Tour de Dope

Because we were on vacation, cut-off from the civilized world in Disneyland, I did not find out who won the Tour de France until I got home and watched the final seven stages.

Okay, so Disneyland isn't as remote as I wanted it to be. I had internet access. TV. A daily newspaper ... I did quite well in avoiding ANY information about the Tour, but two events percolated up through my email and the front page. Alexander Vinokourov's positive dope test after his Time Trial win on stage 13, and the ousting of the yellow jersey, Michael Rasmussen, after stage 16.

Vinokourov had a nasty crash on stage five, giving him a huge purple bruise on his ass and requiring stitches in both knees. Ouch. He hung in there and tried to limit his losses. His team even attacked on a flat stage 11 when the peloton hit a nasty cross wind. Astana took advantage of the wind and forced a split in the peloton, dropping the 6th place rider Christophe Moreau, among others, who dropped from 6th place to 11th because of the split.

Vinokourov trounced everyone on the first individual time trial. Of course, a few days later his test results came back and showed that he had someone else's blood coarsing through his veins that day ... eww! I hope he knows them!

It's unfortunate that the Tour has descended to this level. Who knows if Vino has doped before. He always seemed like a true gladiator out on the road, now he will always be suspect. His cycling career is over.

The big surprise of the Tour was Michael Rasmussen of Team Rabobank. Rasmussen is a great climber and has always been in contention for the King of the Mountains jersey, but he is VERY skinny and doesn't possess enough power to keep him going on the time trials.

He took the yellow jersey on Stage 8 as they hit the mountains. I don't think anyone expected him to hold the jersey to the end, but after continuing to answer every call through the alps, he had a great time trial finishing 11th, just over a minute behind the main contenders (not including Vinokourov who was yet another minute ahead thanks to the extra blood.)

Rasmussen never tested positive for anything, but he was under suspicion after he failed to report for off-season testing in June. According to the UCI, a rider needs to be available for testing several times during the off-season and they also need to report their travels.

Rasmussen was suppose to be tested in June and failed to report his whereabouts in a timely manner. He said later that he was in Mexico with relatives. His wife is Mexican. His team and the Danish cycling federation was concerned enough that they barred him from competing in some future competitions but they did not keep him from entering the Tour. It all seemed like a technicality until a reporter said that he saw Rasmussen two days in June in the Italian Mountains.

Team Rabobank, unhappy with Rasmussen and his refusal to deal straight with them pulled the entire team from the Tour, marking the first time the yellow jersey has ever been pulled from the race. They started stage 17 without someone wearing the yellow jersey. It fell to Discovery Channel's Alberto Contador who was in second place. He held it until the end.

Levi Leipheimer, my pre-race favorite, also with Discovery Channel, moved into third place and nearly took second after his great Time Trial on stage 19, but Contador was far better in the mountains and won the Tour as a result. The Australian Cadel Evans finished in second. Contador is just 24 years old and I've heard some accusations now that he doped as well, which might just be people trying to grab the limelight, but who knows any more. It sure makes it hard to cheer someone on. I keep thinking, what a great ride, I hope they aren't doping!