This Tour de France is the most boring in my lifetime

Contador hasn't been "caught", yet, but his name was all over Operation Puerto. And with things like this, where there is smoke there is almost always fire. Funny how the Spanish cycling organization didn't pursue the case that had almost all their big names involved...

V6 wrote:

Today, he proved he is as good or better of a climber. Schleck proved he is a ridiculous climber and I find it hard to imagine Lance will maintain his lead after Ventoux.

One mountain stage isn't necessarily a great indication of how they will finish every mountain stage thereafter.

I'm certainly not saying Wiggins insn't as good or better a climber than Lance right now, but the first mountain stage doesn't decide the finishing places for the rest of the tour. I'm sure we'll see a lot of shake-ups over the next few big mountain stages.

According to French daily Le Monde, he refused then to undergo a DNA test that would have judged whether or not he had any link to the blood bags that were found in the investigation.[49]

On 28 July 2007, Le Monde, citing what it claimed was an investigation file to which it had access, stated that Contador's name appeared in several documents found during Operación Puerto.[50] According to some sources, Contador's name is mentioned on a list of then-Liberty Seguros teammates that appear on a document later identified as a list of training schedules for members of the team. A second reference includes initials of riders’ names that appeared on another training document, although neither of those two references could be linked to doping practices.[51]

On 30 July 2007, German doping expert Werner Franke accused Contador of having taken drugs in the past and being prescribed a doping regimen by Fuentes, who was connected with Operación Puerto.[52][53] He passed his allegations on to the German authorities on 31 July 2007.[54] Contador denied the accusations, saying "I was in the wrong team at the wrong time and somehow my name got among the documents."[54] On 10 August, Contador publicly declared himself to be a clean rider in face of suspicions about his alleged links to the Operación Puerto blood doping ring.[55]

quack wrote:

Contador hasn't been "caught", yet, but his name was all over Operation Puerto. And with things like this, where there is smoke there is almost always fire. Funny how the Spanish cycling organization didn't pursue the case that had almost all their big names involved...

Yes, I agree; funny that Contador, a big-name cyclist was let off the hook so easily. The Spanish big-wigs have a history of letting their top guys slide through. As long as I have followed cycling, since the early 1980's, many times famous riders have been let off the hook, oddly, in Spain.

But, what Contador did three years ago on the Liberty Seguros team and what is happening now are almost irrelevant. Unless someone can test the hold samples and compare them to Alberto's current samples (to match DNA), I doubt anything will come of past accusations.

What I care about is a clean sport. Moving ahead, test the heck of the current guys and give them immediate suspensions. I see the Tour De France authorities already kicked out the older Filleu rider for using his inhaler without a prescription.

quack wrote:

Contador hasn't been "caught", yet, but his name was all over Operation Puerto. And with things like this, where there is smoke there is almost always fire. Funny how the Spanish cycling organization didn't pursue the case that had almost all their big names involved...

It wasn't so much the Spanish cycling organization. The Puerto List was full of soccer players / Real Madrid / Barcelona CF. Whomever would have published that list would probably have been killed. If you suspend most players of the two best soccer teams in Spain, not only do those clubs go bankrupt but also the whole league would have lost their relevance as the world's 2nd best soccer league.

Btw: Spain won the EURO 2008. What a coincidence.

just about all the guys on the pro tour had their name associated with a scandal at some time or another. Right now as the TDF goes on there's an investigation in Austria involving Menchov an another in Begium for Ulrich who's been retired for 4 years, not to mention all the "proof" L'equipe has regarding LA. Also, Valverde is not racing on the Tour right now because he's been suspended in Italy (the tour goes through Italy tomorrow) based on a supposed involvment with doping. So if your assesment that "where there is smoke there is almost always fire" is correct, we would have a TDF and most UCI events with a bunch of no names.

I think this tour has been a little boring because guys like Ivan Basso and Michael Rasmussen have been banned. It's not necessarily a bad thing except for spectators who want the superhuman performances like Floyd Landis' ride.

have run both wrote:

Just watched the delayed coverage and can't believe the irony of George's team being responsible for decreaseing the time gap (because in the end a green jersey that is attainable IS more important than a one-day yellow) AND THEN Cavendish doesn't make good on it. The arrogant prick allowed his teammate to be denied yellow (regardless of its fleeting passage) and he doesn't even take the sprint (NOT EVEN CLOSE). In a just world that would haunt Cavendish.

George is a class act. Someday it won't matter as much and he will get the last laugh, beit professionally or personally.

George's team did NOT 'lead the chase'; they were trying to disrupt it to slow things a bit so that George could get yellow before the next stages would take it out of reach or this Tour and his career.

I do not think that he was angry at Astana and if you look he does not have reason to be (they stopped chasing -- a 'responsibility' that they have for several reasons -- once the gap came down enough for George to still get yellow but for there not be be other problems).

I know people choose to not believe what has been reported, but Contador was cleared of any wrongdoing in the Puerto affair. Even the central figure in Puerto, Eufemiano Fuentes, specifically cleared Contador even though he really had no reason to do so. Contador was hardly a famous cyclist at the time and any casual fan would not have known who he was back then.

http://www.velonews.com/article/12964

As far as Rasmussen, he has had doping allegations follow him throughout the later years of his career. His actions prior to and during the 2007 Tour were suspicious and his ever-changing explanations basically sealed his fate that he was covering up his own doping.

Furthermore, Rasmussen was no run-of-the-mill doper. He acted like a sh!thead and flaunted his behavior. He allegedly even co-owned a centrifuge that he rented out for profit to help other athletes blood dope. Rasmussen has earned all of the punishments given to him. I hope he is never allowed to compete again.

http://www.velonews.com/article/12851

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=features/2007/rasmussen_report_nov071

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=7613205

Back two years ago another rider said that they had just heard that someone had been nabbed at the Tour (on the rest day, I think). I guessed two names -- Vinokorov and Rasmussen. It turned to be the Vino, but not too many days later the problems with Rasmussen surfaced (I am of Danish ancestry, but I do not like the guy).This post is credible to me.

Acutally, I don't think Rasmussen was a doper at all, he was fanatical about weight and it took quite a while to acutally be a Yellow Jersey holder, but he had always been a mountain Climber and was on a hell of a streak of Polka dotted jerseys, but he did however support dopers so I guess the punishment is justifiable, even though his team stole his tour win from him.

All the clueless Lance fanboys on this board are funny.

Jeff D, how do you know Eufemiano Fuentes didn't have something to gain by letting Contador off the hook?

You sound like you're full of shit which makes your word worth absolutely nothing. So kindly STFU and F*** off.

@Truth you're right. It's not like I know Fuentes personally or anything, so it's my opinion just like you have one. I appreciate the counter argument but maybe next time you could post a better-written response.

Oh, and by the way, the linked articles are not made up. If you have a problem with my point of view, then you need to debunk the journalists' accounts also.

This tour remains boring. One phenomenal attack by AC and a pitiful response by lance, wiggins, schleck et al. and the tour is over.

Truthiness wrote:

So kindly STFU and F*** off.

And a glorious f**k off to you too

Time for all of the Lance haters to eat crow

Stout wrote:

Did they start expanding the podium to the 12th place finisher?

Contador, Andy S., B-Wigg, and Sastre are all locks to beat him, Kloden, CVV, Frank S. and a few others all have pretty great shots at knocking him down too. LA should be ecstatic if he finishes top 10.