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Rock Racing stars absent from ATOC starting list

Published: Feb. 15, 2008
Will Cipo' be in California next week?
Will Cipo' be in California next week?

With AEG’s announcement of the start list for this year’s Amgen Tour of California comes the revelation that Rock Racing, the revamped California-based team that hired several controversial riders in the off-season, will start the race with only five riders. All 16 other participating teams have fielded the maximum of eight riders.

Missing from Rock Racing’s roster are new signings Tyler Hamilton, Oscar Sevilla or Santiago Botero, each of whom has been mentioned in connection with the reopened  Operación Puerto blood-doping ring. On Thursday Spanish prosecutors re-opened the case, which originally broke in May 2006 but has been in a legal limbo since a Spanish judge ordered the case closed.

On January 22 AEG announced an aggressive anti-doping initiative that will see every participant in the race have their blood tested, with the results incorporated into the UCI's Biological Passport program. Riders will be given daily urine screenings for steroids, hormones (such as EPO), stimulants and various masking agents. Additionally, AEG declared that any riders or team staff with an open doping investigation, as defined by USA Cycling or the UCI, would not be allowed at the race.

It is unknown whether USA Cycling officials deemed riders implicated in Puerto as under investigation. Messages left with USA Cycling officials Thursday were not returned.

On January 27 Rock Racing team owner Michael Ball — the CEO and head designer for Rock & Republic — named Hamilton, Sevilla and Botero to the team’s squad at a training camp in Malibu, California. Ball also then named Kayle Leogrande who was identified on January 26 as the anonymous rider suing the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for testing his B urine sample after his A sample tested negative for performance-enhancing drugs.

Several sources have confirmed with VeloNews that sworn affidavits detailing Leogrande’s admissions of doping at the 2007 International Cycling Classic, also known as Superweek, have been filed with USADA as it tries to build a case against the 30-year-old rider. Such testimony is admissible under provisions of the World Anti-Doping Code that allow the use of non-analytical evidence in building a case for an alleged doping violation.

Rock Racing is a "founding sponsor" of this year’s Tour of California. The team is believed to have written a half-million dollar check to AEG for the sponsorship and a skybox at the Staples Center, which AEG owns.

As the official fashion apparel sponsor of the race, Rock Racing podium girls will be visible hostesses outfitted in Rock Racing apparel and featured daily at race functions as well as within the online and televised race coverage. Rock Racing podium girls will award jerseys on stage during the awards ceremonies at the conclusion of each of the race's eight stages.  Additionally, they will appear at rider sign-in each morning and conduct meet-and-greets in the finishing cities.

“Cycling brought structure, focus and direction to my life,” Ball said in an AEG press release dated February 6. “Rock Racing is eager for the opportunity to be involved with a race of this caliber, further expanding our brand into an area that I am personally passionate about.”

One rider who may be added to the roster is retired world champion Mario Cipollini. Several media reported that the Italian sprint king will be in California. VeloNews has not been able to confirm the story.

Rock Racing officials have been tight-lipped about both the team’s California roster and Cipollini’s involvement with the team, and declined comment late Thursday.

The team’s roster for the Tour of California will consist of Leogrande, three-time U.S. national champion Freddie Rodriguez, Michael Creed, Doug Ollerenshaw and former U.S. Postal Service rider Victor Hugo Peña.