Giro d' Italia Dumps Astana, High Road, Credit Agricole

RCS have excluded UCI Pro Teams Astana, High Road and Credit Agricole to the 2008 Giro d' Italia. Out are American riders Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner, and George Hincapie. Out is 2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador. RCS one day classics such as Milan-San Remo and Tirreno-Adriatico are out too.

Astana must have had a rude awakening after RCS, organizers of the Giro D' Italia, poured ice water on the mariachi party dancers in New Mexico where Levi Leipheimer and Johan Bruyneel toasted champagne glasses to a new Amgen Tour of California program of anti-doping measures. Public proclamations of enthusiasm for total blood testing of riders and urinary screens to be entered into the new UCI biological passport profile did not seem to impress Giro d' Italia director Amgelo Zomegnan. Zomegnan cited Astana as lacking "ethics, quality, internationality, and long term relationships with race oganizing company RCS."

Zomegnan also made some questionable speculative statements. Leipheimer, claimed Zomegnan, only wants to race the Giro d' Italia as a conditioning exercise for the Tour de France. An interesting notion since Astana has three possible Giro d' Italia/Tour de France double winners, Levi Leipheimer, Andreas Kloden, and Alberto Contador. Maybe Zomegnan has unknown psychic powers that allows him to know in advance what racing goals Astana has for this year.

Zomegnan also questions Astana as a team who has learned not to dope, probably recalling former Astana riders Alexandre Vinokourov and Andrey Kashechkin who both tested positive for blood manipulations in 2007. Vinokourov's positive forced Astana to withdraw during the 2007 Tour de France. La Vuelta a Espana also excluded Astana in 2007 probably fearing a second doping incident and besmirchment of a Grand Tour.

I could also add in a sarcastic tone to Astana woes: Former Discovery Channel director sportif and current director sportif of Astana, Johan Bruyneel, signed former Giro d' Italia winner Ivan Basso to Discovery Channel even though Basso was under suspicion in the Operation Puerto case at the time. Basso later admitted that his blood had been manipulated by Dr. Fuentes. Basso was banned for two years.

If you add former Tour de France winner and partial Tailwind Sport owner Lance Armstrong into the mix, conspiracy buffs will brew an explosive cauldron of sinister motives as to why Basso was signed by Bruyneel.

People might also question as to why Alberto Contador, who won the 2007 Tour de France while riding for Discovery Channel under director sportif Bruyneel is currently under suspicion by the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI). People may wonder why Contador has been invited to testify about documents allegedly linking him to Operation Puerto. If the Operation Puerto investigation persists Contador may be prevented from defending his 2007 Tour de France title.

Astana is not a good example of how to run a UCI Pro Tour cycling team.

UCI Pro Tour Versus Grand Tours: Tour de France, Giro d' Italia, and La Vuelta a Espana.

Hein Verbuggen, former President of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) originated a Pro Tour concept. The Pro Tour would have elite teams, points would be awarded in selected races, and a Pro Tour Champion would be crowned. The idea ran into almost immediate resistance from Grand Tour organizers. The issue was over control. Grand Tours have always had an option to invite or exclude cycling teams.

To be fair, Pat McQuaid inherited the UCI Pro Tour team concept from Verbuggen. McQuaid has tried to maintain the UCI Pro Tour. But opposition to the UCI Pro Tour has been as vociferous as ever with the Grand Tours demanding autonomy. The end of the UCI Pro Tour era will commence this year if an agreement is not reached on which cycling teams will be invited to the Tour de France. McQuaid is insisting that all eighteen UCI Pro Tour teams be invited, while Patrice Clerc and Christian Prudhomme of Amaury Sport Organisation have refused. Prudhomme and Clerc have objected to McQuaid's inclusion of all eighteen UCI Pro Tour teams because they do not want to face another Michael Rasmussen fiasco. Although the objection has some merit, it would be simpler to employ the Amgen Tour of California formula and merely exclude riders currently under anti-doping investigations before the start of the race. Unfortunately, if the UCI announced that Contador or other riders were to be excluded from the Tour de France because of an open doping investigation all hell would break loose. Perhaps even legal action might ensue. Draw backs of this approach should be considered, but they are slightly better than this drastic alternative.

If Prudhomme and Clerc were to announce today that Astana, High Road, and Credit Agricole were to be excluded from the Tour de France and classics such as Paris-Roubaix or Liege-Bastogne-Liege, as RCS has done, then the UCI Pro Tour would most likely end this year. Certainly, Astana, Credit Agricole, and High Road would disappear. Other Pro Tour teams would likely follow.

If ASO follows in the path of RCS and excludes Astana, High Road, and Credit Agricole from ASO organized events this year the following problems would instantly emerge. The career of classics rider George Hincapie would be adversely impacted. American rider Levi Leipheimer would be deprived from an opportunity to win the Tour de France. American riders George Hincapie and Chris Horner would be deprived from winning Tour stages. American cycling fanatics would be enraged. People in America want to root for their home boys they don't want to watch French Continental teams going off the back. It would be a very dangerous move.

Prudhomme and Clerc, think before you act. You may lose millions of dollars in revenue from the American Tour de France fanatics, whom you despise.