For anybody who doesn't follow cycling regularly and wants some more info, this is a good synopsis/timeline of what happened:
http://eurosport.com/cycling/tour-de...to917229.shtml (story pasted below).
Also, because the Astana-Wurth team had too many people have to be pulled due to the allegations, the team didn't have enough to compete so Vino is out.
Also, from another forum I subscribe to:
______________________________________________
...both Ulrich and Basso have a clause on their contract stating that they are NOT allowed to speak to ANY doctor of ANY kind outside of their team doctors WITHOUT the permission of the team.
Both teams were shown irrefutable evidence that their riders had been in constant contact with this doctor from Spain. That alone means they can suspend them from the race, without even mentioning that the alleged spanish doctor is supposed to have been supplying performance enhancing drugs.
_______________________________________________
And now, for the story...
_______________________________________________
T-Mobile have been crushed on the eve of the race, Bjarne Riis is missing his golden son, and the Tour de France is about to start without the two favourites. A disaster in the making for years, how did the sport's biggest doping scandal come to this?
Catastrophe in the making
"We've had doubts. We had heard comments. I always thought that this day had to come in order to clear up those doubts."
Fugencio Sanchez, the head of Spain's cycling federation, may have been talking about Spanish cycling specifically when he spoke to the associated press earlier this week.
But on the day before the opening of the Tour de France, Sanchez' words sound more like a foreboding epitaph for the sport itself.
"I know all of these people. They have spent their lives in Spanish cycling and all of them have an important career in cycling," Sanchez said of the principals involved in the country's doping probe. "I was always suspicious."
Sanchez' suspicions dated as far back as the 1998 Festina doping debacle, which broke on the eve of that year's Tour de France.
"The police operation was necessary. We had gone astray in anti-doping issues in Spain," he described the latest operation. "We had the duty to start persecuting those frauds."
The timeline
Jesus takes a stand - April 6, 2004: Former Kelme rider Jesus Manzano testifies in Italy against team doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, accusing the doctor of administering EPO injections during the 2001 Giro and blood transfusions during the 2003 Tour de France.
Liberty start to suffer - November 8, 2005: Vuelta à Espana champion Roberto Heras of Liberty Seguros is suspended for a positive EPO test at the Tour of Spain. Team boss Manolo Saiz protests his rider's innocence.
Heras banished from the land - February 8, 2006: Heras handed two-year ban by Spanish Cycling Federation.
The Sting - February, 2006: The Spanish Civil Guard "learns that certain people are furnishing top-level athletes with doping products and practicing blood doping." A sting is set-up focused on a Madrid apartment and laboratory.
Operation Puerto in effect - May 23, 2006: Police arrest Dr. Fuentes, Saiz, Comunidad Valenciana sporting director Ignacio Labarta, Madrid doctor José Luis Merino, and former mountain biker Alberto Léon after raids uncover "more than 100 bags of frozen blood," "vast quantities of drugs," and several documents with names of riders and their training programmes. The probe becomes known as "Operation Puerto" in the press.
Basso nears Italy victory amidst rumours- May 24, 2006: Saiz is conditionally released. Spanish radio Cedena Ser first cites Tour of Italy leader Ivan Basso as one of Fuentes' clients. Basso affirms innocence.
Liberty decides it doesn't want to be Liberty - May 25, 2006: American Insurance company Liberty Seguros withdraws sponsorship of team of that same name, citing Saiz' arrest. Cedena Ser first reports Ullrich's involvement. T-Mobile and Ullrich deny charges.
Ullrich leaves Giro - May 26, 2006: Labarta and Léon are released on the condition that they visit a judge every 15 days. Ullrich pulls out of Giro with three stages left to go, saying the decision has no connection with Spanish reports.
Big bail for docs - May 27, 2006: The two doctors, Merino and Fuentes, exit prison as each are forced to pay 120,000 euros in bail. Fuentes is charged with endangering the public health.
Basso on top of the world - May 28, 2006: Basso wins first Tour of Italy.
Saiz steps down, sort of - June 9, 2006: Saiz temporarily quits as sporting director of Astana-Wurth, previously Liberty Seguros. He remains majority owner of the team.
Comunidad disinvited - June 13, 2006: The Tour de France rescinds the wild-card invitation of Comunidad (previously Kelme), citing Labarta's involvement in the scandal.
UCI back Astana-Wurth- June 22, 2006: Asked to rule on pro squad Astana-Wurth's participation in the Tour de France, the UCI Pro Tour lets the former Liberty squad keep its licence, and hence race.
Spanish riders protest innocence - June 25, 2006: The Spanish national championships are halted as riders protest the media's coverage of the case "Operation Puerto." Spanish newspaper El Pais says that an official judicial report lists 58 riders as being involved with Dr. Fuentes.
Tour politely asks Astana to leave - June 26, 2006: The Tour de France asks Astana-Wurth to pull out of the race, Astana refuses and the case goes to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Ullrich again denies charges, still backed by T-Mobile boss Rudy Pevenage.
The calm before the storm - June 28, 2006: Jan Ullrich's representatives say he is considering legal action against El Pais, which has said authorities found code names for Ullrich, including "Jan" and "Son of Rudy" amongst the documents it had seized.
Stuff hits the fan - June 29, 2006: Spanish press outlets report that the Spanish judicial sources had released the names of 58 riders involved in the affair, "many of them foreign and some part of the elite." Gag order on official report lifted by Spanish judge. Cacena Ser reveals the names of riders listed in the case, including Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso, and Francisco Mancebo. Ullrich and T-Mobile communications director Christian Frommert again assert rider's innocence. CAS rule that Astana-Wurth and top contender Alexandre Vinoukorov can participate in 2006 Tour de France.
The beginning of the end - June 30, 2007, Overnight: Spanish Sports Minister Jaime Lissavetsky hands report to International Cycling Union (UCI), which turns over report to Tour de France organisers.
Shockwaves on Tour's eve - 9:30 CET: Jan Ullrich's T-Mobile team say that they have received "genuine proof" against their team leader, as the race favourite is suspended along with team-mate Oscar Sevilla and sporting director Rudy Pevenage.
LeBlanc: It's not over - 10:30 CET: Race organiser Jean Marie LeBlanc says that five or six riders would ultimately be implicated and suspended by day's end.
Marca: Basso is cooked - 11:30 CET: Spanish daily newspaper Marca reports that race favourite and 2005 runner-up Ivan Basso will be suspended from the Tour.
Press conference: Riders being informed - 12:00 CET: Tour director Christian Prudhomme says that the riders who are being asked to leave the Tour for citation in Spanish probe will not be replaced and are currently being informed. "Bjarne Riis has already warned Basso and AG2R team boss Vincent Lavenu is talking to Mancebo."
Riis makes it official - 14:00 CET: CSC team manager Bjarne Riis announces his star pupil Ivan Basso will not race in the 2006 Tour de France. Riis says he can hardly believe the news which led to the decision, but that he has an obligation to the team.
Mancebo disgraced - 15:15 CET: Fourth place in the 2005 Tour, Mancebo will not be allowed to seek a podium in this year's race. His AG2R sporting director calls Mancebo's involvement in the Spanish probe "an enormous deception" on the part of the rider.
UCI gets involved - 16:00 CET: The International Cycling Union says that three Astana-Wurth riders listed to start the Tour were included in the Spanish probe. If they are suspended, Vinokourov's team will not have enough riders to race.
And now we play the waiting game: No word on Astana's fate as the evening winds down. The Tour de France gets set to start on Saturday amidst the greatest doping crisis in its history.
/tk