PLACES VINO ATTACKS

Another installment in the ongoing series:

'PLACES VINO ATTACKS'

In This Episode: VINO Attacks at CAS/His $$accountant's$$ office

CAS finds that UCI's Vinokourov fine is not valid - Kazakh will not have to pay year's salary for 2007 positive

"Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) will not have to pay a fine equivalent to his then annual salary of €1.2 million as a result of his positive test for a blood transfusion at the 2007 Tour de France. According to El Pais, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) found against the International Cycling Union (UCI) and in favour of Vinokourov at a hearing in Lausanne on August 31..." MORE

COMMENTS: No Commentary Required, though one can imagine that CAS saw the image of VINO attacking underwater and decided that discretion was the better part of valor.

NEVERTHELESS, How it is that VINO is VINO and all others are pretenders, using the case of Danilo "Wannabe Killer" Di Luca as an example:

Di Luca (who gave himself the nickname " The Killer from Spoltore")

"...It is Di Luca's second doping suspension after he was already banned for three months in 2007 for being linked to the Oil for Drugs affair. CONI also announced that his initial fine of 280,000 Euro was being reduced to 106,400 Euro."

VS.

VINO (Алексaндр Николаевич Винокуров holds the rank of Colonel in the Kazakh Army - Қазақстанның Қарулы күштері Qazaqstannyñ Qarūly küshteri)

"...El Pais reports that the court found no legal basis for the UCI to fine Vinokourov a year’s salary. Ahead of the 2007 Tour de France, the UCI requested riders to sign a declaration entitled “Riders’ commitment to a new cycling,” which stated that the riders who incurred doping suspensions of two years and upwards would be liable to pay a year’s salary as a contribution to the UCI’s anti-doping programme."

COMMENTS:  In case you don't get it, while Di Luca obviously has some value and celebrity in order to secure a reduction in his fine, to be VINO is to not be fined, and in fact, I expect that shortly the UCI will offer to pay VINO the amount it originally requested of him, in hopes that he won't attack Pat McQuaid in a more literal sense.

Lastly, during the 2007 Tour VINO was tragically misquoted:

"I am happy with my performance, I am finding my legs again. Now I want to attack in the Pyrénées."

should actually have read:

"I am happy with my performance, I am finding my legs again. Now I want to attack the Pyrénées."