So the Giro start list is out. But where’s Ivan Basso? Why, finally “confessing” to the Operation Puerto charges, of course. Though I really can’t say what, if anything, he’s confessed, since it was the Italian Olympic Committee, not Basso, that broke the news. And all CONI says is that Basso’s admitted a connection – not exactly Mr. Green in the Study with the Candlestick, if you know what I’m saying. Also suspiciously absent are Tinkoff’s Jorg Jacksche and Tyler Hamilton; no prizes for guessing why.
Still, with Basso now admitting he had at least something to do with the good Doctor Fuentes, Gazzetta dello Sport has plunged ever outward, searching for more possible connections. Next target – Alejandro Valverde, where the links are many and, in the wake of Basso’s confession, ever more convincing. Fuentes might be a dope doctor nonpareil, but he sure does suck when it comes to this secret agent stuff. It makes me wonder how, with rather specific whispers spreading about him for over a year Valverde managed to avoid the scapegoating that befell other Puerto suspects.
Meanwhile, racing continued at Romandy, where riders not currently suspected of anything closed out the event with some mountain stages and a TT. American Chris Horner showed good form in the hills, but cyclochronometry has never really been his thing, and the youngster everyone’s been tagging for awesomeness since he first slipped on a Rabobank kit, Thomas Decker, won the stage and the event on its final day. Flanking him on the podium were Paolo Savoldelli and Andrey Kashechkin, which could bode well for Team Astana in the coming months.
Hey, maybe Horner borrowed your Modolo shifters for that TT.
You are so right about Valverde’s remarkable ability to remain in the Pro/tour Peloton. “… Valverde managed to avoid scapegoating that befell other Puerto suspects.”
He continued to race, therefore he was not viewed the same as others.
He continued to race – hiding in plain sight – doing what he loves – because he’s Spanish on a Spanish team and his Spanish DS did not get caught red-handed in a sting. Most importantly, his team management supported him. It wasn’t against the law at the time to dope in Spain. Trafficking in doping – yes, against the law. “Sporting fraud” is a crime in Italy and France.
I don’t remember the details, but Vaverde was ‘cleared’ by the investigation or the Spanish federation. They ruled there wasn’t enough evidence to proceed against him. Another thing, he was never mentioned as being caught on video
entering or leaving the building where Fuentes office is located. Sevilla and Mancebo were on tape, among others.
Meanwhile, Spaniards Alberto Contador and L. Leon Sanchez and Aus. Allan Davis were cleared because supposedly there was no evidence linking them to Fuentes – just Saiz. Davis raced in Australia in the winter. But all three former LS riders sat on the sidelines last year from July on….making them look sorta guilty. Of course, Pro teams already had full rosters. I don’t know if
Astana offered them contracts.
This year Nozal, Serrano, Vicioso all Spanish and former LS riders – none are on a Pro Tour squad. So many others, too.
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