Basso, Ullrich kicked out of Tour de France

Associated Press via FoxSports ^ | 6/30/06 | AP Staff

[Carling]

STRASBOURG, France (AP) - A doping scandal knocked Tour de France favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso out of the race Friday and threw the world's most glamorous cycling event into chaos.

The decision to bar Ullrich, Basso and others implicated in a doping probe in Spain also sent a strong signal that cheating, or even suspicions of cheating, will not be tolerated.

[Carling]

All the effort to get Armstrong backfired bigtime on the French. Now the Tour is in ruins.

[Mr. Mojo]

Love it.

[Nachum]

Sounds like they are banning them by "implication" only. It is up to the banned riders to "prove they are innocent". This is majorly screwed up.

[Philistone]

I think the frogs are tired of foreigners winning their race.

[avacado]

What were those guys thinking??? That is just plain dumb considering the heat that Armstrong was getting recently.

[BaBaStooey]

I wouldn't necessarily say the Tour is in ruins. It will still be an exciting race.

[Calm_Cool_and_Elected]

PING

[fortunecookie]

Basso and Ullrich out??!!! Wow. Backfired bigtime. What a shame. This Tour will certainly be notable - for all the wrong reasons.

[Neville72]

George Hincapie will win.

[MPJackal]

Italy cheaters in Soccer, Spain cheaters in the Tour de Frogland. You can't blame them, they live in a society where everything is OK if it makes you feel good. They just wanted to feel good about themselves. Next year everyone should get a yellow jersey. That way no one will feel bad because of all the nasty pressure to work hard to actually EARN something. That is just not fair. Not everyone has motivation and to punish those that don't is just mean.

[Puppage]

A lot more than just them....

http://www.velonews.com/tour2006/news/articles/10176.0.html

[trimom]

Well, that would be a nice thing to see!

[Pukin Dog]

Oh no, it is RUINED.

No Ullrich vs. Basso?

Who wants to watch the sprinters, who do nothing until 2km left to go? There wont be any fast time trials, no real attacks in the mountains, nothing. BORING!

[Edgar3]

The only notable American rider caught up in it is Tyler Hamilton who is already on 2 years probation. This opens the door for George Hincapie, Floyd Landis & Levi Leipheimer, all Americans. It's notable that Discovery Team is NOT involved. It could be 1-2-3 USA finish.

[Rakkasan1]

now that it's not the "Tour de Lance" ,they have a shot...

[fortunecookie]

I hope so, George is great. But with so many of his top competitors gone, it will be different.

[VaFederalist]

With Ulrich, Basso and Armstrong out it will be an exciting race? Maybe, but even the die-hard fans in the US just lost a mjor reason to watch. If an exciting race happens and nobody sees it, is it still an exciting race?

[1rudeboy]

You can't blame them, they live in a society where everything is OK if it makes you feel good.

Your analogy fails once you consider steroids and MLB.

[fortunecookie]

Thanks for the link. OMG, it's like a Who's Who of cycling, and all of them out. The race will surely be different this year.

[Edgar3]

Dude! George Hincapie won the TOUGHEST mountain stage of last years tour. He's a hell of a climber and sprinter. Floyd Landis already won the Tour of California and Paris - Nice this year. There will be plenty of action