Wednesday, July 25, 2007

More Cycling Drama

Just to keep you up to date on the Tour de France. So up until Sunday, 1 rider had tested positive for doping. And he had already pulled out of the race because of a bad crash. Then comes Monday when Vino got tossed as well as his whole Astana team (which included Andreas Klodden, who was in 4th place overall). Then today news broke of another rider who tested positive for testosterone. That rider, Cristian Moreni, and his entire team Confidis pulled out of the race today. Then in the biggest move yet, the overall tour leader Michael Rasmussen was pulled out of the race by his team Rabobank. In May and again in June Rasmussen failed to tell the doping testers where he was which is a violation of the rules. The testers must know your whereabouts 365 days a year in case they decide to make you give a random drug test, well he didn't tell them. And this is after he rode a great race on Wednesday when he won the stage in the grueling Pyrenees mountains. I'm telling you this soap opera is better that speculating on which celebrity (Paris, Nicole Ritchie, or Lindsay Lohan) is going to get busted DUI. It is a sad reflection on the sport, that even when testing has taken on so much prominence they continue to cheat. Vino had a blood transfusion with someone else's blood, the odds of passing a test with that circumstance is 1 in 7000. The foreign red blood cells must look like tourists in a foreign country.

Anyway, Alberto Contador who rides for Team Discovery is now in first place. He is only 24 years old and entered this race hoping to win the tours white jersey as the tours best young rider. He may end up winning the yellow jersey as the best overall rider! Currently in third place is Levi Leipheimer, an American who also rides with Team Discovery.

2 comments:

Kate said...

I think it is really sad that all of these people think they won't get caught or that they need those to win. I think what they are really doing is ruining the sport. Who wants to watch when all of there favorites turn out to be cheaters.

Unknown said...

I will comment on cycling before football ;-)