Discovery Channel excluded from ProTour team group

Triathlon Forum
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A decision made at a special meeting of the International Professional Cycling Teams (IPCT) group on Friday could threaten the future status of the Discovery Channel team.

The group voted to exclude Discovery from its membership over its signing of Italian Ivan Basso, who is implicated in the Operación Puerto inquiry, according to a source that attended the meeting in Brussels. However, the vote does not mean that the American team loses its UCI ProTour license, which enables it to race in all of the ProTour events.

The IPCT, a business group chaired by Quick Step’s Belgian team manager Patrick Lefévère, is made up of all 20 ProTour teams with the exception of Française des Jeux. On Friday, Caisse d’Épargne-Illes Balears was the only team absent from the IPCT meeting in Brussels; Discovery Channel was represented by an attorney.

The IPCT group’s action underscores its ethical code, and also its recent gentleman’s agreement not to sign a rider linked to the Puerto affair. Discovery team manager Johan Bruyneel did not attend the original meeting where that verbal agreement was made; he was represented by his assistant Dirk Demol.

Friday’s rejection of Bruyneel’s signing of Basso - currently training with the Discovery team in Austin, Texas - is seen as a warning sign that the ProTour teams are serious in their solidarity to eliminate doping from the elite level of cycling.

“For Discovery Channel, it is a question of respect of the regulations,” the source told AFP. “The ethical code is clear: There can be no question of a ProTour team signing a rider implicated in the Puerto business.”

Basso, winner of the 2006 Giro d’Italia, was not allowed to take part in this year’s Tour de France after his name turned up in the inquiry, and he subsequently parted ways with the Danish squad Team CSC.

However, in October the Italian was acquitted by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) and his national cycling federation, both of which concluded that there was insufficient evidence to warrant a suspension or to pursue further investigation. Basso subsequently signed with Discovery.

VeloNews contacted the Discovery Channel team and was awaiting its response when this story was posted.

IPCT agrees to reducing ProTour to 18 teams

Also at the meeting Friday, the IPCT made an important decision in the ongoing debate between the UCI ProTour and the organizers of the three grand tours. The Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España have been campaigning to have the number of ProTour teams reduced from 20 to 18 - at some future date. The IPCT agreed to this proposal on Friday, a concession that may bring the two parties back to the negotiating table.

Ironically, the ProTour Commission will announce on Monday what teams will be awarded ProTour licenses for 2007. In play are the licenses previously held by Swiss-based Phonak and Spanish-based Active Bay - the holding company controlled by Manolo Saiz, former director of the Liberty Seguros team, now Astaná.

Phonak’s spot is expected to go to Belgian-based, Swedish-sponsored Unibet.com, but that depends on the commission ignoring the presence on the Unibet roster of Carlos Garcia Quesada, one of the estimated 41 Spanish riders said to be implicated in the Puerto affair.

The other candidates for the Phonak spot are the Italian-based, South African-financed, British-registered Barloworld (which has yet to sign the requisite number of riders) and the Swiss management group headed by former IMG executive Mark Biver, which, like Active Bay, also claims the Kazakh group of sponsors under the Astaná name as its main sponsor.

Interestingly, the IPCT formally announced the exclusion of Active Bay from its ranks on Friday. Saiz, who previously headed the grouping of ProTour teams, was questioned by police in May after he was arrested, purportedly handing over $75,000 worth of mixed currency to discredited sports doctor Eufemiano Fuentes in return for a number of banned substances at a rendezvous in Madrid.

Should the ProTour Commission also reject Saiz and Active Bay, it’s possible that Astaná (under Biver) will be awarded that company’s team license.

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Correct me if I am wrong, but if all the other teams have agreed to not signing any of the Spanish affair linked riders, except Discovery signing Basso, does this mean there is no way back to the pro tour at all for Jan, and the others who got tapped on the shoulder for that one?

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This doesn’t mean that Discovery can’t ride in the Pro Tour next year - just that they aren’t a part of the IPCT. Not sure what this means for the future, although right now it looks like they won’t be invited to the roundtable discussions with the other Pro Tour teams.

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Correct me if I am wrong, but if all the other teams have agreed to not signing any of the Spanish affair linked riders, except Discovery signing Basso, does this mean there is no way back to the pro tour at all for Jan, and the others who got tapped on the shoulder for that one?

All this means is that Disco does not get to sit at the table when the IPCT has meetings. Their “gentlemens agreement” has nothing to do with ProTour spots. Interestingly four other IPCT teams signed people whose names were linked to OP and they did not get punished. Another interesting thing is that Lefevere hired Johan Museeuw to work with his team upon his retirement…despite Museeuw being banned from cycling.

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Is this the same House who posts in the Daily Peloton message boards?

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This doesn’t mean that Discovery can’t ride in the Pro Tour next year - just that they aren’t a part of the IPCT. Not sure what this means for the future, although right now it looks like they won’t be invited to the roundtable discussions with the other Pro Tour teams.
As the article states: "However, the vote does not mean that the American team loses its UCI ProTour license, which enables it to race in all of the ProTour events. "

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I hope Jan finds a license and a team - I’ve read reports that he’s training, etc. He’s a great rider (probably doesn’t have more than a couple of years left) and would be great to see him mix it up with Basso, Vino, Valverde and the others next year.

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**All this means is that Disco does not get to sit at the table when the IPCT has meetings. Their “gentlemens agreement” has nothing to do with ProTour spots. **

I understand that, but that doesn’t really answer my question. Let me rephrase. From the original article:

The IPCT, a business group chaired by Quick Step’s Belgian team manager Patrick Lefévère, is made up of all 20 ProTour teams with the exception of Française des Jeux. On Friday, Caisse d’Épargne-Illes Balears was the only team absent from the IPCT meeting in Brussels; Discovery Channel was represented by an attorney.

“Made up of all 20 ProTour teams”, and with the Protour being reduced to 18 teams, then these are the only boys in town allowed in the game, or am I missing something? I read it, that you have to be on one of these 20 (or maybe only 18 in the future) teams to get to the grand tours. As all of these teams have agreed to a policy of not hiring the suspected dopers, then Jan and the others would have a hard time finding a team, regardless of what UCI or the tour promoters do or don’t do. Yes? Or am I still missing the big picture?

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**All this means is that Disco does not get to sit at the table when the IPCT has meetings. Their “gentlemens agreement” has nothing to do with ProTour spots. **

I understand that, but that doesn’t really answer my question. Let me rephrase. From the original article:

The IPCT, a business group chaired by Quick Step’s Belgian team manager Patrick Lefévère, is made up of all 20 ProTour teams with the exception of Française des Jeux. On Friday, Caisse d’Épargne-Illes Balears was the only team absent from the IPCT meeting in Brussels; Discovery Channel was represented by an attorney.

“Made up of all 20 ProTour teams”, and with the Protour being reduced to 18 teams, then these are the only boys in town allowed in the game, or am I missing something? I read it, that you have to be on one of these 20 (or maybe only 18 in the future) teams to get to the grand tours. As all of these teams have agreed to a policy of not hiring the suspected dopers, then Jan and the others would have a hard time finding a team, regardless of what UCI or the tour promoters do or don’t do. Yes? Or am I still missing the big picture?

A gentlemen’s agreement and it was about riders currently under investigation, not ones under suspicion. I see it as Lefevere and his buddies thumbing their noses at Bruyneel and Disco. They have allowed other teams with people alleged to be involved with OP sign with teams in the IPCT and Lefevere has a man working for him who is currently (or maybe his ban just ended) banned from working on the ProTour. Could it make Jan and other have a hard time? Yes, but it is not set in stone and the IPCT has little or no power. I think the best comparison of what they are trying to do is with baseball in the 80’s when owners colluded to keep the players from getting the money (Andre Dawson and Tim Raines became free agents and had nobody try to sign them. Look at their stats and tell me nobody would have wanted them! Dawson told the Cubs he would sign for anything and got low balled). Imagine of one of those MLB teams had broken away and signed a guy like Dawson for big bucks, one of two things would have happened: 1) All hell breaks loose and the free agent spending flurry starts about 10 years sooner. or 2) The other teams screw that team at every chance. So far we are seeing #2 in cycling, but the “real” season is still months away.

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I heard rumors of this starting last week but wasn’t going to say anything until I read it somewhere. This morning a friend of mine told me it was on cyclingnews.com.

Interesting development. It will warrant monitoring.