My local paper, Le Dauphine Libere, is reporting a 90% chance of Vini winning the TdF so they interviewed him Friday in London. The 1st question was “You will probably win the TdF but you have been working with Ferrari so it will be a tainted win, non?” Is it here we go again?
I thought his reply was great. He answered that Ferrarri was the best. Lance Armstrong worked with him.
Kloden was also offered a chance at leading T-Mobile after Ullrich’s departure, yet he chose to move to Astana and be super domestique for Vino. This was from a team Kloden was already familiar with and is basically the most popular team in his home country. If I recall correctlly, T-Mobile officials said at the time that his decision to leave for Astana was also not based on any type of financial reason. What kind of conclusion would you draw based on that information, knowing the strong anti-doping program T-Mobile was installing and the anti-drug stance T-Mobile was requiring of all its riders?
Astana is also part of the legacy of Saiz’ tainted ONCE/Liberty Seguros squads, and the UCI has hinted that Astana riders are the “Men in Black” who have been hiding from them.
Vino can act as insulted as he wants, but unfortunately the questions and comments about doping from the press are justified.
It’s not just Astana and Vino, of course. I wouldn’t be surprise if Valverde gets booted from the tour in the last week due to Operacion Puerto fallout.
The questions sure seem to be justified with that history. They, Astana, has lots of $ behind it. It will be interesting.