Another one bites the dust...

[Lou Zealand]

Italian rider Franco Pellizotti has been found guilty of doping by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the International Cycling Union (UCI) said on Tuesday.

 

The UCI provisionally suspended Pellizotti, the 2009 Tour de France best climber, before the Giro d'Italia in May last year after they ruled the then Liquigas rider's blood values were "abnormal".

 

Pellizotti was cleared by the Italian Olympic Committee in October, prompting the UCI to appeal to CAS.

 

"We won the appeal," UCI press officer Enrico Carpani told Reuters.

 

"It shows the remarkable work of UCI and cycling, with the biological passport, is paying off."

 

A UCI source, who declined to be named, told Reuters Pellizotti, 33, would have to serve a two-year ban - the usual sanction for first-time offenders in doping cases.

 

A biological passport is an electronic record where the results of all doping tests by a rider over a period of time are collated and compared.

 

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[Eldron]

 

 

Pellizotti was cleared by the Italian Olympic Committee in October, prompting the UCI to appeal to CAS.

 

"We won the appeal," UCI press officer Enrico Carpani told Reuters.

 

 

This done not bode well for a certain spanish rider who was cleared by his national federation...

[Lou Zealand]

This done not bode well for a certain spanish rider who was cleared by his national federation...

Agreed.

 

However the biological passport has piqued my interest. Has this come into play before? Especially with regards to LA and AC?

[Eldron]

Agreed.

 

However the biological passport has piqued my interest. Has this come into play before? Especially with regards to LA and AC?

 

LA was certainly pre bio passport days and I feel AC was already "super charged" by the time they did his report so they won't find any dramatic changes - no before = no after.

 

Ah pros and drugs - like crack and ho's.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Hmm, will the ban run from May last year then, sort of backdated, or is it started from the UCI winning the appeal.?

[TNT1]

The biological passport is a complete injustice to the athlete. Lets these UCI and WADA pricks ban riders who have never tested positive for a single substance on their own banned lists. Bastards. I really feel sorry for riders who get f&^ked like this.

[Christie]

Ban him - What's the point of the passport system if it never busts any dopers?

But, imo they seem selective who they bust. LA posted suspect blood values in his 2009 tdf - nothing happened.

Blood doping is still rife amongst the top GC and TT riders, the passport is not catching them yet. It should be fool proof.

[splat]

Hmm, will the ban run from May last year then, sort of backdated, or is it started from the UCI winning the appeal.?

 

From Cyclingnews.com:

'CAS has cancelled all of Pelizotti’s results from May 17, 2009. He will lose his second place at the Giro d’Italia (he finished third but Danilo Di Luca was subsequently disqualified for doping), his stage victory at the Tour de France and his polka-dot climber’s jersey. He has also been fined 115,000 Euro.'

[GrumpyOldGuy]

From Cyclingnews.com:

'CAS has cancelled all of Pelizotti’s results from May 17, 2009. He will lose his second place at the Giro d’Italia (he finished third but Danilo Di Luca was subsequently disqualified for doping), his stage victory at the Tour de France and his polka-dot climber’s jersey. He has also been fined 115,000 Euro.'

 

Phew, thats quite stiff hey.? It seems he has been made a bit of a scapegoat dont you think.? I havent heard of similar sentances before.

 

Just thinking, but say he says "Okay I resign, throw in the towel, wave all a fond farewell, oh and I refuse to pay the fine!" Can it be enforced, to the best of my knowledge CAS dos not have legal powers over non competing athletes, so unless Franco intends competing again he could just walk away.??

 

Or am I completely wrong here.? I dont know much about it so its very possible.

[Lou Zealand]

The biological passport is a complete injustice to the athlete. Lets these UCI and WADA pricks ban riders who have never tested positive for a single substance on their own banned lists. Bastards. I really feel sorry for riders who get f&^ked like this.

I'm confused. If the biological passport establishes a baseline how is it an injustice to the cyclist? Or are you just being your same old cynical self

[TNT1]

I'm confused. If the biological passport establishes a baseline how is it an injustice to the cyclist? Or are you just being your same old cynical self

 

 

I mean a baseline so that a particular rider can be targeted for increased testing and investigation. I think it unfair to ban a rider who has never failed a test of any kind. Where's the justice in that?