Having denied that any of its riders had broken anti doping rules or were even under investigation, Astana has now called for an investigation into the leaking of an anti report.
Reports in the Scandinavian media last weekend set out
the contents of what the media outlets said was a report commissioned by
Cycling Anti-doping Foundation (CADF).
It was alleged in the reports Astana’s star turn, Danish
rider Jakob Fuglsang, had a relationship with doping doctor Michele Ferrari in
that they had been seen together.
The reports further alleged that Fuglsang’s team mate
Alexey Lutsenko was present at one meeting between Ferrari and Fuglsang.
Astana denied any wrongdoing as have Fuglsang and Lutsenko. Ferrari has also dismissed the suggestion he had attended races last year or was working with Fuglsang.
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The CADF issued a statement confirming it had compiled a
report but added the allegations in the report had not been sent forward for
investigation.
It also accepted the report had been leaked to the media
and said it regretted that had happened.
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Now Astana boss, and convicted doper during his racing career, Alexander Vinokourov, has hit out at the leak and called for an investigation into it.
"We are pleased that today the CADF issued a
statement explaining the situation with the confidential report published
recently in the media,” he said in a statement on the team’s website.
"As it was noted, the organization has not found any
confirmed anti-doping rule violations and as a result no disciplinary action
has been initiated against either the riders or the team.
“We respect the activities carried out by the UCI and the
CADF in the fight against doping in cycling and consider as absolutely normal
to check all, even the most insignificant facts that could put a shadow on our
sport. This activity is designed to make cycling cleaner.
"At the same time, we hope that the CADF will
conduct a careful investigation of the way such information was made public in
order to avoid repeating these situations in relation to any team or rider.
“The publication of unverified or incomplete information
in the media has a detrimental effect on the image of not only professional
athletes and their teams, but also of cycling as a whole.
"On behalf of the team, I would like to thank our
sponsors and fans for their trust and support in the moment when incorrect and
largely unreliable information was spread in the media in the last few
days."
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