The Astana professional cycling team denied reports suggesting that Belgian prosecutors have decided to proceed with a criminal trial over allegations that Alexandr Vinokourov paid Alexandr Kolobnev to let him win a race. In 2011, Swiss magazine l’Illustre published email correspondence suggesting that London 2012 road race winner Vinokourov paid Kolobnev to let him win the final sprint in the 2010 edition of the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race. Vinokourov (pictured) went on to win the one day race by just six seconds. Belgian prosecutors began an investigation into the case last year.

‘The Court chamber of the Liege criminal Court had to decide on this September 11th on the questions to know if the investigation made by the Public Prosecutor and the Investigating Judge may be considered as completed or not, if they are sufficient elements in order to refer the case before a Criminal Court called to decide on the merits or if the charges needed to be dropped for lack of evidence’, read an Astana statement issued yesterday. ‘The Chamber has not taken any decision owing to the circumstance that the respective lawyers of the two incriminated cyclists had officially requested additional duties to find out the whole truth of this matter. In such a case, the Chamber has the obligation to postpone its decision until the reaction of the Investigating Judge and, in case of refusal from him, by the Court of Appeal, and that is what the Chamber did.’

It is understood that a decision on whether the case will proceed to criminal trial will be made by 15 October. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) opened an official inquiry into the issue in November 2012, after it received information from prosecutors in the Italian city of Padua. The Sports Integrity Initiative has asked the UCI for the outcome of that inquiry.