Saxo Bank to appear before Licence Commission on Monday

Image 1 of 3

Bjarne Riis is set to appear before the UCI’s Licence Commission on Monday as it deliberates on whether or not Saxo Bank should retain its WorldTour status following the suspension of Alberto Contador.

Contador accounted for over 67% of the WorldTour points accumulated by Saxo Bank in 2011, and without his haul, the team would have finished bottom of the team standings and would also have failed to have fulfilled the sporting criterion required for entry into the WorldTour.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport handed Contador a two-year ban for a his positive test for clenbuterol at the 2010 Tour de France, and all of his 2011 results have been expunged from the record books.

UCI press officer Enrico Carpani confirmed to Cyclingnews that representatives from Saxo Bank will appear before the UCI Licence Commission on Monday but he said that he does not know how long it will take the commission to reach a verdict.

“A hearing will take place on Monday, but as the Licence Commission operates independently of the UCI, we cannot say when the final decision will be made,” Carpani said.

For their part, the Saxo Bank team is putting together its case to present before the Licence Commission. “I can confirm that we have been summoned to a hearing on February 27 and we’re obviously preparing fully for that,” Saxo Bank press officer Anders Damgaard said to sporten.dk.