The French newspaper LeMonde has published an article today (en français), which reports that the French Agency AFLD has transmitted a report to WADA and the UCI, decrying the UCI procedures for testing and sample protection in the Tour de France, singling out their perceived 'protection' for the team Astana, which featured Tour victor Alberto Contador, and American champion Lance Armstrong.
Selected WADAwatch translations follow.
First:
“The Astana team benefited from privileged treatment by the officials of the UCI.” Such is the conclusion offered by the French Agency for the Fight against Doping (AFLD: l'Agence française de lutte contre le dopage) in a report produced to document the process of doping controls during the 2009 Tour de France, of which Le Monde has been made aware.
Second:
It was sent Monday, October 5, to the UCI and WADA, to the Ministers of Health and Sports, Roselyne Bachelot and Rama Yade, as well as to Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the owner of the 'Grand Buckle' (Fr: le Grande Boucle). This ten page document, realized notably from the scrupulously–maintained journals by the two doctors whose mission from the AFLD was to undertake the receipt of urinary and blood samples during the race, is overpowering for the UCI, the organization responsible for controls during the 2009 Tour which, contrary to precedent editions, has not been muddied from a single positive case.
Third:
The Agency underlines equally that the UCI had fully transmitted the information regarding the teams' locations during pre-Tour preparations for the undertaking of controls... with the exception of Astana. “A retention of information which doesn't go towards the sense of the fight against doping,” comments the AFLD.
Concerning Lance Armstrong, the report reveals otherwise that, on July 24th, a photographer, without authorization, had taken photos during the control of the seven–time victor of the Tour in his hotel room, which “risks to invalidate the procedure.”
Quite the 'accablant' report, Monsieur Pierre Bordry. Some may question if M. Bordry was more focused on 'busting' the UCI, or doing his job.
No word from the AFLD about this report is on their website, as of today, and one doubts that either WADA or UCI will make this 'Official' report public in the near future.
WADAwatch reminds its faithful readers of two prior posts, one of which concerned the conclusions of the process this past springtime, regarding the 'failure' of AFLD to bring an action against Lance Armstrong for allegedly 'refusing' to submit to a control:
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
AFLD-ermath redux: Lance unleashed....
QUOTE:
Interestingly, the NY Times reported that the AFLD:
“[antidoping agency] said that Armstrong was required to stay with the drug tester at all times, and that the tester had warned him of that.”
However, as to the AFLD, 'l'Equipe' reported the following:
Le médecin contrôleur avait en effet rédigé un rapport suite au contrôle car le septuple vainqueur du Tour n'avait pas été en sa présence en permanence, s'éclipsant notamment pour prendre une douche. Le collège de l'AFLP a décidé «de prendre en considération les explications écrites du sportif et, en conséquence, de ne pas ouvrir de procédure disciplinaire à son encontre pour ces faits.»
Our own translation would be:
The doctor-controller (DCO in WADAspeak) had in effect issued a report following the control, because the seven-time Tour (de France) winner had not been in his (the DCO's) presence permanently, eclipsing notably to take a shower. The Board of the AFLD decided "to take in consideration the written explanations from the Athlete and, by consequence, to not open a disciplinary procedure against him for these facts."
Friday, 3 July 2009
L'Homme qui entrait de (la douche) froid(e)...
Excusez-moi de vous écrire en français... chuis un peu 'cowboy' dans la langue de Molière...
Translated: "Excuse me to write to you in French, I am a bit 'cowboy' in the language of Molière"...
[...]
So as one of Tolkien's Orcs was to say in Peter Jackson's version of the Lord of the Rings...
meat back on the
table, boys..."
How will this new French attack be resolved?
Is the AFLD really attacking the entire system of worldwide antidoping control, as once-upon-a-time new WADA president John Fahey once stigmatized Floyd Landis, and his search for the truth? Are they alleging bribery, ('pots-de-vin' en français), scandal, intrigue, complaisance, negligence, or...
(really: who would know better than AFLD, if
someone had violated WADA rules?)
Are there any truth to the AFLD insinuendoes? Is the UCI protecting Lance, Alberto, and the Kazahkstan team Astana?
It couldn't possibly be, that this year's slower-than-previously-doped Tours actually WAS 99.44 per cent pure? In spite of Greg Lemond's persistent allegations otherwise, against Contador's 'sprint' to Verbier?
We wrote about that also:
Thursday, 30 July 2009
What WADA needs isn't... Greg LeMond
QUOTE:
Oh that Gregario...
... did Papa LeMond ever read the fable of Peter and the Wolf to his knee—riding son, during his early formative years, long before the future American cycling star-to-be became one?
[...]
This is a new saga, stay tuned! The conclusion of this scathing attack by AFLD on its partner in contract, and fellow Signatory to WADA, remains to be seen.
..................WADAwatch
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