CAS To Hear WADA Appeal In Valverde/Puerto Case

by Rant on July 11, 2008 · 13 comments

in Alejandro Valverde, Operacion Puerto, Tour de France

According to a press release issued by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the CAS will hear appeals by WADA and the UCI that challenge the Spanish Cycling Federation’s refusal to open new proceedings against Spanish cyclist Alejandro Valverde of the Caisse D’Epargne cycling team. Valverde, who was implicated in the Operacion Puerto case, is currently competing in the grueling three-week long Tour de France along with other members of the Caisse D’Epargne squad.

In a press release issued several hours ago, sport’s highest “court” said it was also suspending proceedings for a maximum of six months in order to allow Spanish authorities time to decide whether they will comply with a CAS request for access to a blood bag (blood bag number 18) collected as evidence in the Operacion Puerto case. A first, informal request was rebuffed. This time, however, the CAS says they have made “second  request … through official channels, to the competent Spanish authorities.” The press release notes that such procedures can take several months.

Exactly how this will affect Valverde’s participation in the remaining stages of the Tour de France is yet to be seen. It appears that the Curse of the Yellow Jersey has struck again.

William Schart July 11, 2008 at 9:24 am

Valverde’s involvement in the OP affair, as we know of it at the present time, is certainly no news to ASO. They could have banned him prior to the start, under the same criteria they banned Astana this year, and several OP-linked riders in 2006. But they didn’t. It would look rather lame at this point kicking him out unless there are new developments.

So the other possibility is that at some point in time, blood bag number 18 will get analyzed, and the results used to show that this is Valverde’s blood and that it has PEDs in it. This would raise an interesting question regarding this year’s Tour: could a rider be disqualified after the fact for an infraction which occurred over 2 years earlier? My guess would be that if the blood indicates a violation, ASO would DQ Valverde. Who’s going to challenge them? And where?

Bill Hue July 11, 2008 at 10:05 am

From cycling news this morning:

Ten abnormal blood results before Tour start
French newspaper Le Monde revealed on Friday that there were ten abnormal blood values found in samples taken by French Anti-Doping Agency AFLD before the Tour de France. The tests were conducted on July 3 and 4, while the Tour got underway on July 5.

According to the newspaper, the results of the tests showed unusual hematocrit and/or haemoglobin values. A high hematocrit result can be an indication of blood doping, through EPO or blood transfusion, but there are also other natural explanations possible.

The names of the riders involved were not published. The results were also sent to the UCI for inclusion in the blood passport programme.

Rant July 11, 2008 at 11:06 am

William,
I suspect there are going to be some curious turns of events here. These days, nothing would surprise me too much. The idea that Valverde’s blood bag could show up with some PEDs in there isn’t too much of a stretch.
Bill,
Interesting, isn’t it? And none of the names have been leaked? Amazing. Damien Ressiot is slacking. 😉

Thomas A. Fine July 11, 2008 at 12:32 pm

In a world where Beltran’s test results can’t be kept from L’Equipe, how is it that all these bags of blood are kept secure for years at a time?

tom

William Schart July 11, 2008 at 1:34 pm

Do we know that the bag in question is Valverde’s? Or would WADA have to use DNA to establish this?

Rant July 11, 2008 at 5:26 pm

Tom,
I’m wondering the same thing myself. Must be because they’re under the control of the Spanish authorities.
William,
I think they would need to establish that it’s Valverde’s blood, and for that (barring an admission from Valverde) they’d need DNA. What’s the likelihood that he’ll provide a sample for comparison? Hmm.

William Schart July 11, 2008 at 7:32 pm

Maybe they already do have a sample from the blood passport system.

Larry July 11, 2008 at 8:03 pm

Judge Hue, great reporting! So, under the new system of targeted testing, the AFLD is justified in singling out 10 riders for heightened testing, and with Beltran, they’ve nailed one of them for EPO.

Plus Valverde appears to be the new Contador, a talented Spanish rider who can forever be embarassed by having a Puerto link brought up at inopportune times.

And it’s very hard to know what to make of both of these stories.

I had thought that perhaps the French cycling authorities would engineer their testing in order to create at least the appearance of a “clean” 2008 Tour. THAT would seem to be in their best interests. First, the Tour could badly use a year without a doping scandal. Second, it would set up a favorable kind of contrast between the Tours under the UCI authority (bad, dope-filled) and under French authority (good, dope-free). With Paris-Nice being (or appearing to be) clean as a whistle, I thought that the Tour might take on the same appearance.

Then Rant announces the WADA-UCI appeal to the CAS regardng Valverde. I had thought maybe the UCI had acted in such a way as to cause this announcement to come out during the Tour, in order to embarass the French cycling powers. But it appears that the request for a CAS appeal had been in the works for some time. And the appeal announcement has received no publicity (that I’ve seen, at least) — no publicity, no embarassment? Of course, the ASO and AFLD are aware of the CAS appeal, and also aware that Valverde’s status is not going to be determined at the CAS for many months. Valverde could win the maillot jaune in July and lose it in the sport arbitration system in December. That’s exactly what the French were hoping not to see.

Then comes Beltran, just as I’d thought that the French would try to cover up any doping problems. My suspicious mind wonders, now that the French have complete control over doping testing at the Tour (no UCI presence this time around), are they going to use the tests to settle old scores, say, with Lance Armstrong’s old associates? Targeted testing is a great excuse to target the people you don’t like. I personally doubt that Beltran’s AAF was a result of intentional wrongdoing by the French — I think that the Beltran situation hurts the Tour too much for the French to have rigged the test results. But given the recent doubt cast over EPO testing … how can any of us know for sure what’s going on?

It’s enough to make one want to boycott the Tour.

Rant July 11, 2008 at 8:39 pm

William,
On reflection, I think you’re right. They wouldn’t need a new DNA sample. They’ve already got material they could extract DNA from — assuming they’ve saved old samples (which I believe is SOP).
Larry,
Who do I know that’s boycotting the Tour? Hmm…

karuna July 12, 2008 at 4:14 am

The news of Valverde/CAS IS news over at this side of the pond.
As far as I saw it was news in every newspaper in The Netherlands and Belgium. “˜De Volkskrant’ (Dutch) as a big article about Jaksche, OP and Valverde.
It is certainly not unnoticed.
I think the reason Valverde is riding the TdF is pretty easy to guess: The sponsor of the Valverde team is French.

Beltran is targeted. The release of the news of his positive test is more than 6 days after the test.
I think the release date is carefully chosen. Not too soon and not too late. The negative impact on the Tour is minimal.
Since Beltran is targeted it is, like Larry says, the question why he is targeted.
On this of the ocean lots of people think it is to close the net around Armstrong.
Every news channel/paper comes with a short history of the rider while announcing the news of the positive test. So every time it is mentioned that he was an important helper of Armstrong.
Do I say more?

Larry, you are doing great, boycotting the TdF.
You have my respect.

Larry July 12, 2008 at 9:20 am

Karuna, have I violated the boycott by NOT boycotting Tour doping news? This question kept me awake all last night.

William Schart July 12, 2008 at 10:52 am

Larry:

Just skip over the parts where it says Beltran, or whoever else comes up positive, is in the (redacted). I mean, that a rider gets caught doping isn’t news of the (redacted) unless you read that he was caught by (redacted) while he was riding in the (redacted).

karuna July 12, 2008 at 1:01 pm

Larry

🙂
No, don’t worry, we were talking about the ASO, strategy and doping. That all three right now got something to do with the TdF is just a coincidence.

When this doesn’t really reassure you then don’t worry.
According to “˜the strategy’ the TdF organizer proved now that with the targeting they do “better” than the UCI (according to Prudhomme).
They proved that they don’t cheat by having a positive test and silenced the possible gossip about a manufactured “˜clean Tour’. And they also gave a punch in the direction of an old enemy (Armstrong). That all with someone of no real importance for the yellow jersey.
Unless they really can’t help it I don’t think there is going to be more doping news.

So, sweet dreams tonight 🙂

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