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LATEST NEWS: BOONEN’S TOUR BID HITS A BARRIER
Road Bike Action & AFP
June 30, 2009
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It appears unlikely that Boonen will race the 2009 Tour de France
(Roberto Bettini)
Boonen’s Tour Bid Hits A Barrier
Tom Boonen's bid to overturn a ban on him competing in next month's Tour de France has hit another barrier with the decision by a court here not to hear his case. The former world road race champion from Belgium was barred from the tour by its organizers Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO) following his positive test for cocaine in April, even though the test was taken outside the sporting calendar.
The cyclist's legal team decided their case stood a better chance in a civil court rather than before the French sports tribunal, in the limited time available before the race starts at Monaco on July 4. But a court in Nanterre ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the case as the agreement between ASO and competing teams was that any disputes should go before the French Olympic Committee's arbitration panel.
A statement from the Quick Step team said they would now take the case before this body. Boonen, who missed last year's Tour for similar reasons, still faces possible criminal charges in Belgium arising from the drug test on April 25 2009. Boonen first tested positive for cocaine in May last year, although he escaped any criminal charges on the condition he would stay away from any future drugs scandal inside a three-year period.
Sinkewitz has accused the Lefevere and Quick Step doctors of suppling doping products
(Roberto Bettini)
Sinkewitz Accuses Lefevere And Quick Step Of Doping
Sinkewitz was caught in June 2007 (then riding for T-Mobile) for doping
after a positive testosterone control. That earned him a suspension of
only one year because he decided to cooperate with the World
Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and rumors at the time were that he had named
his then teammate Paolo Bettini as one of his suppliers.
Sinkewitz accuses Lefevere and the team doctors, saying they encouraged
him to use doping products. Sinkewitz, who today rides for the Czech
PSK Whirlpool, explained that the doctors provided him with cortisone,
growth hormones and EPO. “They took regular blood samples and then fit
the EPO dose with the results. In this way they regulated the
hematocrit value," says Sinkewitz' "It was up to the doctors which and
when I had to take certain products."
According to ZDF, the WADA's file was transferred to the International Cycling Union (UCI) on Sunday.
 Hinault thinks Giolek is ready for Tour success (Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Hinault Tips Ciolek
Tour de France legend Bernard Hinault believes up and coming German cycling star Gerald Ciolek could pose a threat to Britain's Mark Cavendish when this year's race starts Saturday. Frenchman Hinault, a five-times winner of the Tour, is backing the 22-year-old Ciolek to take over from retired sprinter Erik Zabel as leader of Milram having recently joined the German team from Columbia.
Ciolek, a former under-23 world champion, left Columbia last year when it became apparent Cavendish was the team's number one sprinter. Since winning an impressive four stages on his Tour debut last year Cavendish has since gone on to become arguably the fastest sprinter in the peloton.
Meanwhile in Germany the sport's reputation has, because of doping scandals involving stars like former winner Jan Ullrich, Zabel and Patrik Sinkewitz, hit new lows with national broadcasters refusing to screen the event since 2007.
But Hinault, who won the Tour five times between 1978 and 1985, said Ciolek could help provide a tonic by becoming one of the surprise packages of the July 4-26 race. "How will Milram cope without the central figure of sprinter Erik Zabel? - I think they will do very well," said Hinault. "Because they have an excellent rider in Ciolek who is younger than Zabel and almost as fast as (Britain's Mark) Cavendish. He doesn't have the legs to be the overall winner, but he certainly could worry the leaders and win some stages. The team as a whole could cause a few upsets." Sprinter Ciolek was crowned world under-23 champion in 2005, while he won the German Road Race title the same year when aged just 18 years old.
Germany badly needs some good news from the Tour in a country where the event's image has been badly tarnished in recent years. Zabel retired last season having won the green jersey for the points classification six times in 1996-2001, but in 2007 he admitted to using the banned blood booster erythropoietin (EPO) earlier in his career while preparing for the 1996 Tour.
Jan Ullrich, Germany's only Tour winner when he took the 1997 title, was linked to the Spanish doping scandal Operation Puerto in 2006 and sacked by former German team T-Mobile and later retired in February 2007.
Sinkewitz, an ex-team mate of both Ullrich and Zabel, was thrown out of the 2007 Tour for failing a test for the hormone testosterone. He later admitted to a German Cycling Federation (BDR) disciplinary hearing he had used EPO and blood transfusions in the past. Sinkewitz's removal from the 2007 Tour led to the national broadcasters ARD and ZDF pulling the race from Germany's television screens with no plans to screen the event again in the near future.
 Kohl has admitted to suppling other riders with banned substances (Yuzuru Sunada)
Kohl Also A Dealer
The Austrian Bernhard Kohl, who ended his cycling career after he was suspended for doping, has announced that he provided doping products to other athletes, which opens him up for criminal prosecution. This was reported by Austrian ORF television and radio on Tuesday.
The anti-doping unit of the Austrian police has the exact information on what I have given and to whom. I will not disclose names," Kohl said in a message to ORF. If the facts are dated after August 2008 when the Austrian law against doping was reinforced, Kohl risks a criminal prosecution and a maximum imprisonment of three years.
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