Tour de France

[Frank Pembleton]

Manolo Saiz not cleared...? Then why would they grant him a protour license...?

Saiz was implicated in the Operacion Puerto blood doping scandal in his former role as manager of the Liberty Seguros team, though the UCI insisted they were unable to deny him a licence, as his role in the affair could not be proven.

http://www.eurosport.com/cycling/pro-tour/2005-2006/sport_sto997275.shtml

...and Santiago Botero...?

The Colombian Cycling Federation said Saturday night that documents pertinent to Botero's case, provided by the International Cycling Union's anti-doping commission, offered no evidence the cyclist had engaged in blood doping.

http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=ap-boterocleared&prov=ap&type=lgns

...and from Cyclingnews a list of CLEARED riders:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/oct06/oct29news

...and the story below the CLEARED list is worst than snake-oil, it's bullshit...!

There isn't anything they can go to court with-- and all they've done is push the drug problem (if it even exists) deeper underground. All they've accomplished so far is to destroy reputations and create strife and division among the very riders they're apparently trying to protect.

...and yes, Zabel is correct in saying:

"In view of the development of this affair perhaps heads should roll within the UCI or WADA."

http://www.eurosport.com/cycling/pro-tour/2005-2006/sport_sto1007673.shtml