The Int'l Cycling Union (UCI) has revealed, in relation to the Astana case, that it "felt that to ban the Kazakh-funded team mid-season would have been a 'disproportionate' punishment given progress already made by the outfit," according to Tom Cary of the London TELEGRAPH. Astana, for whom reigning Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali rides, had a "spate of positive drug tests last year; two from within their senior squad and three at their Continental-ranked feeder team." That led the UCI to put Astana "on 'probation' while an independent audit was carried out." The results of that audit were sufficient for UCI President Brian Cookson to "recommend that the Licence Commission strip Astana of their WorldTour status." However, it was announced last month that Astana's license "would not be revoked after they committed to 'respecting all the measures'" recommended by the Sport Sciences of the University of Lausanne (ISSUL). UCI published the full reasoned decision given Astana's "willingness to submit to the ISSUL audit as well as to change the internal practices and policies within the team," and in the absence of further incidents since '14, to "strip the team of their licence mid-season would not 'respect the principle of proportionality'" (TELEGRAPH, 5/5).
