Friday, March 24, 2006
Gerolsteiner Stands Tall -- But Alone
The barrage of doping news opened this week with the Swiss civil court action effective laying aside the second-year of the two-year ban brought against Danilo Hondo for his two (yep, two) positive drug tests at last year’s Tour de Murcia. Two stages he was positive on – including his B-probes, he failed four drug tests.
While the Swiss court did not dismiss the ban, but rather set it aside pending a fuller investigation in the fall. The UCI was appropriately worried by the precedent set by the civil court action, saying it would unleash a flood – “no, a Tsunami!” – of future civil suits against doping suspensions, making enforcement of their and WADA’s drug policies impossible. Indeed, shortly on the heels of the Hondo decision the belated Vuelta final jersey ceremony to award Denis Menchov his rightful due was postponed upon suspicion that Roberto “EPO” Heras would file civil suit against the Spanish tour’s organizers. And then today we have the news of new drug raids throughout Belgium netting loads more dope…
The UCI’s response to the curtailing of its power has been somewhat arbitrary – lashing out against riders participating in charity rides alongside Tyler Hamilton, for example (and prompting this rant at Cyclocosm.com). But lost in the shake-out was the stand taken by Gerolsteiner – the little German boy standing with his fingers in the dam as the flood waters inch higher.
Gerolsteiner told Radsport-News.com (auf Deutsch) that they were not interested in retaining Hondo’s services, even if the courts and the UCI had cleared his way back into racing. Noting that the image of a doping rider was not something a mineral water manufacturer wanted associated with its product, the sponsor and team management clearly stated that the only way Hondo would be welcomed back is if it were definitely proven that he had not doped.
Gerolsteiner deserves at least three cheers for the stand they’ve taken. Given that the UCI has been either unabale to craft effective doping guidelines or enforce suspensions, it will be up to team sponsors themselves to effectively police their own squads. Certainly some sponsors will be willing to suffer the occasional doping black eye as long as results continue coming in, but if more sponsors start taking stands like Gerolsteiner’s, the sport would be in a much better position to seriously confront the problems of doping in cycling.
While the Swiss court did not dismiss the ban, but rather set it aside pending a fuller investigation in the fall. The UCI was appropriately worried by the precedent set by the civil court action, saying it would unleash a flood – “no, a Tsunami!” – of future civil suits against doping suspensions, making enforcement of their and WADA’s drug policies impossible. Indeed, shortly on the heels of the Hondo decision the belated Vuelta final jersey ceremony to award Denis Menchov his rightful due was postponed upon suspicion that Roberto “EPO” Heras would file civil suit against the Spanish tour’s organizers. And then today we have the news of new drug raids throughout Belgium netting loads more dope…
The UCI’s response to the curtailing of its power has been somewhat arbitrary – lashing out against riders participating in charity rides alongside Tyler Hamilton, for example (and prompting this rant at Cyclocosm.com). But lost in the shake-out was the stand taken by Gerolsteiner – the little German boy standing with his fingers in the dam as the flood waters inch higher.
Gerolsteiner told Radsport-News.com (auf Deutsch) that they were not interested in retaining Hondo’s services, even if the courts and the UCI had cleared his way back into racing. Noting that the image of a doping rider was not something a mineral water manufacturer wanted associated with its product, the sponsor and team management clearly stated that the only way Hondo would be welcomed back is if it were definitely proven that he had not doped.
Gerolsteiner deserves at least three cheers for the stand they’ve taken. Given that the UCI has been either unabale to craft effective doping guidelines or enforce suspensions, it will be up to team sponsors themselves to effectively police their own squads. Certainly some sponsors will be willing to suffer the occasional doping black eye as long as results continue coming in, but if more sponsors start taking stands like Gerolsteiner’s, the sport would be in a much better position to seriously confront the problems of doping in cycling.
