Hijinks in the High Rockies
[photo caption] What!? I was just out racing in a non-sanctioned event that my organization put on during my two-year suspension! What's wrong with that?! (photo courtesy T-MobileTeam.com)
Imagine you as a top international pro cyclist.
Imagine you did what most top international pro cyclists do -- you doped.
Imagine you got caught after winning your second major international event in one month.
Imagine you were suspended for two years, retroactive to right around September 1, 2004.
Imagine you were trying to think about ways to get back into racing shape for the end of your suspension in September 2006.
Imagine you decided to use your charitable organization as a "supporter" of a series of "unsanctioned local criteriums".
Imagine you raced in said criteriums.
Imagine you received word from the international cycling union via your national cycling organization that you were violating the terms of your suspension by racing in these "unsanctioned crits".
What would you imagine yourself doing next?
posted by Tuffy at 3/18/2006 07:56:00 AM
3 Comments:
You might want to reread the Velonews article. Tyler wasn't in violation, the other UCI sanctioned riders were because of a little used rule, but a rule nonetheless, that they can't ride in un-UCI sanctioned events unless they are given an exception. The 'exception' was pulled because Tyler was in the race, where he had every right to be.
Sat Mar 18, 03:45:00 PM 2006
Appreciate you checking out the blog, Donna.
I'm going to differ with you, however.
We can debate the "letter" Tyler's suspension all day. And maybe Tyler wasn't doing anything wrong by putting on a race himself so that he could get himself back into racing shape.
However, there is *no* disputing the fact that Tyler is clearly and blatantly violating the "spirit" of his suspension. This is the fact that UCI is obviously objecting to.
Whether or not they (the UCI) enforce a rarely enforced rule that affects riders other than Tyler is irrelevant; the UCI was clearly identifying Tyler's tremendously self-serving, egotistical, and dishonorable behavior as acting counter his two-year suspension.
Sat Mar 18, 04:08:00 PM 2006
The pics from the race that implicated Tyler also distinctly showed Chris Baldwin racing... who does indeed hold a UCI international pro license. Same case for a few TIAA-CREF riders. I am guessing it's the case in a lot of states that "local" pros have been racing in unsanctioned training races, and it's never really been an issue. Unsanctioned is really a misnomer, too - it should read "not sanctioned by USA Cycling". ACA, ABR, OBRA, etc. all put on races. Dave Fuentes even pulled the same stunt, doing a bunch of unsanctioned crits and mtb races in california when he was on drug suspension.
Tyler raced mt washington last year too, also an unsanctioned event. Tyler did violate the spirit of his suspension, for sure. However, the UCI pulling this cat out of the bag when they weren't previously enforcing this rule is pretty much them just targeting him. They need to be consistent in their application of the stated rule or else shut up when suspended pro's show at nonsanctioned events.
Mon Mar 20, 09:20:00 AM 2006
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