CAS issues partial decision on Ullrich and doesn't rule on UCI case

The Court of Arbitraiton for Sport (CAS) has issued a partial ruling on the Jan Ullrich case, saying it could not rule on the Swiss Anti-Doping aspect of the dispute. It did not address the larger issue, saying its decision on the International Cycling Union's case would be issued in six weeks.

The UCI and Swiss Anti-Doping appealed the Swiss Olympic Committee's decision to close the case on evidence linking Ullrich to the Operacion Puerto doping case. Ullrich retired after being implicated in the 2006 investigation, and was later linked to blood evidence by DNA testing.

CAS stated that it does not have jurisdiction to rule on Swiss Cycling's appeal. Swiss Anti-Doping had requested that as he violated the anti-doping rules a lifetime ban should be issued. Swiss Olympic ruled that it did not have jurisdiction over the by-then retired rider and rejected the request.

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In its press release, the CAS Panel said “that it did not have jurisdiction to rule on the request of Swiss Anti-Doping, taking into account the absence of a valid arbitration agreement between Swiss Anti-Doping and Jan Ullrich to refer their dispute to the CAS.”

Swiss Anti-Doping did not exist when Ullrich first signed a written agreement for a Swiss license in 2005, so that the agreement was only between himself, the UCI, Swiss Cycling and Swiss Olympic. Swiss Anti-Doping was added in July 2008, but this did not apply to Ullrich, “considering that he was no longer a member of Swiss Cycling as from 19 October 2006.”

CAS noted that this decision “does not prejudge the forthcoming decision in the arbitration procedure between the International Cycling Union (UCI), Jan Ullrich & Swiss Cycling.”  That case also involves the same Swiss Olympic decision and asks the CAS to sanction Ullrich.

“The CAS has already recognised its jurisdiction officially in that particular case and will issue its final decision in approximately 6 weeks,” the press release concluded.