Tour de France - Stage 16 - July 25

Tour Website ^ | 7/25/07 | Aeronaut

[leilani]

HOLY HOLY HOLY CR*P!!!!!
Unbelievable.

[hardback]

Nittany Lion forcasted this down thread “of the top 4 Evans is the best time trialer. I’d expect Rasmussen would be first by about 1:00, Evans and Contador will be nearly tied for second, and Leipheimer will be about 2:30 behind Rasmussen.
“

[leilani]

And Levi will be dissed for it in the cycling press for the rest of the year, too. An asterisk will always be by his name, & the truth is he still DID have a chance to knock out the chicken in the TT, given Ras’ history.

[hardback]

New standings 1. Alberto Contador (Sp), Discovery
2. Cadel Evans (Aus), Predictor-Lotto, 1:57
3. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Discovery, at 2:48
4. Carlos Sastre (Sp). CSC, at 6:02

[Cecily]

The bummerosity meter is heading for the redline.

[PeteB570]

Well, if it’s any help -

you could knock off the first ten riders and I would still find the team tactics, how a top rider goes from stage winner to a team worker bee hauling water and all the rest totally fascinating.

[July 4th]

Looks like another win for Discovery! (This is out of control!)

[Vision]

Somebody needs to create a timeline of what has happened this tour. There’s too much going on.

[July 4th]

Yeah, the off-course drama has been unbelievable this year. But in all honesty, it's probably the only chance to save the sport. There's finally a lot of action behind all of the talk, and people might start to get the idea that they could be arrested or publicly humiliated.

On a side note, Lance was supposedly coming to the tour...I'm guessing it would be better if he stayed away.

[lainie]

I feel duped. The whole tour is not only a farce, but it’s been making fun of racing fans. It’s sitting there, over in France, with its thumbs in its ears saying, “GOTCHA!” Between the crooked, lying laboratories; the race officials with political agendas; and the lying, cheating cheaters running the race, what good is this fricken thing anymore.

[junaid]

Doping yellow jersey winners seems to be de rigeur these days. It almost seems like a better idea to shoot for 2nd in the Tour de Farce—you’re more likely to end up winning the race!

Seriously. I do not think there are enough asterisks for the record books anymore. Between Bonds and Landis and Marion Jones etc., I am losing faith in winning athletes these days.

[luv2ski]

So I got home from my vacation Monday thinking, "Now I can watch the Tour in a reasonable time zone and enjoy the last week!". All I can say is that I don't have any "holy crap!"s left.

Despite all this mess, I still love cycling. I just hope they can salvage some integrity in the last week so that whoever wins can feel like they won something.

[deport]

Front page

Stage winner and overall leader Michael Rasmussen was removed from the race Wednesday. CHRISTOPHE ENA: AP

July 25, 2007, 5:32PM
Tour de France leader Rasmussen taken out of race
Sponsor Rabobank removes rider after Wednesday's stage win

Associated Press

GOURETTE, FRANCE — Tour de France leader Michael Rasmussen of Denmark has been removed from the race, a devastating blow to cycling's premier event which has been rocked by a series of doping scandals.

"Michael Rasmussen has been sent home for violating (the team's) internal rules," Rabobank team spokesman Jacob Bergsma told The Associated Press by phone Wednesday.

The expulsion, which Bergsma said was ordered by the Dutch team sponsor, was linked to "incorrect" information that Rasmussen gave to the team's sports director over his whereabouts last month. Rasmussen missed random drug tests May 8 and June 28.

The 33-year-old rider, who won Wednesday's stage, had looked set to win the race, which ends Sunday in Paris. But Tour officials questioned why he was allowed to take the start on July 7 in London, England.

"We cannot say that Rasmussen cheated, but his flippancy and his lies on his whereabouts had become unbearable," Tour director Christian Prudhomme told the AP.

The leader of cycling's governing body applauded the decision.

"My immediate reaction is, why didn't they do this at the end of June, when they had the same information," Pat McQuaid said. "The team decided to pull him out; that's their prerogative. I can only applaud that. It's a zero-tolerance policy, and it's a lesson for the future."

With Rasmussen out, Spanish rider Alberto Contador of the Discovery Channel team would move into the race lead.

[Wyatt's Torch]

That year the race into Paris was an ITT. Since then the ITT has been the day before.

[Wyatt's Torch]

“I feel duped. The whole tour is not only a farce, but it’s been making fun of racing fans. It’s sitting there, over in France, with its thumbs in its ears saying, “GOTCHA!” Between the crooked, lying laboratories; the race officials with political agendas; and the lying, cheating cheaters running the race, what good is this fricken thing anymore.”

Very well said. I fell the same way. The whole thing is now just one big disaster...shame for Contador as he’ll be remembered as the “winner” of the doping Tour. He deserves better...

[Vision]

I understand your feelings.

The question I have- which I posted back in the initial stages is- what is going on behind the scenes of this sport. I thought something had to be rotten either of the athletes or the official side...but now I’m wondering if the whole thing isn’t corrupt.(Corruption in Europe, especially France? Shocking \rolling eyes).

The worst part is I’m starting to question Landis and Armstrong; with LeMond's testimony and the espy video of Armstrong.

I haven't had the time to watch the last few stages. How are the commentators handling it?