Action demanded on Astana and Phonak
PIC BY TDWSPORT.COM
Seventeen of the 20 ProTour teams have asked for the Astana and Phonak teams to be excluded from the squads that will be given licences for the elite level competition next season. The teams, with Ag2r and, less unsurprisingly, Astana and Phonak absent, met in Brussels on Wednesday, with the UCI's ProTour Council set to announce the candidates for 2007 licences on August 21.
The 17 teams also asked the UCI to consider the provisional and immediate suspension of the Astana and Phonak teams from racing, a decision which if carried out would mean both teams missing the Vuelta, which starts on August 26. Both teams have been heavily implicated in recent doping scandals.
The teams also asked for the release of the final list of riders definitely implicated in the Operacion Puerto investigation in Spain by August 22 so that implementation of the ProTour's ethical code can be carried out against any miscreants.
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