Tour De France 2007

[Stumps]

As the info about Rasmussen avoiding testing was released 5 or so days ago I presumed Rabobank had investigated it and cleared him internally- this is a devestating moment for cycling and ruins the cred of such a great event. I must admit this decision is alot less of a shock than that of Vino's +ve test but still... it has to be said though quoting the attached article that rasmussen has passed 14 drug tests so far this tour..so as far as we know he produced his amazing climbing effort last night "clean". Poor old evans, hes be thinking why do i bother (presuming he is clean too).
Forgot he came 2nd in the TT- well played Cadel

[Grahaml]

Reports indicate Rabobank the company demanded he be dropped. More informtation has been made public with him all but sewing up the lead. Perhaps he is clean, but the suspicion hurt the sponsors too much, and the team acted. Because he was withdrawn he keeps his stage wins so Evans won't climb to third possie (which would give him 4 extra seconds on Contador). The director of the race has been spewing all week that the team knew the info about him missing drugs testing a few times without doing anything because the organisers can't do anything unless he actually tests positive during the tour. Evans now 1 minute 53 behind Contador, and nearly a minute ahead of Leipheimer. Can't see Leipheimer making that much up but Evans rode 1 minute 4 faster than Contador, and with this stage suiting Evans more this could be a close run thing.

[Grahaml]

Oh, and one of the Cofidis riders, Moreni, tested positive and so Cofidis are out. With Rasmussen and Cofidis gone there's about 140 riders left. I can't remember the last time we saw so many riders start but not finish the tour.

[am Bays]

As the info about Rasmussen avoiding testing was released 5 or so days ago I presumed Rabobank had investigated it and cleared him internally- this is a devestating moment for cycling and ruins the cred of such a great event. I must admit this decision is alot less of a shock than that of Vino's +ve test but still... it has to be said though quoting the attached article that rasmussen has passed 14 drug tests so far this tour..so as far as we know he produced his amazing climbing effort last night "clean". Poor old evans, hes be thinking why do i bother (presuming he is clean too).
Forgot he came 2nd in the TT- well played Cadel

That means two fifths of bugger all. All that means is he hasn't got any masking agents or amphetimines in him, he could of loaded up on steroids prior to the event in a training phase (when the Danes were looking for him), now he is "officially clean" but still ahs the physiological effects of the steroids. Hence why out of competition teasting was introduced in 1989 and why Flo Jo "coincidently" retired the day after....

[Grahaml]

Evans' team is sueing Astana for 10 million Euro for loss of exposure for their sponsors following the revelations of Vino's test on the TT stage. Evans would have been the winner and saluted the crowd on the podium but never got to do so. Hope they win. With the polic of pulling the whole team out for 1 test the cheaters know that not only do they lose themselves if caught, but their clean, honest, hardworking teammates who suffered on their behalf are gone. Rasmussen would never be able to look Menchov or Boogerd in the face again. Menchov incidently withdrew today on an easy stage after killing himself for Rasmussen over the mountains. Boogerd will retire shortly after a long and distinguished career having wasted 3 weeks of torture. Add to that the possibility that you might also lose the team millions and the pressure on the cheaters must be heating up all the time. And good on them too. I'd hate to ride knowing my career would end in disgrace, my teammates would hate me forever and the team would report me in an instant should I do something wrong.

[Grahaml]

Contador also reported to have "links" with some dodgy doctor. Nothing turned up yet other than guilt by association, but on the evidence so far those links have proven the crime for many riders as things are turned up later.

[devilsadvocate]

Good points you raise there Grahaml regarding Rasmussen's team mates. He, Moreni and Vino have disgraced themselves and deserve everything they get!

It's so devastating to see one of the greatest evens in the world tarnished like it has been this year, especially after last year.

On the bright side, I think my earlier criticsm of Cadel's arrogance was perhaps a little harsh. I think a lot of it could be attributed to his knowledge that a number of riders around him are cheats. I think being beaten by a cheat would be one of the most frustrating things, and I suspect his comments I criticised earlier were more frustration at the cheats being given so much recognition.

Lets hope Cadel is clean and has a cracking time trial. It would be brilliant to see an Aussie wear the Yellow Jersey to Paris!

[Thiele]

Good luck to Cadel Evans tonight

[fuzz]

What a time trial!!!! 35 km in and it is a ding dong battle. It is going to be very tight. Levi Leipheimer is riding the stge of his life. Looks like he could cause an upset and hold Yellow at the end of the stage. C'mon Cadel

[Thiele]

Massive race comming up tomorrow night in paris

[Thiele]

Good last 5k by Cadel

[fuzz]

Awesome last 5km by Cadel. He will be at least 2nd coming into the Champs Elysees.

[fuzz]

Great job by Contador. Unfortunately for Cadel he will miss out by 23 seconds. One of the closest tours of all time. Besides all of the drug scandels it has been a fantastic Tour. Cadel has done our country proud and Contador has proved he is an absolute champion and will certainly win many future Tours. (Hopefully he is clean!!!). Awesome Time Trial by Leiphemer though. Rode the Race of his life. A guaranteed podium finish for Cadel proving there are no major mishaps. Nice work. Viva Le Tour!!!!

[MightyEagles]

Cadel needs to be apart of a break away and hope that the leader and any other of the top few don't come along and that the break away win by at least 30 seconds.

[devilsadvocate]

There was a cheeky breakaway around Paris, but Cadel was never a chance to get on it. The couple of times he tried it, the response was instant.

Cracking tour for Cadel. He was always around the mark. IMO a cruicial factor in his 2nd place was the pace set by the cheats. I think if Cadel was able to set the pace, rather than waste so much effort trying to keep in touch with the cheating scum, his deficit going into yesterdays time trial may well have been a buffer.

Still, despits the drug problems, the tour was entertaining, and Cadel will be back next year, as will a hungrier than ever Michael Rogers. Hopefully Stu O'Grady returns too.

[Stumps]

yeah good call DA, i think Rasmussen should get a few $$ coming his way off contador, between them they tried to make it a race in two, and when rasmussen left it was pretty much a race in 1 (although 23 secs is not much!!!). Im not going to say "well done Cadel" cos im pretty sure hes not gonna read this, what I will say is that i was pretty chuffed with his efforts glad he did the nation proud, it will give mcEwen some heart too after a dispappointing tour for the great man. Good talking with all posters on this forum and hopefully do it all again next year

Stumps

[devilsadvocate]

Yeah, good work Stumps. I might actually get out on my bike after work instead of sit on my fat kaiber watching le tour!

Can't wait for next year. I'm hoping to get to Paris for the last stage in 2008. Hopefully provide some pics too!