Cyclopunk's News Digest 28.03.12

Castilla y Leon revealed
Details of the teams, stages and parcours for this year's Vuelta a Castilla y Leon have been made public. The race, due to take place between the 13th and 15th of April, is now in its 27th edition and since 2005 has formed part of the UCI World Tour series. The race manual can be downloaded here.


Kolobnev resigns to Katusha
The cycling world probably won't be especially surprised to hear that Katusha has resigned Alexandr Kolobnev after sacking him in the wake of a positive dope test at the Tour de France. The 30-year-old Russian tested positive for hydrochlorothiazide, a diuretic masking agent, sometimes used to cover up the presence or flush out traces of a performance-enhancing drug, but was later cleared of intentional doping after the UCI appealed the Russian Federation's decision to fine him. He will begin racing with the team as soon as he has recovered from a training accident.


Kroon: Contador case "almost criminal"

The entire case stinks, but the UCI had
to appeal
(image credit: Félix Arellano CC BY-SA 3.0)

Karsten Kroon has attacked the UCI over their handling of the Contador doping case, terming it "almost criminal." Speaking to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, the 36-year-old SaxoBank rider says: "A month after his positive control in the 2010 Tour, Alberto was personally called by UCI President Pat McQuaid who told him he wanted to keep the case secret. It was then leaked to a German TV channel, so it came out anyway. Alberto was then cleared by the Spanish Federation, at which point the UCI - having said they wanted to keep it quiet - appealed the judgement." (Is Kroon right?)

Other News
Spidertech C10 have received an invite to the Tour de Suisse. "We made very public our vision to crack the WorldTour, and this is another step in the right direction," says manager Steve Bauer, who took second place in the Tour 24 years ago. (More from Velonation)


Tweets

David Millar ‏ @millarmind
I want to do Flanders so much and it's making me very sad that I can't. Even sadder when I turn up to doctors appointments a day too early.

Rochelle Gilmore ‏ @RochelleGilmore
In my opinion it's the hardest women's Tour of Flanders course yet, perfect race for @marianne_vos I rode the last 10km with @Mattibreschel

Benjamin Martel receives two-year ban

With all the controversy surrounding the Contador case and the not-very-unexpected Ullrich verdict, it's easy to forget that other cyclists are going through similar processes at the moment. The latest to fall foul of the anti-doping testers in Canadian Team Spirit-Cannondale rider Benjamin Martel, who provided a sample that was subsequently found to contain abnormally high levels of testosterone at the Quebec Road Race Championships last year.

As was the case with Contador, Martel has been handed a two-year suspension backdated to the date of the test; meaning he will be able to compete again after the 28th of August 2013. Team manager Erik Lyman was caught out during his own professional career and realises that suspicions the team operates a doping program will now be raised, but refutes them: "Concerning Benjamin’s case, the doping rules are very clear; everyone is responsible for substances found in their own body. Benjamin has made an individual mistake which he will have to manage individually."Benjamin is no longer part of our modest organization and all of our riders have been informed that they are not allowed to be sportingly involved with him," he told reporters.

Martel won Stage 4 at the Coupe de la Paix in 2006, but has otherwise made little impact on the cycling world. His conviction serves as a reminder that doping remains a problem at all levels of the sport, not merely among the upper echelons that generate the headlines.

"This case of doping further highlights the need for continued testing and education," says John Tolkamp, president of the Canadian Cycling Asociation. "We must continue to educate the young riders on the need to race clean and be proud of their accomplishments in that vein while being vigilant towards those that will take shortcuts."