(Feb. 16: High Road reinstated; VeloNews)
Giro d'Italia officials took punitive measures against top-flight pro cycling teams Astana and High Road by denying them admission to three-week race that begins May 10.
It's seems unfortunate and a bit unfair that the likes of Americans Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner (Astana) and George Hincapie (High Road), as well as Spain's Alberto Contador, won't be able to compete because of lax drug oversight by those teams in previous years.
It also raises the possibility that the Tour de France may follow suit, which would prevent Contador from defending his 2007 title and Leipheimer and Hincapie from a chance at wearing the yellow jersey.
Bad history
To say that these teams deserve sanctions is an understatement. It's just too bad that the cyclists who have signed on are the ones being punished.
The Astana cycling team, more or less borne out of the doping controversy of 2006, should have known to keep a closer eye on its members. The leader of the Kazakhstan-based team, Alexandre Vinokourov, was kicked out of the Tour de France for doping in 2007.
T-Mobile pulled its sponsorship of cycling last year after admissions from many cyclists that doping had been rampant on the team for more than a decade. It became team High Road, featuring Hincapie, Michael Barry (Canada), Marco Pinotti (Italy), Bradley Wiggins (UK) and Michael Rogers (Austalia).
Leipheimer, Hincapie, and Contador all rode for Discovery Channel last year; Horner was on Predictor-Lotto.
Invites
Among the pro cycling teams invited to the Giro, I'm happy to see Slipstream Chipotle-H30 among them. The US-based team features time trial specialist David Zabriskie, and Christian Vande Velde and Tom Danielson.
The complete list of Giro teams:
Ag2r-La Mondiale
Barloworld
Caisse d'Epargne
Cofidis
CSF Group Navigare
Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli
Euskaltel-Euskadi
Française des Jeux
Gerolsteiner
Lampre
Liquigas
LPR Brakes
NGC Medical-OTC Industria Porte
Quick Step
Rabobank
Saunier Duval-Scott
Silence-Lotto
Slipstream Chipotle – H30
Team CSC
Team Milram
Tinkoff Credit.
The 2008 Giro d'Italia begins in Palermo on May 10 and ends in Milan on June 1. The race features three individual time trials this year, which is the specialty of American cyclist Zabriskie.
On a happier note, the 2008 Tour of California, which rolls for a week beginning Feb. 17, has included Astana and High Road among the teams it has invited.
See VeloNews for TdF: No guarantees for Contador and Teams grapple with Giro rejection
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