Just hours after an article surfaced in the Dutch newspaper, De Telegraaf, indicating that a source within cycling’s governing body confirmed that Astana was set to lose its WorldTour license, the UCI has hit back – calling the report “misleading’.
In today’s article, De Telegraaf wrote, that the Kazakstan team was likely to lose its license based on a critical report that was submitted by the UCI’s License Commission, which brought into view the team’s handling of a series of “doping” infractions over the least few months.
However, in a statement today, the UCI said:
“Following a misleading article published today in Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) would like to clarify that no hearing has yet taken place in the Astana case and therefore no decision has been made.
“The UCI won’t make any further comment until the Licence Commission has rendered its decision,” it added.
Last month, the License Commission was tasked with reviewing Astana’s anti-doping protocols, in light of a series doping incidents which occurred over the previous weeks.
The review was done in cooperation with the Institute of Sport Sciences at the University of Lausanne (ISSUL).
The results of the review, cast a negative light on Astana’s lack of oversight, policies in place and overall management of its team.
Indeed, back in December UCI president, Brian Cookson, went on record by saying, that Astana “is drinking in the last chance saloon”, after the team was hit with a number of infractions; namely, when Maxim and Valentin Iglinskiy, both tested positive for EPO, as well as three of its Continental development team riders, who also failed anti-doping tests in 2014.
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