Katusha escapes ban from racing after UCI ruling

Katusha has escaped a suspension from racing after the UCI’s Disciplinary Commission decided it would be wrong to punish the team for two adverse analytical findings (AAFs) in the space of 12 months. It said that since in one of those cases, involving Luca Paolini, was due to recreational use of cocaine rather than the Italian looking to secure a competitive advantage, it would be wrong to punish the team.

Paolini tested positive for the substance during last year’s Tour de France and immediately left the race. Last week it was confirmed that team mate Eduard Vorganov had returned an AAF for Meldonium in an out-of-competition sample taken last month.

> Katusha’s Vorganov tests positive

New UCI anti-doping rules brought in at the start of last year to coincide with the implementation of the World Anti-Doping Code 2015 provide that where two riders of a team return an AAF in the same 12-month period, it can face a suspension from racing of between 15 and 45 days.

In a statement released this afternoon, the UCI said that the President of its Disciplinary Commission, the Swiss lawyer Jean Pierre Morand, had decided that "The conditions for a suspension of Team Katusha in application of art. 7.12.1 the UCI Anti-Doping Rules have not been met."

The UCI said that the reasons behind the decision included that imposing a sanction for the use of a recreational drug by an athlete were incompatible with a rule aimed at ensuring teams take steps to prevent doping aimed at improving performance. Here is its summary of the reasons behind the decision:

The text of the article [7.12.1] refers to the fact that the decision must take into account "all the circumstances of the case"

With regard to the [Paolini case, it has been] established that the rider's taking of cocaine was not related to an intention to influence sporting performance but was rather taken on a "recreational" basis

In this context, applying a suspension under article 7.12.1 when one of the two cases of Adverse Analytical Finding relates to [the use of] a social drug cannot be reconciled with the aim of the article. Even if, strictly speaking, such a case falls within the application of the anti-doping rules for the rider concerned, the imposition of negative consequences for the whole team would be inappropriate and disproportionate”

It is understood that the intention of the article is to impose negative consequences on teams that lack control of doping for sporting purposes by their athletes, or if even worse scenarios exist, and/or if teams are not doing enough to fight such doping”

The President of the Commission has expressed that he could share the view that it would be disproportionate to suspend a team on the basis that one of its members [uses] a social drug, the consumption of which is not related to sporting performance.

Like Vorganov, Paolini is currently suspended from competition while his case proceeds. No formal decision has yet been announced in the case.

While under the 2015 World Anti-Doping Agency’s Prohibited List the use of cocaine (classified as a stimulant) in competition is banned, the Disciplinary Commission’s ruling today suggests the amount of cocaine found in his sample is compatible with it having been used prior to the Tour de France and not during the race itself.

In December, the 38-year-old, winner of last year’s edition of Gent-Wevelgem, admitted in an interview with Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport that he had started using cocaine after becoming addicted to sleeping pills, and took it during a pre-Tour training camp.

> Luca Paolini admits cocaine use

http://road.cc/content/news/173883-luca-paolini-admits-cocaine-use