Liquigas booted from Frankfurt GP

The Italian cycling team Liquigas has been kicked out of the Frankfurt Grand Prix semi-classic for failing to add its signature to a protocol on doping.

“Our anti-doping program calls for team bosses to sign a statement of honor but Liquigas has made it known to us that it won’t be signing this declaration,” explained race organizer Bernd Moos-Achenbach on Monday. “And so we’ve therefore taken the consequences.

“Some teams haven’t yet taken on board the fact that cycling is in a serious situation,” he added.

This decision comes in the week after Liquigas signed Ivan Basso after the completion of the 2007 Giro d’Italia winner’s two-year ban for “attempted” doping.

Liquigas signed a two-year contract with Basso. The Italian rider’s two-year ban ends on October 24 and his contract with Liquigas does not take effect until January. The move comes after Liquigas left AIGCP, the team’s international association, because of its refusal to comply with the organization’s anti-doping goals.

While Basso’s suspension is nearing an end, the UCI’s ProTour rules call for an additional ban from events in that series. The team, however, has hopes of entering Basso in the Giro, which, along with the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, left the ProTour series last year.

While organizers of the so-called grand tours have left the ProTour, all three have indicated that they will impose stricter anti-doping measures than does the UCI. Giro organizers have not indicated whether Basso, or Liquigas for that matter, will be welcomed at the 2009 edition of Italy’s national tour.

For its part the Frankfurt Grand Prix has its own troubles as its main sponsor, a German brewery, is ending its ties with the race after next month’s renewal.

FILED UNDER: Road