Paris - Kicked out of the 2007 Tour de France and then
banned from the 2008 edition because of doping, Kazakhstan's Astana
team are looking to redeem themselves with a resounding victory in
this year's race.
They certainly have the weapons, because the team roster includes
seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong, making an unlikely comeback
from retirement.
Astana also have 2007 Tour champion Alberto Contador of Spain, who
was prevented from defending his title last year, and two former Tour
runners-up, Germany's Andreas Kloeden and American Levi Leipheimer,
as high-power lieutenants.
In other words, Astana have four riders capable of winning the
Tour de France. And the team is directed by the cycling Svengali who
managed all seven of Armstrong's Tour titles and Contador's one
championship, Johan Bruyneel.
It is therefore difficult, barring injury or some other unexpected
occurrence, to imagine the victor in this year's Tour de France
coming from any of the other 19 teams in the race. If form holds, the
triumph will be the greatest in Astana's short history - and may also
be its last.
The reason is money. The financial crisis has badly hit the Astana
group, a coalition of Kazakh state-owned companies bankrolling the
team, so badly that it failed to pay its riders in spring, provoking
a brief mutiny during the Giro d'Italia.
Armstrong publicly expressed his frustration with the owners then,
and said that the licence should be transferred to Bruyneel. He also
invited other investors to sponsor the team.
The sport's ruling body, the International Cycling Union (UCI),
then demanded that the owners put put into a special bank account the
entire year's salaries for the team's employees or the team would be
stripped of its license, depriving Armstrong and Contador of a ride
in the Tour.
On June 23, the UCI announced that the license-withdrawal process
had been 'provisionally suspended,' but that it could be taken up
again at any time.
A source with knowledge of the case told the German Press Agency
dpa that the suspension of the procedure was to last at least until
the end of the Tour, leaving open the possibility that the race could
be the team's last under the Astana sponsorship.
But if the team's future looks cloudy, its past is downright
sordid.
Earlier this month, former team leader Alexander Vinokourov was
told by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that he had to serve
a two-year doping ban because of doping infractions during the 2007
Tour, Astana's first year on the circuit.
Vinokourov, 35, was originally banned for one year by the Kazakh
cycling federation, but the UCI insisted on the mandatory two-year
ban when he came out of retirement.
The ban expires on July 24, too late for the Tour de France, but
making him eligible for the Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain) and the
world championships later this year.
No doubt, Astana wishes their former captain would just go away,
for he is a reminder of the team's disastrous first season, when four
riders, including Vinokourov, were caught using an illegal substance.
Vinokourov was the team's leader on the Tour de France when he
tested positive for homologous blood doping - the injection of
another person's red blood cells.
He was suspended and Astana was 'invited' by Tour organizers to
withdraw from the race, an invitation that was immediately accepted.
In 2008, Astana tried to turn over a new leaf, hiring Bruyneel. He
immediately brought on board Contador and Leipheimer, hoping to lead
the Spaniard to a second consecutive Tour title, but the team was
banned from the race because of its involvement in the previous
year's doping scandals.
This was a serious setback for Astana and Contador, but they made
the best of it. Contador won both of the other major multi-stage
European road races, the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana,
giving him a rare hat trick: He became only the fifth rider in
history to win the Tour, the Giro and the Vuelta.
For 2009, Bruyneel pulled another rabbit out of his hat: Armstrong
came out of retirement, primarily to raise awareness for cancer
research, but with distinct ambitions should Contador falter.
The stage is set, then, for a triumph - and redemption - for the
beleaguered Astana team.
USA
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