Three Russian track cyclists are threatening to sue the World Anti-Doping Agency and the former head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory after they were barred from competing at the Olympic Games last month.
The trio – Dmitry Sokolov, Kirill Sveshnikov and Dmitry Strakhov – had all been selected initially for Russia’s men’s team pursuit squad in Rio.
According to the website Inside The Games, however, the three riders were dropped after being linked to EPO use in the McLaren report into doping in Russia, which found that positive anti-doping test results had been covered up.
While the McLaren report did not name them, the UCI confirmed in the week before the Olympics began that it had been “informed that three riders named by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) to compete in Rio 2016 were potentially implicated.”
> UCI clarifies position on Russian cyclists at Rio
It said; “The UCI, through the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation (CADF), is in the process of identifying relevant rider samples and is in close dialogue with WADA to move forward with these cases immediately.”
The cyclists, who strongly protest their innocence, lost an appeal ahead of the Olympics to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
According to a letter seen by Inside the Games and which was addressed, among others, to WADA, the UCI and the International Olympic Committee, the three deny taking EPO.
They were also critical of alleged evidence of their EPO use provided by Grigory Rodchenkov, former director of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, who has claimed the Russian Sports Ministry was engaged in swapping samples during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
Rodchenkov’s whistleblowing of what he insists was a state-backed programme designed to help drugs cheats escape detection has made him a pariah in Russia – indeed, he is now based in the United States.
The three team pursuit riders did not hold back in expressing their opinion of him, saying that they could not understand why they were barred from competing at Rio “due to this insane criminal’s testimony,” which they maintained violated the World Anti-Doping Code.
"We evidently were deprived of any fair possibility just to present our explanations in relation to these unfounded and false allegations made by such a persistent offender like Mr Rodchenkov," they added.
Besides threatening to sue him and WADA, they have also called for "representative commission of independent experts" to be set up to investigate the claims.
A spokesperson for WADA told the website: "WADA did receive the letter and it has been passed on to Professor Richard McLaren.
"WADA has full confidence in Professor McLaren, his Investigation and the Report that resulted.
"It's important to bear in mind that Professor McLaren's investigation is not based on Dr. Rodchenkov's allegations but rather on evidence that corroborates the allegations as first exposed via the New York Times.
"Professor McLaren is currently completing his mandate with the second Report timed for end-October,” it added.
"Upon completion, Professor McLaren will publish the evidence."
News of the threatened lawsuit comes in a week when Russia’s relationship with WADA is under the spotlight after cyber hackers managed to access its database and published details of athletes including Chris Froome and Sir Bradley Wiggins who have been allowed to compete while using normally banned substances due to Therapeutic Use Examptions.
> Russian hackers publish Wiggins and Froome medical files
While many believe that Russian security forces are behind the attack, Moscow strongly denies state involvement.
Fair pedantry, though as HP said there may be a slight difference - my point was not the relative merits of ICE / EV braking and tyre wear...
I like how drivers make the case for making monitoring covert, not overt.
She seemed a bit upset about a minor misjudgement that could have killed someone and is going to cause months of stress and inconvenience.
No we don't agree, personally I would take primary, even if only for a short period although I can understand why some riders might not want to...
And which looks very like the bag produced by indy bag manufacturer Wizard Works…...
If it was a 'no vehicles' sign (all white circle centre), it would mean cyclists could ride in the hours that HGVs and disabled drivers are allowed...
The bit at the start and end looks like a cycle lane, but the bit they drive on looks just like a patched filter lane for traffic lights.
Hey, you 4 execs helped run a company into the ground and have no jobs anymore... Come work for us because you have great experience in the...
£11.5k for a bike weighing over 8kg that's 2 fingers to customers let alone UCI
I'm going to show my bike a picture of this shed and tell it, "If you don't behave..."