AToC official Andrew Messick on why Mancebo, and other Puerto riders are in the race this year.
- By Neal Rogers
- Published Feb. 16, 2009
- Updated Aug. 4, 2010 at 4:45 PM EDT
Just how much has luck shone upon Rock Racing’s Amgen Tour of California stage 1 winner Francisco Mancebo?
Consider this — not only was the Spaniard’s GC lead increased Sunday when race officials decided to shorten the stage length into Santa Rosa, thereby altering the point at which the GC would be determined, but by last year’s standards, Mancebo might not even be participating in the event.
Like his teammates Tyler Hamilton and Oscar Sevilla, Mancebo was one of several riders first implicated in the Operacion Puerto blood-doping scandal in the spring of 2006.
Unlike other riders that immediately professed their innocence, Mancebo’s first reaction to the news was that he was retiring from the sport at the age of 29. He did not retire, however, but returned to race with smaller teams in Portugal in 2007 and 2008 before signing with Rock Racing for 2009.
Meanwhile, after two tumultuous seasons spent on the margin of professional cycling, Hamilton, Sevilla and Colombian Santiago Botero joined Rock Racing in 2008. But all three were ultimately denied participation in last year’s Amgen Tour of California by race owners and organizers AEG Sports, which cited a strict new anti-doping initiative barring any riders deemed by the UCI to be under investigation in doping scandals.
“What we were trying to prevent was a situation similar to that of Michael Rasmussen at the 2007 Tour de France, where (the UCI) knew a rider was being investigated, they didn’t tell the race organizer, and eventually he was sanctioned in the middle of the race,” said Andrew Messick, president of AEG Sports. “We wanted to avoid that.”
Though nothing changed in the Puerto case over the following 12 months, Hamilton and Sevilla were welcomed to the 2009 edition, as was another rider implicated in Puerto, Enrique Gutierrez.
Mancebo rolled out of Sausalito on Monday in the leader’s jersey carrying a daunting 1:02 lead over two-time champion Levi Leipheimer, but ended the day 16th overall, 56 seconds behind the Astana rider.
Why the change?
So what took place to cause AEG to change its strict anti-doping charter? Nothing, Messick said, which is exactly why the Rock riders were allowed to start.
For the second year in a row AEG submitted its tentative California start list to the UCI, asking for feedback on which riders the federation considered to be under investigation.
UCI anti-doping manager Anne Gripper then told AEG that Hamilton and Sevilla fell into that category, but because the Puerto case has been stuck in legal limbo in Madrid, the riders had no legal recourse to clear their names.
With this information, AEG then decided to allow riders implicated in Puerto to compete.
“The decision we made this year with respect to Puerto is that unless there is a process, and unless there is somebody prepared to accuse the riders of doing something and there is a process in place where they can defend themselves and ultimately clear their name, we don’t have grounds to not let them ride,” Messick said. “It became clear that there was no progress in terms of resolving Puerto. So there was no way these riders were going to be convicted, or tried in a court of law, or any kind of independent judiciary process. And ultimately the guys were in limbo, and there was no way to get themselves off that list.”
Messick added that Mancebo was not named by the UCI’s Gripper as a rider considered to be under an open investigation.
Gripper could not immediately be reached for an explanation as to why Mancebo was not considered to be under investigation even though his name has been associated with Puerto since 2006.
Mancebo’s day in the race lead came as a surprise to fans who remembered AEG’s tumultuous clash with Rock from one year ago, when team owner Michael Ball threatened to quit the race if his full squad wasn’t allowed to start.
“When we put the rule in place last year, none of us were focused on Puerto,” Messick said. “None of us knew that was going to emerge. We learned about riders under open investigation 10 days before the start of the race, and we felt that we would be hypocritical as race organizers if we implemented a new rule, found out there were three riders on that list, and immediately waived the rule. So we stuck to our guns. We had a difficult year with Michael Ball and Rock Racing, but over the subsequent 12 months it became clear that there was no progress in terms of resolving Puerto.”
Asked about Rock’s pattern of hiring riders either stained or implicated in doping scandals, Messick said Ball sees himself as a guy who “is prepared to give guys the benefit of the doubt.”
“Michael Ball and I have spoken at least once a week for the past year, and he feels that he is an employer of last resort for a lot of guys who have been, for whatever reason, been unfairly accused of a lot of things,” Messick said. “He is a guy who is passionate in defense of his riders. He feels a lot of the guys on his teams are excellent riders and good people and they deserve the benefit of the doubt. And I think in many respects it’s a very honorable position to take.
“I think it’s easy to throw people under the bus — especially with these Puerto guys. They have no way of clearing their name. We can invite whomever we want to, and with the agreements all of the teams signed, we have the right to prevent those riders from participating. We just felt that wasn’t the right thing to do. If the UCI or WADA or anyone else feels they have a strong enough case against any of the riders implicated in Puerto, they should bring charges against them. Absent that process, I don’t know why I would not let someone race.”
Meanwhile Mancebo had little to say about his past. Asked how he would respond to those who were less than thrilled to see him win in Santa Rosa and take the race lead, Mancebo had no comment. “I’m very happy that I won today. That’s all I have to say.”
FILED UNDER: Amgen Tour of California / Road TAGS: Amgen Tour of California
Neal Rogers
An interest in all things rock 'n' roll led Neal into music journalism while attending UC Santa Cruz. After several post-grad years spent waiting tables, surfing and mountain biking, Neal moved to San Francisco, working stints as a bike messenger and at a software start-up. He moved to Colorado in 2001, taking an editorial internship at VeloNews. He never left, and is now Velo's editor in chief. When not traveling the world covering races, Neal can be found riding his bike, skiing, cooking, or attending a concert. Follow him on Twitter at @nealrogers.