Alexandre Vinokourov has called for CADF to conduct an investigation into how their report detailing allegations that two of their riders had met with banned doctor Michele Ferrari was leaked to the Danish press, adding leaks of this nature are damaging for riders, teams, and cycling as a whole.
The 24-page report, compiled by the Cycling Anti-Doping Federation (CADF), claimed that Danish rider Jakob Fuglsang had been training with the disgraced doping doctor.
CADF released a statement in the aftermath saying they regretted the report had leaked and that they wouldn’t be pursuing disciplinary charges against anyone in the report, as well as investigating the leak. This was welcomed by Vinokourov, who said: “We are pleased, that today the CADF issued a statement explaining the situation with the confidential report published recently in the media.
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“As it was noted, the organization has not found any confirmed anti-doping rule violations and as a result no disciplinary action has been initiated against either the riders or the team. We respect the activities carried out by the UCI and the CADF in the fight against doping in cycling and consider as absolutely normal to check all, even the most insignificant facts that could put a shadow on our sport. This activity is designed to make cycling cleaner.”
Vinokourov’s call for an investigation echoes CADF’s response that said the organisation would look into how the report came to be seen by journalists.
“At the same time, we hope that the CADF will conduct a careful investigation of the way such information was made public in order to avoid repeating these situations in relation to any team or rider.
“The publication of unverified or incomplete information in the media has a detrimental effect on the image of not only professional athletes and their teams, but also of cycling as a whole.
“On behalf of the team I would like to thank our sponsors and fans for their trust and support in the moment when incorrect and largely unreliable information was spread in the media in the last few days.”
After the report was made public, the Kazakhstani team denied having any association with any “suspicious doctors” including Ferrari and stated that their riders are forbidden from consulting with outside doctors about their performance.
The reports also prompted a response from Ferrari himself, who called the reports a “media hoax” and denied any involvement with any athletes or the team.
Jakob Fuglsang and Alexey Lutsenko also responded to the allegations with matching statements shared on Instagram, with both riders saying they had not met with the doctor, no disciplinary action had been brought against them and that they were concerned about the spread of the stories in the media.
