The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will give an expedited hearing to the Fuji-Servetto team owner GM Bikes, the court announced Friday. The team was left off of the invitation list for the upcoming "historical" races Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milano-Sanremo. The team is requesting the arbitration with race organizers Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) and RCS Sport and the International Cycling Union (UCI).
ASO, which also organizes the Tour de France, and RCS Sport left the Fuji-Servetto team off the list of invited teams for Paris-Nice and the Giro d'Italia, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-Sanremo, respectively.
Fuji-Servetto's manager Mauro Gianetti is the previous owner of the Saunier Duval team which, in 2008, left the Tour de France after its Italian rider Riccardo Riccò tested positive for EPO-CERA. His fellow Italian teammate Leonardo Piepoli later tested positive for the same performance enhancing substance. Both riders were subsequently suspended by the Italian International Olympic Committee (CONI).
The race organisers similarly excluded the Astana team from races last year because of its 2007 doping cases, but the team earned a last-minute invitation to the Giro d'Italia, which Alberto Contador went on to win.
Since Paris-Nice, the first race in question, begins on March 8, CAS offered an expedited procedure with a final decision by March 6.
