Kazakh cycling boss unhappy

ALMATY – A top official with Kazakhstan’s cycling federation yesterday accused the Tour de France of bias in the treatment of Kazakh cyclist Alexandre Vinokourov and his Astana team in a doping scandal.

Vinokourov, one of the favourites to win this year’s Tour, withdrew from the race with his entire team on Tuesday after failing a test for blood doping after his win in Saturday’s time trial stage in Albi. “We consider this as prejudice against our team, knowing that everywhere in the rules, the rider is responsible for himself and not his entire team,” the deputy head of the federation, Nikolai Praskurin, said by phone from France.”They have given us no official confirmation, they have only spoken to us by phone.They do not behave like this with the European teams.Before the tour we were told: ‘We don’t want the Astana team or Vinokourov to win’,” he said.The federation has hired a US sports lawyer to look into the case, he added.In a statement, the federation said it was “extremely anxious” and noted that the result of Vinokourov’s test had “left it shocked.”It voiced its support for “a clean sporting contest, uncompromised by doping.”However, the federation warned against “hasty conclusions” or premature accusations against the rider and the team.The federation said it was awaiting the results of testing on Vinokourov’s B sample.Nampa-AFP”We consider this as prejudice against our team, knowing that everywhere in the rules, the rider is responsible for himself and not his entire team,” the deputy head of the federation, Nikolai Praskurin, said by phone from France.”They have given us no official confirmation, they have only spoken to us by phone.They do not behave like this with the European teams.Before the tour we were told: ‘We don’t want the Astana team or Vinokourov to win’,” he said.The federation has hired a US sports lawyer to look into the case, he added.In a statement, the federation said it was “extremely anxious” and noted that the result of Vinokourov’s test had “left it shocked.”It voiced its support for “a clean sporting contest, uncompromised by doping.”However, the federation warned against “hasty conclusions” or premature accusations against the rider and the team.The federation said it was awaiting the results of testing on Vinokourov’s B sample.Nampa-AFP