Armstrong Euro Docs Banned for Life

LA Times reports:

The USADA handed out a lifetime ban to people associated with Armstrong’s 7 Tour victories.  All are Europeans so it’s not clear what effect this will have.

Dr. Ferrari of Italy, Dr. Garcia del Moral of Spain and trainer Pepi Martin also of Spain were termed by the USADA as part of a “sophisticated, far-reaching doping conspiracy” with the US Postal team.  Armstrong’s team declined to comment with the LA Times.

“Permanently banning these individuals from sport is a powerful statement that protects the current and next generation of athletes from their influence, and preserves the integrity of future competition,” USADA Chief Executive Travis Tygart said in a prepared statement.

Del Moral was team physician from 1999 to 2003 for the U.S. Postal Service team.

Armstrong has been charged by USADA with doping conspiracy, but has repeatedly cited hundreds of clean drug tests.

Yesterday Armstrong sued the USADA over its effort to strip him of his seven Tour titles. A judge dismissed the suit, but his lawyers will most likely refile this week.

The USADA claims an abundance of evidence it has gathered against those close to the cycling great.

They say that from 2000 Del Moral “was intimately involved in the prohibited blood transfusions used to boost the number of red blood cells that increase oxygen-carrying capacity and increase endurance.

Riders went to Del Moral’s sports medicine clinic in Valencia, Spain, where he withdrew blood for transfusions. He also assisted with saline infusions to keep blood levels below threshold levels to avoid detection.

The USADA says Del Moral provided banned performance-enhancing drugs including EPO, testosterone, corticosteroids and human growth hormone and injected riders with these prohibited drugs.”

According to the USADA, Ferrari was a consulting doctor to many U.S. Postal Service and Discovery team riders from 1999-2006. They developed a mixture of testosterone and olive oil administered under the tongue to assist in recovery during races and training. Ferrari “also advised riders on the use of the banned oxygen enhancer EPO with detailed instructions regarding clearance times, how the EPO drug test worked and how to avoid detection of the drug.

“Dr. Ferrari specifically advised riders to inject EPO intravenously in order to avoid the drug showing up in a urine drug test. Dr. Ferrari was present and assisted during instances of prohibited blood doping and EPO use by USPS team members. Dr. Ferrari developed detailed training schedules for riders which included coded symbols designating when EPO should be used and the amount of the drug to inject.”

According to the USADA, Marti, trainer for the Postal Service and Discovery teams from 1999 through 2007, “delivered performance-enhancing drugs … to locations where the riders were living in Europe … and at training camps and cycling races.”

Ferrari, Del Moral and Marti did not seek arbitration or request an extension — as Armstrong has done — after the charges that were brought by the USADA review board, a USADA spokeswoman said.

The anti-doping rule violations for which del Moral, Ferrari and Martí are receiving sanctions include:

(1)    Possession of prohibited substances and/or methods including EPO, blood transfusions and related equipment (such as needles, blood bags, storage containers and other transfusion equipment and blood parameters measuring devices), testosterone, hGH, corticosteroids, and masking agents.

(2)    Trafficking of EPO, blood transfusions, testosterone, hGH, corticosteroids and masking agents.

(3)    Administration and/or attempted administration of EPO, blood transfusions, testosterone, hGH, corticosteroids, and masking agents.

(4)    Assisting, encouraging, aiding, abetting, covering up and other complicity involving one or more anti-doping rule violations and/or attempted anti-doping rule violations.

These activities are defined as anti-doping rule violations under the USADA Protocol for Olympic and Paralympic Movement Testing and the International Cycling Union (UCI) Anti-Doping Rules (UCI ADR), both of which have adopted the World Anti-Doping Code and the WADA Prohibited List.

In accordance with the WADA Code and UCI ADR, aggravating circumstances including involvement in multiple anti-doping rule violations as well as trafficking, administration and/or attempted administration of a prohibited substance or method, justify a period of ineligibility greater than the standard sanction, and as such, all parties involved have received a lifetime period of ineligibility for their anti-doping rule violations. A Lifetime period of Ineligibility as described in the Code prevents these individuals from participating in any activity or competition organized by any signatory to the Code or any member of any signatory.

The other respondents in this case have either asked for and been granted a five-day extension to complete their response, or have requested to move forward with an arbitration hearing where all evidence will be presented, witness testimony will be given under oath, and an independent group of arbitrators will ultimately decide the outcome of the case. USADA will continue to follow all of the established procedures that were approved by athletes, the U.S. Olympic Committee, and all Olympic sports organizations in compliance with federal law.