adam

Hmmm... wonder what's up?!?

https://velonews.com/news/fea/13062.0.html

Randomus

What worries me is the fact that he will not be answering questions from the press after the announcement.

USAZorro

Maybe he's announcing he's suing Franke for libel.

VT Biker

My speculation:

A prepared statement claiming these allegations are false, that he was cleared by both a Spanish court and the UCI, blah, blah, blah.

If he was announcing that he was doping, you could bet that Team Disco would not be accompanying him. If anything, they would have already separated from Contador. The reason he will not take questions is because there are so many new questions opened up by the investigation.

hoodooguru

Good point. All the AC victory stuff is still on the disco web page too. Probably just a statement of denial of some sort.

VT Biker

Also - another reason not to take questions ~ until recently, I think most people assumed the case in the Spanish court was thrown out for lack of evidence. What has come to light (well - what people finally understood) was that the case was thrown out for a legal technicality, not because there was a lack of evidence.

timmhaan

so, what happened with the floyd verdict? is that still on hold?

erader

i think you are right on the money especially in light of recent comments by bruyneel.

ed rader

skinnyone

Bingo!

Flak

I hope it has nothing to do with the Tour. I'd hate for him to admit to doping or some such thing, thus making Evans the winner by default, but robbing him of all the glory.

Blue Jays

Perhaps a product endorsement announcement and they're just trying to build a buzz about it? Who knows...

VT Biker

Then why would you not take questions?

He is not taking questions because their defense prior to this investigation was:

- Spanish Courts cleared him

- UCI cleared him

However:

(a) The Spanish courts cleared him on a technicality (i.e. - there was a question as to whether what he did was even illegal). Thus, that defense is the same situation as when a murderer gets off because they forgot to read the guy his miranda rights before he confessed.

(b) UCI "claims" to not have ever seen the papers the German doping expert was holding. I happen to think that the UCI conveniently ignored this evidence, and ran with the Spanish court ruling. As far as I can tell, the UCI only busts riders who are caught red-handed doping by ASO. Otherwise, they are in bed with the teams and riders.

So as you can see, Contador's defense relies on (a) a technicality and (b) a corrupt organizations findings. I have a feeling Contador may not be riding for Disco next season when all is said and done.

harlond

I am reminded of a New Yorker cartoon in which the judge tells the defendant, "Seeing as how the jury has found you innocent, I suppose I have no choice but to let you go." Outside of dictatorships, the fact that actions were not "even illegal" is not a technicality except for those that consider innocence of crime a technicality.

The Spanish law under which OP was conducted criminalized certain aspects of providing medical care. It was aimed at doctors and such, making AC, if anything, a victim of the crime, not a perpetrator.

If your point is that AC was not prosecuted because there was no law against what he might have done, again, there is no technicality involved when the police elect not to prosecute lawful conduct.

Your statement that this situation "is the same situation as when a murder gets off" because he was not read his miranda rights is rather wide of the mark.

RockyMtnMerlin

Did everyone miss this little announcement at the end of the VN article?

"Meanwhile, organizers of Hamburg's Cyclassics - a ProTour event slated for August 19 - made it clear Wednesday that they will not welcome Contador to the race because of the Puerto connection."

Interesting.

adam

I don't think that has stopped Disco in the past (see: Basso).

Helmet Head

Why wait until Friday? Why not today? Or tomorrow?

Could there be any reason to delay other than to maximize media exposure? That's consistent with announcing something that he views as "good news", rather than something that he has to do reluctantly. But what could that be? Maybe he's trying to avoid the Floyd PR mistake of sounding wishy-washy, and so wants to declare his innocence (once again ) in clear and uncertain terms with maximum exposure.

I can't think of anything else this could be about. That doesn't mean it's not about something else, of course.

VT Biker

Good points. So let me clarify. A similar situation would be the recent Supreme Court ruling on unfair compensation. The SC ruled that while a woman was underpaid compared to her counterparts due to the mere fact she was a woman, the SC stated that since she did not being the crime to the attention of the court system within 2-years of the first infraction (regardless that she was unaware of the infraction until 10 years after working there), she was not legally able to bring the case to the SC. A lot of worker's rights advocates are up in arms, because this essentially states that if you break the law, if no one notices until after 2-years from your first illegal action, the victim(s) cannot sue.

vik 

Your clarification confused me more than our original post did....

USAZorro

Continued German contrariness. They refused to broadcast the final 10 stages of the TDF. Stuttgart City Council members are trying to ban Zabel from the World Championships because he fessed up to briefly using EPO 10 years ago. Good on them for wanting to take a stand, but they're really shooting themselves in the feet with their "proactive measures".

roadgator

Yeah, i agree. Keeping Zabel out is nuts, but not sitting on the evidence of a cover up is something else.

Perhaps they are collectively over reacting for the past history of team-level doping and the lingering pain of always rooting for Ulrich to only find out he was a lazy doper.

But i think on the whole its good, might make the UCI get serious about really stopping doping, not just making it look like there isn't a problem.

dahoss2002

Exactly VT..... And cant blame anyone for not taking questions from the press..

cibai

"The Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel), winner of the 2007 Tour of France, gave a press conference today at the Superior Council of Deportes (sports council) in Madrid, Spain. He was accompanied by his family and team manager Johan Bruyneel.

The Spaniard read a prepared statement, saying that "I won the Tour with clean means. I do not understand the attacks against me from people that don't even know me. I never doped and never participated in any doping scandal."

He continued to declare that he has "never commited doping," and offered his collaboration to the respective agencies in the fight against doping, including providing his DNA.

The Tour winner emphasized that if the defamations persist he is prepared to take legal actions. Contador was initially named in Operación Puerto, but quickly removed from the list.

The rider for Discovery Channel did not answer any questions."

VT Biker

Prepared to take legal actions. Is this akin to Basso's preparing to dope?

erader

evans (PL) suing vino (astana) for stealing his thunder from down under .

ed rader

VT Biker

As much as I feel bad for Evans, if this case is allowed to go through, it will do more damage to the sport than the doping itself. Why would a Company ever sponsor a team with the added risk of being sued if one of the athletes on its team breaks the rules?