2007 Le Tour de France Official Thread

[Redgodzila]

Vinokourov might have bitten off more then he could chew.....if that's even possible.

Predictor-Lotto to sue Astana

The Predictor-Lotto team are to launch a claim for damages from Astana after their leader Alexandre Vinokourov was tested positive for blood doping.

The Kazakh won the 54-kilometre time-trial at Albi, blazing round the course a full 1 minute 14 seconds quicker than the rest of the field, which was led by Australian Cadel Evans. The Belgian outfit are now set to sue Astana for the publicity they missed out on through Evans not having won the stage.

Predictor-Lotto are set to meet with lawyers before deciding on the exact details of the claim.

eurosport

What a train wreck this tour has turned out to be

 

[daan]

This is promising.


Taken from Yahoo.

The Tour, and cycling, is heading in the right direction now. The old (doping) guard is leaving, or being forced to leave, and a new clean generation seems to be coming in.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

I agree, that was also what I particularly agreed with among Phil Liggett's comments yesterday:

I don’t think this is cycling’s darkest hour. I think it might with hindsight in a few years time be its finest hour because they have now trapped the cheats.

It's unfortunate that it had to come to this, and even more unfortunate that some clean riders have likely been, and will likely be accused of being dirty, and that some clean riders will be punished because of the actions of their teammates.

For example I really felt Menchov's anger and pain throughout the Tour. I'm sure he expected to be the team leader of Rabobank, and then to lose that to Rasmussen, then to sacrifice his own opportunity to protect Rasmussen, only to then have him forced off the Tour after all but one remaining mountain stage leaving Menchov absolutely no hope for a decent finish must have been heart breaking. I suspect it was emotions rather than exhaustion that made him pull off to the side of the road during stage 17 and call it quits.

However, I do believe this is a sign that cycling, more than any other sport is truly dedicated to end all forms of doping in their sport, and in the end, only good things can come from that! 👍

 

[daan]

I felt really sorry for Boogerd today. He deserved to win the stage considering he gave up his own tour performance to help Rasmussen.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

True, but you have to be happy with Sandy Casar's victory. This is likely his last Tour, and he has never before won a stage in the TdF. That, and it was such a well deserved victory, especially after having to recover on the road from that nasty crash with the stray dog early in the stage, and his well timed attack on the breakaway leading up to the finish.

 

[Redgodzila]

This is promising.


Taken from Yahoo.

That poll makes sense to me. It wouldn't matter what occured in the tour. It will always be le tour.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

New Tour Doping Case Looms?
By Cyclingnews staff

Following the exclusion of pre-race favourite Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana), race leader Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) and Christian Moreni (Cofidis) from the race, hopes that the Tour de France would get to Paris with no further scandals appear uncertain due to rumours that another doping case has taken place.

Unconfirmed reports have said that a prominent rider tested positive on last Sunday's Pyrenean stage to Plateau de Beille.

Tour de France organisers ASO have called a press conference for 11 am on Saturday, where they are expected to elaborate further on the situation.

Here are the top ten finishers of stage 14

 1. CONTADOR Alberto  112 DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM 5h 25' 48"   
 2. RASMUSSEN Michael  58 RABOBANK               5h 25' 48"  
 3. SOLER HERNANDEZ   219 BARLOWORLD             5h 26' 25" + 00' 37" 
 4. LEIPHEIMER Levi   111 DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM 5h 26' 28" + 00' 40" 
 5. SASTRE Carlos      31 TEAM CSC               5h 26' 41" + 00' 53" 
 6. KLÖDEN Andréas    196 ASTANA                 5h 27' 40" + 01' 52" 
 7. EVANS Cadel        41 PREDICTOR - LOTTO      5h 27' 40" + 01' 52" 
 8. COLOM Antonio     192 ASTANA                 5h 28' 11" + 02' 23" 
 9. KASHECHKIN Andrey 195 ASTANA                 5h 28' 11" + 02' 23" 
10. POPOVYCH Yaroslav 118 DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM 5h 28' 54" + 03' 06"

Four of them have already been removed from the Tour.



BTW: Jan Koerts, the 2001 Dutch national champion, announced live on Dutch television Wednesday night that he used doping products during this career.

It was only two months ago that the famous Danish TdF champion, Bjarne Riis from the former Team Telekom announced that he had been doping with EPO, growth hormones and cortisone from 1993 to 1998, including 1996 when he won the Tour. Bjarne Riis announced this at a press meeting the day after several former team members of his, including Erik Zabel and Brian Holm had admitted to using doping during the 1990s. Since then he has had his voctory striped from him, and while allowed to particpate in this year's Tour, Erik Zabel has lost all respect among the peloton.

Riis and now Rasmussen, this has not been a good week/couple months for Danish cycling.

 

[Redgodzila]

Pwoar! Leipheimer is killing them!

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

Still no official word on any additional doping violations, so it may have just been a rumor.


As for today's critical ITT stage, it looks like it is going to be very close among all the top three riders at the start of the stage!!!

At the start of today's stage Cadel Evans was only 1'50" behind Contador, and Levi was only 59" behind Cadel Evans.

At the first check point at 17.5k, Contador was on pace to lose about 1'10" to Cadel Evans and Cadel Evans was on pace to lose about 44" to Levi which would keep the standing the same, but much closer.

However, as expected Contador began losing his pace, and Levi is showing his ITT prowess.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Let's hope none of these 3 are so dumb or desperate that they've taken doping before the Time Trial, you never know in this years Tour...

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

RIP: Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team

"We hardly knew you."


Discovery Disbands: Tailwind Sports Confirms Team's End
Published on August 10, 2007 by Laura Weislo of Cycling News

Tailwind Sports has announced the end of the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team today, confirming rumours that cropped up when the team failed to announce a new sponsor after winning the Tour de France. The team was given notice that the Discovery Channel would not renew its sponsorship back in February, leading to a long and intensive search for a replacement sponsor.

Despite having won eight Tours de France, the team will fold at the end of this season, leaving 27 riders looking for new jobs, including 2007 Tour winner Alberto Contador, third place finisher Levi Leipheimer, and eighth place finisher Yaroslav Popovych. American George Hincapie is rumoured to have already signed with T-Mobile for the upcoming year, a team whose sponsor was uncertain to continue in the sport until rigorous talks led to a renewal of commitment from the sponsor with plenty of conditions.

Discovery Channel team General Manager Bill Stapleton admitted in the organisation's press release that the search for a new sponsor had gone nowhere. "We were in talks with a number of companies about the opportunity and were confident a new sponsor was imminent. We have chosen, however, to end those discussions."

The team was said to have been close to signing a deal in March, but no announcement followed the news. As the season wore on, Bruyneel had gone as far as China to search for a replacement sponsor, but by June, the team had still failed to ink a deal. The team was rumoured to be asking $45 million for three years - a difficult sell in the current climate of doping scandals in the sport.

That the team which won eight Tours can not find a sponsor bodes poorly for the sport in general. "Tailwind has had an amazing ten years of success with U.S. Postal and more recently Discovery Channel as its title sponsor. This is arguably the most successful sports franchise in the history of sport," stated Stapleton. "This was a difficult decision, not made any easier by our recent Tour de France success."

Directeur sportif Johan Bruyneel built the team from a fledgling squad of Americans to a Tour powerhouse starting in 1999. With Lance Armstrong, the team went on to win seven Tours. While the squad struggled in the wake of Armstrong's retirement in 2005, it found its footing once again in this year's Tour and came out with it's best performance ever with two men on the podium. "When I came to direct this team in 1999 I never would have imagined that we could achieve this level of success. It was an amazing time in my life and the lives of all the staff and riders associated with this team," commented Bruyneel.

While successful, the team was not without its share of controversy. Lance Armstrong was hounded by doping allegations throughout his career as Tour champion, and the signing of Italian Ivan Basso to the squad last fall created a firestorm of criticism from the other ProTour teams who viewed the move as a violation of the ProTour code of ethics. Basso was implicated in Operación Puerto, but was cleared by the Italian Federation when the Spanish judge in charge of the investigation shelved the case. Basso was free to race when the Discovery Channel signed him, but the scandal continued to haunt the Giro d'Italia winner, and he was finally suspended by the team and subsequently admitted to his involvement with the blood doping clinic.

Bruyneel's future in the sport is now in question, with Rabobank being the only ProTour team in search of a directeur sportif. "I'm going to miss the staff, riders and the excitement of the races, but not all the in fighting between the teams. This Team has become my family and it is very sad to think that we will not be together next season. 2007 has been our most successful season ever and I expect the remainder of the season to continue on that same path."

Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, a co-owner of the team, took a more optimistic view. "I do not think you have seen the last of this organisation in the sport, but clearly things need to improve on many levels, with a more unified front, before you would see us venture back into cycling," Armstrong added. The Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team will continue to race its full calendar of Pro Tour races including the final grand tour of the season, the Tour of Spain, as well as the upcoming Tour of Missouri.

The dissolution of the Discovery Channel team leaves one ProTour license up for grabs, leading to speculation that Team Slipstream could be the next American ProTour team. Manager Jonathan Vaughters told Cyclingnews that he wasn't sure his team would be able to take on three Grand Tours. "The ProTour requires that teams race the Giro, the Tour and the Vuelta - and that's a huge undertaking," said Vaughters. His team has already signed ProTour riders David Zabriskie, David Millar, Christian Vande Velde, Magnus Backstedt, Julian Dean and Christophe Laurent.

 

[Redgodzila]

Quite sad. To see such a team struggle to find sponsers gives weight to the argument that the doping rife in the sport is killing cycling.
I'm sure we'll see them back in some form in the future, but that could take time with the number of Protour licences given out......or more to the point, the lack of protour licences given out.