2006/08/17/ullrich-fax/ullrich-doping-fax.html
In this fax from Dr. Fuentes to his assistant (=doping courier) Nelson Giraldo Flores, Dr. Fuentes ask Nelson for help and cooperation for the upcoming "Festival in May". He then gives a list of helpers and people being "helped" /participants. In this list Ivan Basso's name is written in clear; No Birillo, no codename or number, but his actual name. The same fax also mentions Jan Ullrichs name in the clear.

The fax may of course be a forgery, but as I wrote, this should be easy to verify from the various telecom logs.




There is one other document where the name Birillo is used. The phone conversations were between a DS named Ignacio Labarta of Comunidad Vanciana and Fuentes. They were made during the Giro and Brillo's name was mentioned not Basso's.

Dr. Fuentes was caught on tape talking about Basso without using the codename "Birillo" when discussing the Giro results. It would actually been much more damning for Basso if Dr. Fuentes had used the codename Birillo when talking about who won which Giro stage, since that could have tied Basso to the codename, and therefore to the bloodbags with the name Birillo on.
According what I have read, the Spanish Police claims or imply, that Basso communicated with Dr. Fuentes by SMS. Also, allegedly the Italian police have phonetaps and telecom records of Basso contacting Dr. Fuentes.
True? I don't know.




The reason the teams and the promoters are saying riders like Basso and Ulrich cannot participate in their events is because, in Basso's case, although he was cleared by his national agency he is still part of OP. The gentleman's agreement between ProTour teams says that no team will race or sign a rider while he is under investigation.

I actually tried to say the same in my post.

--
Regards

/\/\/\I hadn't seen the other fax, nor had I read about any other mention of Basso except for the moniker Birillo. If the fax that you cite is real that really does change a lot.

I agree with the Hamilton comparo however Floyd seems to be a different set of circumstances. Floyd's initial statements were less of a defence and more of "I don't know how this happened but this is what I did before the stage".

There is so much 'information' floating around about everyone involved in OP and with Floyd that it's hard to know what it real and what is not. To me Velonews has been about the most even handed of the cycling news publications. They haven't really taken sides and seem to be sticking to the facts as they become available. Unlike CycleSport which has completely lost their minds over this.