L'equipe July 29th Doping by Media For 24 hours the name of columbian Mauricio Soler was discussed in a new ( and false) doping story, carried by elementsof the Danish, German and Belgian press. Claudio Corti, manager of Barloworld explains: "Some of the press have not played their part correctly these last days. Everyone tried to win the race for the news scoop, without any checking, resulting in false information being released about my rider. How can you imagine that if I had a positive test, I would be able to keep it secret?. Its absurd. And we should have been contacted immediiately, and before the mud slinging commenced. Soler's case is symptomatic of the sick spirit prevelent in cycling these days. People see dopers everywhere. Everything started Friday about 5.30pm after the stage to Angouleme, where we were told that the police were waiting for us at our hotel. When we arrived, there was nobody there, but in the press room, some people had already recieved the false information. At 8pm we heard that Soler had been declared positive, but, there again, we had no information. Everything was totally blurred. Our rider was there, sitting opposite us at the dinner table, and we preferred not to tell him ion order to spare him the stress. During the night, I recieved many calls from Columbia without being able to explain to them what was going on. It was me who contacted the UCI Sat morning, to get some information on this false business. Suddenly the world had been turned upside down. Someone started this rumour without checking the facts. Thats serious. I almost called a press conference to warn the journalists and to tell them that we were happy with our Tour, with two stage victories. But reason won out, I didnt want to depress myself. I only want to say to many among them ( journalists) that I understand their job, that they are also in a real race, and are constantly trying to beat the competition. But they too have to respect the rules, and above all, without cheating" Irishj92007-07-29 04:23:32
