Here we go loopy

[mondobongo]

Its looking like handbags at dawn between UCI and ASO story C&P'd from Cycling News.
McQuaid speaks against Astana's Tour de France exclusion

UCI President is unhappy about the Tour de France organizers' decision to exclude the Astana team of last year's winner Alberto Contador. The organizers announced their decision last week, and McQuaid criticized the decision and accused organizers of singling out Astana with the team's non-selection.
"It would be a tragedy if Contador is not allowed to defend his title," said McQuaid to El Pais. "It is a complete disgrace. We will do all we can to ensure Contador rides in the Tour."
What may be next is legal action. "We need to take action, which we'll do as a consequence of their decisions," McQuaid said to the Associated Press by phone. "The reason goes completely against sport. ... There is no way that UCI can allow it. It's up to our legal department to study the situation and then begin discussions with ASO before action can be taken."
Astana seems to have taken over the role previously occupied by Unibet in 2007, as a major pawn in the UCI and Grand Tour organizer power struggle.
"How can you have the best riders in the world not take part? It's a joke. It's absurd," said McQuaid to the Associated Press. He was referring not just to Contador, but also to his team-mates Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Klöden. Leipheimer finished in third place, on the podium last year after Australia's Cadel Evans. McQuaid also expressed his sympathy for Kazakh people, who hail from the nation that sponsors the Astana team.



If the UCI had been a stronger governing body and tackled doping harder and earlier and then worked with race organisers rather than trying to dictate we might have avoided all this.

 

[Keith Oates]

Your comment about the UCI being slow in tackling the drug problems is valid and let's hope that what they are now doing will go a long way to correcting the problem. The problem with the UCI and ASO is not so easy to answer, the UCI are the world body and should be giving the guidelines to ensure that the best teams are against each other in the big races but ASO want to ensure that only they can decide who races. We are now in a situation where the winner of this years TdF will not necessarily be the best stage rider or from the best team. IMO it's a case of the tail wagging the dog!!!!!!

 

[Monty Dog]

It's simple - let the UCI stick to what it is supposed to do - act as the governing body for cycling and stop it's pretentions of the Pro Tour and it's threat to the race organisers revenues. Instead the Swiss gnomes of the UCI have rendered themselves impotent by concocting means of fiddling a slice of the media revenues and doing nothing about the cancer of drugs that is rife in professional sport. TBH Astana have only got themselves to blame - at least ASO have shown themselves to have some backbone.

 

[yenrod]

I'm with ASO - they, ASTANA, made the sport a laughing stock last year so much so someone on the chainy I attended was called a druggy simply because of this whilst on the way to the meet point.

 

[mondobongo]

McQuaid is a clown and should resign his position and allow someone with a clue to become President. He is now saying that he understands why the Giro Organisers have excluded Astana but still does not understand ASO's reason.
The fact that RCS have been a little bit more subtle than ASO seems to have passed him by.

This reasoning he gives that Astana are being singled out and that other Teams damaged the Tour last year but have escaped being censured does not wash. Astanas behaviour was quite simply unbelievable at the Tour and I think that ASO have made the right decision in excluding them. As for this petition for Leipheimer its pathetic, nice money spinner for him at the TOC selling tshirts at $10 a pop.

 

[Keith Oates]

McQuaid took over the Presidency at a very difficult time and is picking up the troubles left behind by 'The Dutchman'. He is also still a vice president and has a lot of pull, so McQuaid is in an unenviable situation. However I think that he's right if they are banning Astana because of last year then Cofidis, Rabobank and Team High Road should also be out. Personally I think all those teams have shown that they are doing everything possible to clear their names. ASO is French, enough said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[andy_wrx]

ASO is French, enough said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting bit of irrational national predjudice there from a man who seems to live in four or five SouthEast Asian countries!!!!!!!!!!!!!