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Saturday's EuroFile: Phonak not among 'favorable sanctions' for '05 Pro Tour; race lineup announced

By Agence France Presse
Published: Nov. 13, 2004

The Swiss team Phonak is not among a list of 19 teams receiving a “favorable sanction” to participate in the UCI's 2005 Pro Tour, sources have told Agence France Presse.

Phonak was the only one of 20 teams presented to the UCI to be overlooked by the organization's licenses commission. The UCI is expected to announce which teams will be granted Pro Tour licenses early in December.

The news follows three doping positives involving Phonak riders: American Tyler Hamilton, 2004 Olympic gold medalist in the individual time trial; Spain’s Santiago Perez, runner-up in the 2004 Vuelta a España; and Swiss Oscar Camenzind, the former world champion.

Phonak sacked Camenzind, who tested positive for EPO. But the team has retained Hamilton and Perez, both of whom have tested positive for doping by blood transfusion. Team management and the athletes have questioned the scientific legitimacy of the test, and disciplinary actions have yet to be taken.

Phonak - the only Swiss cycling team at the sport’s top level - has one last chance to be heard by the commission, on November 22, before the definitive Pro Tour list is released.

The teams receiving a "favorable sanction include:

Germany: Gerolsteiner, T-Mobile
Belgium: Davitamon-Lotto, Quick Step
Denmark: CSC
Spain: Illes Balears, Euskaltel, Liberty, Saunier-Duval
United States: Discovery Channel
France: Bouygues Telecom, Cofidis, Credit Agricole, Fdjeux.com
Italy: Fassa Bortolo, Liquigas, Lampre-Caffitta, Domina Vacanze
Netherlands: Rabobank

GP Quest-France joins Pro Tour lineup
The GP Ouest-France has joined the list of races on the 2005 Pro Tour circuit, according to the UCI.

The Pro Tour schedule includes 16 races – but so far, not the three grand tours of France, Spain and Italy. Indeed, the GP Ouest-France, which takes place each year at the end of August, is the only one-day French race in the Pro Tour lineup, as the classics Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Tours are organized by Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), which also runs the Tour de France.

UCI Pro Tour events
Tour of Flanders (Belgium)
Tour of the Basque Country (Spain)
Ghent-Wevelgem (Belgium)
Amstel Gold Race (Netherlands)
Tour of Romandie (Swiss)
Tour of Catalonia (Spain)
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (France)
Tour of Switzerland
UCI Pro Tour team time trial (Netherlands)
HEW-Cyclassics (Germany)
Tour du Benelux
Clasica San Sebastian (Spain)
Tour of Germany
GP Ouest-France (France)
Tour of Poland
Championship of Zurich (Swiss)