Alexandre Vinokourov and his Astana-Wurth team have said they will go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to defend their right to start the Tour de France but a decision is likely to come less than 24 hours before Saturday?s prologue.
On Monday Tour organizers ASO asked the troubled Spanish team not to travel to Strasbourg after further revelations in El Pais newspaper and because former team manager Manolo Saiz is still the majority share holder of the team. ASO claim they have the right to exclude any team that damages the image of the Tour even if that team is part of the UCI ProTour and so automatically qualifies for the race.
?We will use all means possible to be at the start of the Tour," Vinokourov told French newspaper L'Equipe.
"I don't understand why they're stopping at the 15 riders of Liberty. If there are 58 (riders implicated), why don't they give the 58 names? And if they told me three weeks ago that we had no chance of riding the Tour, I would not have gone to get a new sponsor."
?The colours of our country are at stake and there are important French investors in our country."
?Our hands are tied because we have to respect our own rules, same as the organisers of the Tour de France," McQuaid said.
"It's frustrating because this affair is terrible, but for the time being, we have no proof that would enable us to sanction teams or riders."
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