tour....oh my god!!!

[drumpriest]

For those who don't know, the top 2 contendors in this year's Tour de France were suspended along with 58 other riders as part of a doping scandal.

My picks for this year were..

1. Jan Ullrich
2. Ivan Basso
3. ?? probably Valverde

Now it's completely blown wide open. We could even see 3 americans on the podium this year now.

[gary]

Think the French papers will print it?

[LCHIEN]

i just read that ullrich and others will be permitted to race because the allegations were weak.

[JR]

i just read that ullrich and others will be permitted to race because the allegations were weak.

I think that must be yesterday's news. Today the team managers for Basso and Ullrich have agreed that the allegations are sufficiently direct to cause them to suspend the riders until further notice. This type of suspension is proper under the agreed terms of the ProTour.

This is a complete disaster. Ullrich and Basso would assuredly have fought for the top step on the podium. Alexander Vinokurov, a very exciting rider, has had his whole team banned even though he is not personally implicated. One of the very best Spanish riders, Mancebo, is also banned.

What may be the worst thing is that the guy who writes the Jan Ullrich MySpace page is so devastated that he's vowed to stop writing!

http://www.myspace.com/kaiserjan

And I just had my cable service upgraded to receive OLN. I should sue for damages!

JR

[LCHIEN]

I think that must be yesterday's news. Today the team managers for Basso and Ullrich have agreed that the allegations are sufficiently direct to cause them to suspend the riders until further notice. This type of suspension is proper under the agreed terms of the ProTour.
...JR

you're right. went back and it was yesterday's headline. Today they're out.

[scmhogg]

How about we have a "Tour de Dope" here in California. No riders will be tested and they can "juice" any way they want. Sponsors will include drug companies, the Red Cross and ephedrine suppliers. Our governor will present the trophy in full flex.

It will stretch from the Mexican Border at San Diego [The Source] and end in San Francisco. Perhaps a final leg that includes the Giants Stadium, and a couple of laps around the city that will include Lombard Street and end on Haight or in the Mission District.

I've got to stop smoking that stuff in the afternoon. Whew.

Steve

[rickd]

too bad all professional sports aren't as aggressive as cycling seems to be in trying to weed out and deal with cheaters. i would like to see this type of action, especially in baseball.

[Deadhead]

too bad all professional sports aren't as aggressive as cycling seems to be in trying to weed out and deal with cheaters. i would like to see this type of action, especially in baseball.

I agree.
This isn't a disaster, it's a good example of how professional sports should be.

[crokett]

Such delicious irony.... The first year Lance isn't riding and there is a big doping scandal.

[JR]

I agree it's appropriate to deal harshly with doping suspects. I also respect the way in which cycling has stood up to be counted today. The comparison to American ball sports shows a radical difference. I mean, the NFL announced only this week that they had banned amphetimines. Wow!

The really unfortunate part, though, is that so many riders are implicated, including its greatest stars. Cycling has not found its place among the sporting public yet, so this kind of situation can knock its development back pretty far. Sponsors are already leaving the sport, Liberty Seguros immediately and Phonak at the end of the year. Sponsors are bigger part of the financial equation than in ball sports where ticket sales, hot dogs, parking, etc. generate so much more revenue for the team. If the sponsors don't pony up from their advertising budget, the riders don't get paid, and there have been examples of that happening in recent years even at the top of the sport.

Cycling is well organized to move up a rung on the ladder of popularity among the general public. They have a recently-established organization similar to F1 auto racing, providing a consistently high-quality product from April to October. But with Dick Pound of WADA firing salvo after salvo at cycling, and now this fiasco potentially validating his view, the sport won't be able to get quality advertisers to affiliate with them. And the sport will suffer for it.

I stand by assessment that it's a disaster. The smell won't lift from this pile of rubbish for a long time.

JR

[drumpriest]

I respectfully disagree with a few points that have been made. While I agree that there needs to be an aggresive stance toward doping in cycling, I submit that cycling already has the most aggresive stance of any sport I know. They literally can show up at your house any time of day any time of the year and take blood for testing. The reason you hear of these scandals is because they are so hard on it.

Now, having said that, this removal of cyclists is preemptive. Noone has been proven guilty of anything. Lance Armstrong was found to have a relationship with the doctor involved in the 98 festina scandal, should he have been banned from the tour? Perhaps they are guilty, perhaps not. More than likely some are and some arn't.

As to "Cycling has not found its place among the sporting public yet", I assume that you are referring to here in the US?? 900,000 people on L'Alpe D'Huez says to me that it has its place in sports. It's too easy for the 300 million americans to lose sight of the face that we live on a planet of 6 billion. Just because most americans don't know that the Giro d'Italia exists doesn't mean that it isn't a big profitable event. Otherwise it wouldn't have been around for a century (give or take).

Cycling sponsers come and go, always have, always will. Certainly I think you'll see a lot of US based sponsers pull out because Lance isn't around anymore, such as USPS. I feel that Lance not winning the tour is a much larger issue for most sponsers than doping.

The '98 scandal yeilded Lance, perhaps this one will reveil Levi, or George, or Floyd, and the US will be happy again. I saw this country lose interest for a decade after Greg Lemond stopped winning, and I'm sure that I'll see it again when an american doesn't win the tour.

[JR]

As to "Cycling has not found its place among the sporting public yet", I assume that you are referring to here in the US?? 900,000 people on L'Alpe D'Huez says to me that it has its place in sports. It's too easy for the 300 million americans to lose sight of the face that we live on a planet of 6 billion.

Well, Keith, you and I don't need to convince one another, that's for sure! We both love the sport. And it's not the 900,000 on the L'Alpe D'Huez I was referring to. I guess I was talking about American interest in the sport, mostly. The TdF is popular enough that most Americans at least know what it is. But ask them about Paris-Roubaix, Flanders, or the other Grand Tours and you'd get a blank look.

It's OLN only for US TV. It's no US TV for the Giro, Vuelta, Spring Classics, Champs, and so on. (BTW - my brother lives in Germany and doesn't get TV coverage of those races, either.) It's the tenuous hold on sponsorship for many of the ProTour teams. It's moving the start time of the Tour Prologue because the World Cup has Saturday night sewed up (I guess that's not too wierd, but we're talkin' le Tour, man!).

I truly believe the ProTour organization has a chance to bring cycling to the really big time. We'll know that's happened when the premier sponsors are Mobil or GM, rather than Gerolsteiner and Illes Beleares. When Fox pays billions of dollars for TV rights. When people at the barbershop can discuss Floyd Landis moving to Phonak as knowlegeably as Johnny Damon jumping to the Yankees.

Hopefully all the dope yak will end on Saturday and when start to see
some racing. I doubt it will, though. And that's what's going to hold cycling back, IMO.

JR

[RickCarpenter]

Now it's completely blown wide open. We could even see 3 americans on the podium this year now.

After today, I'd bet the French find a way to suspend all Italian riders. Heeeheeeheee...

Seriously though, De Rossi was the only Italian who should have been banned.

Rick

[TB Roye]

Both my sons raced duing the mid 80's untill the early 90's. It is a beautiful sport. We met most of the big names during that time and Greg Lemond lived a few miles from us. They trained with him during the winter. It is too bad the dopers had to get ahold of the sport. Very interesting this year without Armstrong. For the first time in years it is wide open. I do not care who wins. Just keep
"Le Tour De France" American.

Tom