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Teams agree to enforce ethics code

by Andrew Hood

• June 14, 2007
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By Andrew Hood

Bosses from cycling’s biggest teams met behind closed doors Wednesday night in an effort to fend off potential surprises ahead of next month’s Tour de France.

Following rumors that more riders could be linked to the Operación Puerto doping scandal, representatives from 19 ProTour teams decided in a heated three-hour meeting that any team not enforcing the Code of Ethics will not be allowed to race.

“Any team not respecting the ethics code will be excluded from the AIGCP,” said Patrick Lefevere, president of the professional teams association.

Presenting a united front is about all the teams can do in treading the complicated legal waters over the Puerto scandal with just weeks to go before the 2007 Tour begins.

Teams and officials are eager to avoid a repeat of a final-hour PR disaster like last year’s Tour, when nine riders from four teams were excluded a day before the start after their names appeared in Spanish police files.

Riders cannot be excluded from racing on legal grounds, but teams agreed they would impose the code’s strict anti-doping language, introduced in 2005, which excludes riders from competition if they are under investigation.

“We decided that if the teams receive extra information, they have to take responsibility themselves. They have to apply the Code of Ethics,” said T-Mobile’s technical director Luuc Eisinga. “It was like a room full of police officers who all agreed that you have to stop at a red light. We just reconfirmed that we will enforce our rules.”

Another meeting, with UCI president Pat McQuaid, is scheduled next week in Geneva to address the complicated question of what to do about riders who still might be implicated in the devastating doping scandal.

The UCI has had access to the complete file of police evidence, said to be a mountain of paperwork totaling more than 5,000 pages, and more information about who is clearly implicated could be disclosed.

More than a year has passed since the Puerto scandal hit the front pages, but it remains poised over the sport like an headsman’s ax.

A Spanish judge closed the case earlier this year, but sporting bans could still be possible for riders implicated in the alleged blood-doping ring. Ivan Basso and Michele Scarponi last month admitted they worked with alleged ringleader Eufemiano Fuentes, and both face 21-month bans.

At last month’s Giro d’Italia, several riders were left off team rosters following pressure from race organizers and other squads.