it’s been getting increasingly difficult to watch the tour with all the busts on doping. today manuel beltran got kicked off for testing positive for epo. i don’t know what the answers are but it’s just difficult to get into an event knowing the biggest drama will be a doping scandal.
disgraced pro biker floyd landis lost his supposedly final appeal against being stripped of his 2006 tour de france win. i really hope this is the last i ever have to hear about this.
the 2008 tdf starts in like 6 days, i think.
bicycle guru sheldon brown has passed away. like a lot of people, i had sought advice from sheldon in the past concerning matters related to my bike. like a lot of people i was impressed by his quick response and more importantly by the advice he offered. he was a real cool guy and my heartfelt condolences go to his family and many friends.
a man was convicted and given 4 1/2 years in jail for unintentionally causing the death of italian cycling icon marco pantani. pantani died of an accidental cocaine overdose in 2004. maybe this will give il pirata’s family some solace.
2006 tour de france winner floyd landis was found guilty of doping by an arbitration board and is officially set to lose his title. despite the blow he claims he proved his innocence. 2 of the 3 panel members disagree. he has one last appeal he can try but it seems worthless at this point. whether or not he doped is almost irrelevant now as his name is stained as long as he lives. i honestly don’t know what to think anymore or if i even care.
alberto contador won the tour de france riding for team discovery. cadel evans came in 2nd and levi liepheimer came in 3rd. good job by discovery with 2 riders on the podium. contador also won the best young riders white jersey in addition to the hallowed yellow. tom boonen took the green points jersey and mauricio soler the king of the mountains red polka dot jersey. my man wim vansevenant did it right by being latern rouge (dead last). i admire him as much as the winner. it’s a tough race. and discovery won the fastest team. wow…a lot of drama this year. hopefully there will be no more surprises like last year when floyd landis got busted after the tour was over. i enjoyed many aspects of the tour this year but the scandal was a bad taste that took away much of my enthusiam. that said, i’ll be watching next year. tip o the chu-hi to contador.
photo: graham watson
http://grahamwatson.com/
well the guy i was rooting for, levi liepheimer, kicked ass in the time trial today and won. too little too late i guess as his discovery teammate alberto contador has the lead over cadel evans by :23 and levi by :32 (or close to that). i’d imagine despite liepheimer saying he’s happy for contador, somewhere inside he’s wishing the team would make the decision to let him fly ahead and take the thing, but that’s not how it’s done. anyway, barring something crazy, contador looks set up for the win and discovery will be happy about that. i believe they have the best team time in the race, but i forgot to check before writing and don’t care enough to double check.
missed it on tv. just gonna give you the ap rundown:
“Stage: Friday’s flat stage took riders on a 131-mile course from Cahors to Angouleme, before a time trial on Saturday and Sunday’s ride to the finish in Paris. Winner: French rider Sandy Casar won his first Tour stage — despite hitting a dog on the way.
Yellow Jersey: Spanish rider Alberto Contador of the Discovery Channel team kept the overall lead two days after the Rabobank team sent home former race leader Michael Rasmussen for lying about where he was while training last month. Contador leads Cadel Evans of Australia by 1 minute, 50 seconds.
Quote of the Day: “In this time trial, everything can change, my entire life can change.” — Contador.
Next stage: Saturday’s time trial could decide the outcome of the Tour. Evans and Contador face off over 34.5 miles of flat roads from Cognac to Angouleme.”
daniele bennati won todays stage. i’m not really saying much else as my enthusiasm for this years race is a little muted right now. hopefully nothing else will go down between now and sunday. discovery’s alberto contador officially wears the yellow jersey now.
photo: graham watson
http://grahamwatson.com/
wow…it’s really going to be hard for the tour to maintain any credibility soon. after a dramatic and emphatic win today of the last stage in the mountains rasmussen was removed from the race by his rabobank team, with them saying he violated their internal rules. they are referring to the controversy over his failing to be tested prior to the tour during his training. in addition, today cofidis rider cristian moreni was kicked off the tour for testing positive for testosterone. take into account the fact that floyd landis’ yellow jersey from last year still may be stripped of him over a positive drug test in the 2006 tour and you have to wonder how much more the fans can get behind this thing. it’s hard to root for anyone knowing they may be busted and thrown out of the race on any given day. i told you some big time shit like this was going to happen after what went down yesterday. this really bites.
photo: graham watson
http://grahamwatson.com/
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