Bauges

[patn]

Thoughts?

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/10809 ... erman.aspx

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/10810 ... mpion.aspx

[patn]

Feel a little sorry for the other 2 in the French team sprint team. Hope Bauges feels bad about that.

[Trouty]

Yeah - it's a tough call, but he has been around long enough to know the rules. What gets me though is that rulings aren't very consistant....2 years down the track and still no ruling on Clembutador's case. Really - what's the hold up. It's all about politics is my guess.

[Toff]

The idea is that it makes the sport (somewhat) self-policing. If you're racing in a team with a drug cheat, you're less likely to tolerate it if you know about it. At the very least, you should conduct your own due diligence on your teammates before you race. Alternatively, you may be complicit in his drug taking, and maybe have taken something yourself if you are prepared to race with him.

Based on the fact that everyone knew the UCI rules before the event, I'm okay with this outcome.

[Stuart]

But then Cavendish admits completely missing a drug test in 2011, not just messing up his paperwork with regards to his whereabouts and the British federation & UCI do nothing about it. Add to that Contador's case and it just adds up to inconsistent application of the 'rules', which seem to be bent by both the UCI and home Unions whenever a big name gets busted or does something procedural wrong.

I think there should be a centralised commission that has jurisdiction over all nations when it comes to doping compliance and investigation / penalties, separate from the UCI.

[patn]

Also as if any clean athletes (or their support teams) 'forgot' to go to their tests. if i was a clean world champ id sell my own grandma to make it to a test so that they didn't take the rainbow jersey of me. missed test is a failed test i reckon.

[Toff]

I'm not familiar with the Cavendish stuff, but Baugé missed two tests. The same happened to Rasmussen, who went AWOL for three weeks!

Missing one test gets you a warning, which is what Baugé got when he missed his first test. It wasn't until he missed another test, more than a year later, that his medals were taken. If you miss a test, you should expect to be under lots of additional scrutiny by the UCI, and harsh penalties if you are absent a second time.

[timyone]

Pitty for Kenny, he would be less in the shadow of Hoy if he had actually won it at the time