Vinokourov Will Not Ride In The Vuelta a España
Alexandre Vinokourov, will not be able to defend his Vuelta a España title after he was expelled from the Tour de France for blood doping, organizers said Friday.
“He will not be able in any manner to register for the 2007 Vuelta,”
organizers said in a statement seen by AFP, adding they wanted to see a clean race after the doping scandals in France over the past month.
The decision is largely symbolic, since Vinokourov has been fired by his team and remains under suspension pending the outcome of his doping case.
But they revealed that they would invite the disgraced Kazakh’s Astana team to the race, which is one of the top events on the international calendar.
“Faithful to our mission, tradition and history as organizers of the Vuelta we hereby declare that we will take all moral and financial measures at the disposition of Spanish and international authorities to ensure the event goes ahead under the highest standards of reliability,” organizers said.
They also stressed they were bound to “consider as our priority objective the credibility of our sport” in saying no to the likes of Vinokourov while indicating Astana deserved a “gesture of support” for trying to put its house in order.
Astana sacked its team leader following Vinokourov’s expulsion from the Tour after he failed a drug test in the aftermath of his 13th stage win on July 21. He also tested positive in a second test taken on July 23.
The rider’s sample revealed the presence of “two distinct blood populations.”
The 33-year-old Vinokourov insists he would have had to be “crazy” to have doped.
Categories: News
Tags:
Leave a Reply