Tour de France 2007

I actually admire Millar. He gave an interview a couple of years ago which was as frank as anything I've heard. He had a passion for cycling, lost that passion and I think he's genuinely found it again.

I know Rassmussen tested clean recently, but isn't the suspicion that he did his doping whilst doing his hard training?

There's also the story of an ex-friend being duped into carrying blood doping agents by him about 5 years ago.

I agree totally though that any story about Rassmussen could easily have been broken by the Danes at the end of June

I'm gonna back of this thread now, want to watch ITV4 this evening without knowing the result.

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Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid

Calos Sastre has made a bit of a breakaway today. Could be significant - anyone watching? Stuck at work.

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might be able to watch it on www.tg4.tv I am (with the english despatches on www.letour.fr for names etc)

The little Columbian looks to have made the polkadot jersey his own

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Originally Posted by Macy

I don't think it's true if that's about him now being a woman? iirc the author was asked about that when he was Off The Ball and he said it's not true?

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Christ I hope not although his disappearance for years is questionable. Nearly lost my lunch when I saw the photo there though.

ETA placed bombs along the route today. Luckily the Tour had passed before they went off. Fcuking scum.

KOH

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Originally Posted by Dodge

might be able to watch it on www.tg4.tv I am (with the english despatches on www.letour.fr for names etc)

The little Columbian looks to have made the polkadot jersey his own

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Thanks - cant seem to get that TG4 link to work, following on le tour website which has been a Godsend the last 2 and a half weeks!

Soler / Sastre group lead about 5 mins now.

Millar is a cycling legend, did a hell of a lot for the sport. If he wants to be a she now, so be it, s/he is entitled to his life as he wants - he never courted fame back in the day, he just cycled. I think that it was noted newspaper the Daily mail that decided to drag that old number back up when the tour started.

If s/he wants to wear pink lipstick and a thong and sing Marlene Deitrich songs in his personal and private life, let him, and let him be as long as s/he doesn't make a deal of trying to be in the media. Open season on the idiots (regardless of gender or whatever) who do.

Not true though. The original story has been removed from the link above

Cristian Moreni of Cofidis has been confirmed as rider who tested positive for testosterone following the Tour de France's 11th stage on July 19. Coming just one day after news that Astana's Alexandre Vinoukourov tested positive for a blood transfusion, news of the second positive doping control hit the Tour de France when the French newspaper L'Equipe reported Wednesday afternoon that one sample from stage 11 has tested positive for testosterone. It was later announced that the rider in question was Cofidis' Cristian Moreni.

The newspaper reported that the analysis to determine if the testosterone was of exogenous origin had already been completed, and the IRMS confirmed that the chemical came not from the rider's body but from a man-made source.

The testing was performed at the Châtenay-Malabry laboratory - the same lab responsible for performing tests on Floyd Landis' 2006 Tour sample that showed a similar result. This result is the second positive of the Tour, and the third testosterone positive announced this month after Patrik Sinkewitz (T-Mobile) and Matthias Kessler (Astana).

The 2004 Italian Champion finished 102nd on the transitional stage to Montpellier, 3'20" behind winner Robert Hunter (Barloworld). In addition to his national championship win, the rider from Lombardia finished second in the 2005 Tour stage 18, in Mâcon, behind Matteo Tosatto. A B-Sample may be requested by the 34 year-old.

Moreni and the Cofidis team were part of a group of riders who staged a protest at the start of today's stage in Orthez, along with the other French teams and the Gerolsteiner squad. The teams came together to form the new 'Mouvement pour un cyclisme crédible' - and stayed behind at the start and allowing the rest of the peloton to ride on ahead in protest of continued doping in the peloton, as evidenced by Vinokourov's positive test for blood transfusion.

Leader Rasmussen kicked off Tour

Race leader Michael Rasmussen has been kicked out of the Tour de France and sacked by his Rabobank team.

The 33-year-old Dane has been at the centre of controversy during the Tour since it was revealed he missed out-of-competition drugs tests.

Rasmussen looked odds-on to win the Tour on Sunday after taking Wednesday's stage, which increased his lead over second-placed rider Alberto Contador.

But Rabobank have learnt he lied to them about his whereabouts in June.

Young Spaniard Contador now assumes the race lead with four days remaining.

And the Discovery Channel rider will go into Thursday's flat stage from Pau to Castelsarrasin with a one minute 57 seconds lead over Australian Cadel Evans.

Rasmussen's sacking follows the high-profile positive drugs test on pre-race favourite Alexandre Vinokourov in a dramatic 24 hours for the race.

Vinokourov's Astana team withdrew from the race in protest, and Cofidis have also pulled out following the positive test on their rider Cristian Moreni.

Rasmussen has admitted making a mistake in missing out-of-competition drugs tests but insists he backs moves to make cycling drug-free.

"I'm sorry the situation is coming out now, when I'm wearing the yellow jersey, and it's harming the sport that I dearly love," he said before his 16th stage win.

"I want to make absolutely clear I've had out-of-competition tests prior to the Tour de France, 14 tests during the Tour and all the results are negative.

"I do support my team in the fight against doping and [for] a clean sport."

However, Rabobank have since discovered that Rasmussen lied to them over where and what he was up to during the month of June, when he was in fact in Italy and not in Mexico as he had told them.

"Michael Rasmussen has been sent home for violating the team's internal rules," said a Rabobank spokesman.

It remains unclear whether the team will continue riding or pull out as Astana and Cofidis have.

The Danish Cycling Union said last week Rasmussen had been warned for missing two random controls earlier this year and banned him from September's world championships and the 2008 Olympic Games.

It later emerged he had already been warned twice by the International Cycling Union (UCI) for missing two separate random tests in the past 18 months.

Rabobank manager Theo de Rooy said he was aware of the missed tests and revealed he fined Rasmussen 10,000 Euros (£6,720).

"I informed the UCI about the missed tests prior to the Tour de France, and UCI president Pat McQuaid has said that they could not prevent Michael Rasmussen from racing on the Tour," said De Rooy.

"For me, there is no case to answer."

As part of Tour de France policy, the race leader is tested after each stage and Rasmussen has worn yellow since his breakaway win in Tignes last Sunday.

However, De Rooy has now taken the ultimate action after new information came to light about Rasmussen's whereabouts that made a mockery of the rider's claim he made simply made an "administrative error".

McQuaid said: "My immediate reaction is, why didn't they do this at the end of June, when they had the same information?

"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."

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said: "The important thing is not that he has been sacked by his team but that he will not be at the start of the stage tomorrow.

"We cannot say that Rasmussen cheated, but his flippancy and his lies on his whereabouts had become unbearable.

"I at the very least do not feel that I have been dishonoured.

"One cannot mock the Tour de France impunitively like those riders," he added, referring to Rasmussen, Moreni and Vinokourov.

What more is there to say.

Is there any other sport where drugs is used as widely in?

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Originally Posted by sligoman

Is there any other sport where drugs is used as widely in?

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As I said above, from reading Game of Shadows, athletics and baseball would be the worse.

As Macy said above cyclists go through more testing than anyone.

The question is do more rigourous tests catch more people because of the tests, or because of the amount of doping

I'd say drug taking is rampant in a lot of sports (Jockeys well known to do it).
A German TV official who was asked (after he pulled the plug on the Tour) would he have done the same if a Footballer was caught during the World Cup refused to answer the question.

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Originally Posted by sligoman

Is there any other sport where drugs is used as widely in?

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Well it's not like drugs/ methods that increase aerobic capacity, stamina, recovery etc wouldn't be useful in other sports...

No other sports do the number of tests, or the amount of different tests as cycling. If footballers were doing the blood transfusions who the fook would anyone ever know if they're never tested? Same with the testosterone that is used to help recovery which surely has potential for footballers?

There are Negative and positives in all of this,
All of these drug problems are undoubtedly turning people of the sport, no one wants to watch a sport when you're constantly wondering if the winner is juiced up, it must surely disuade kids from getting involved at a serious level.

On the plus side, yes there are drugs in cycling but after years of having their head in the sand they are making huge leaps forward. 2/3 years ago would a team have sacked the race leader for lieing to them about why he missed an out of competition test, I think not. How many other sports still have their head in the sands, athletics is certainly no cleaner than cycling and has nowhere near the amount of testing that cycling does. Pat McQuaid was on 5live here this morning and was asked when he thought the next drug free Tour would be, he said they've had 2 disastrous Tours they can't afford a 3rd one next year, which is why he hopes it will be drug free. I hope that doesn't mean they return to the days of sweeping it under the carpet.

I heard McQuaid in a radio interview the other day saying it's the older guys who do it, the younger ones are clean.

Do the words of Dick Pound from Oct 2005 still resonate today?
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/cycling/...600610,00.html
"Get something straight. This drug use is not the accidental ingestion of a tainted supplement by an individual athlete. It is planned and deliberate cheating, with complex methods, sophisticated substances and techniques, and the active complicity of doctors, scientists, team officials and riders. There is nothing accidental about it. All this cheating goes on under the supposedly watchful eyes of cycling officials, who loudly proclaim that their sport is drug-free and committed to remaining so. Based on performance, they should not be allowed outdoors without white canes and seeing-eye dogs.

Faced with overwhelming evidence that doping continues and that its own testing programmes are not effective, cycling should outsource them to an independent agency and act effectively to impose meaningful sanctions when positive cases arise. Testing needs to be targeted, with no notice, and from the moment a rider has been notified that he has been selected for a test he must be supervised until the sample is provided. The programme must operate 24 hours a day, to include the time when the doping activities occur.

Is cycling serious about doping? How about a biblical answer: there are none so blind as those that will not see. Until cycling itself acknowledges that there is a problem, it will not be able to find a cure. Ritual denial and organisational omerta are not solutions."

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Vino was one of the so-called "men in black" before the Tour started, cyclists training in non-descript kit, not their team training kit, in remote locations to avoid being recognised. Vino claimed it was to avoid hangers on and ametuers trying to ride with him. Yeah right.

As I saw elsewhere this morning, "In Vino no Veritas". Shame, because I think everyone liked his style, just like everyoneone loved the Abdoujaparov from Uzbekistan before him.

Rassmussen missed 4 tests, 2 each for different orgainsations.

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Vino joined up with the discredited Michele Ferarri last year. He must have been a marked man then. His ride on Monday after finishing 30 mins down on Saturday was reminiscent of Floyd Lanids' miraculous recovery last year.

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Originally Posted by Dodge

Not true though. The original story has been removed from the link above

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Check again.

Another sad day yesterday.


KOH

Your link is still there but the article it used as its source is gone (it links to This is London)

The running of the Tour in this year, according to Wikipedia, is the most drug free to date ever...

Yes, but the 2 out of 3 involved have altered the race by winning stages.