cfforum

Well, looks like another team will soon bite the dust.

Is this the right action? Is it unjust? Is ASO ruining the sport? Are they making the sport better? Will Levi jump ship? If so, where will he land?

Any opinions out there?

I keep going back to Armstrong's comment last August when he said something like, "Without any gaurantees of event participation, we just couldn't commit a sponsor to this sport." The UCI and the ASO will have a very large problem on their hand as sponsors continue to back out.

As for the sporting aspect, I'd love to see Levi on Team Slipstream lining up at the Tour start wearing Argyle.

Mark

Imagine if Major League Baseball excluded the Yankees for a year because there were several players there caught doping....what would that do to MLB?

It's impossible for me to believe that Doping is the whole story here. Various analyses on the web seem to point to the rift between ASO and UCI. Those two are doing to cycling what CART and the IRL did for Indy Cars/Open Wheel Racing in the US. ... namely - gave NASCAR the opening to grab the center stage and relegate open wheel to the role of a bit-player.

To not give the reigning Tour Champion a chance to defend, or two other riders who are arguably contenders for the Tour Crown, is inexplicable to me.

One of the riders (Matthias Kessler) were cited as part of Astana's "checkered past," but correct me if I'm wrong, that Matthais spent a ton of time on the T-Mobile (Now High-road) Squad until the past two years. Why isn't High-Road being excluded?

What about Rabobank? The single Seismic Event in the Tour was Rassmussen - and he alleges that he never lied to team management - so they labor under a mantel of suspicion regarding their role in the 2007 debacle.

I think it's sad.... this is a beautiful, graceful, and powerful sport. It combines heroic personal efforts with teamwork and immeasurable levels of fitness - all against the dramatic backdrops that are the roads of some of the most picturesque places on earth. To have all that blown apart by what I can only characterize as unbelieveable mismanagement is to watch the sport thowing the baby out with the bath water. I may not watch the Tour this year. I am certainly sending a note to Versus saying as much. Only by pressuring sponsors to act can someone restore sense to this environment.

in my mind - this (over) reaction to Astana's (Liberty Seguros) past would be justifed if they had not completely dismantled and rebuilt the team with all new management, new athletes, etc....

If all you have to do to eliminate a strong opponent from the Tour in coming years' is to create a cloud of suspicion, then we will be seeing second-rate cycle racing for the forseeable future. In todays' media, almost anyone can accuse someone else of doing virtually anything and the press goes along like lemmings.

Sorry for the long posting - it was not that I wanted Contador to repeat (I do feel badly for Leipheimer) but I wanted a competitive race. Now it's going to be less so in my mind.

update - Cadel Evans said he does not want to ride if his main rivals are not there.

In addtion - both the pro teams’ association and the pro riders’ union indicated last week that they are prepared to boycott this year’s Giro d’Italia should the organizers not accept Astana and other UCI ProTour teams to the Italian grand tour. It’s likely they will now threaten to boycott the Tour. (source - Velonews)

Here is my posting to the editor of Velonews:

Editor,

Where was the ASO after the Festina Affair in 1998 when Festina started the 1999 Tour, the 2000 Tour, and the 2001 Tour until the Festina sponsorship finally ended. But of course, they were a French team although registered in Andorra as I recall. Oh, and what French star was part of the Festina Affair that is still racing the Tour each year, yet never linked back to the scandal of 98? None other then Christophe Moreau of course. There is no justice in the Astana decision. Only injustice in their unfair distribution of blame and penalties between French riders and teams vs. non-French riders and teams. I'll bet a buck that Cofidis will be on the start line in July. Did the ASO forget Millar raced for Cofidis when he doped, or that Cofidis also had riders doping last year also? No doping history on that French team is there?

Mark, in response to your letter to the editor: The French could argue that doping has clearly continued since '98. Now more drastic measures must be taken.... But like you, I too wonder what about Cofidis.

What's the start date of that Tour of America? It looks like May and July have just about opened up for some pretty interesting team entries. Just as DaveyD said, the door is wide open for a new chapter to begin. Let's seize the opportunity and let the homophobic nations have their formerly important national races.

=- Curt

BTW: If you've dealt with European's much, you will know they are not often wishy-washy. I seriously doubt the ASO will "change their minds."

=- Curt

LOL - I was about to say the same thing - there is now a giant opening for a Grand Tour in July. Tour of America is a nice idea because our "bastille day" is in July too.

The posibilities of raising the stakes in the US with respect to Prize money is scary too - it could be set up so no one could afford to miss the Tour d'Amerique..... If you look at the prize money offered in Golf or Tennis I would think that a properly run event could be giving away REAL money vs. the chump change that the Tour de France wins. Only issue is curing the rectal-cranial insertion that seems to be affecting the dude who's claiming to organize the Tour of America.

Not sure I like "Tour of America" though.....

Vuelta a America?
Giro d'Amerigo?

still missing something.....I'll have to think about it.

Oh - and in response to the notion that "drastic measures need to be taken." (not to argue with you HairyCurt because I think you were just being devils' advocate)

Had the ASO decided soon after the TDF last year (or in late 2007) that Astana woiuld be barred in 2008, that would have been fair.

To do it this late in the game is patently unfair and sends the wrong message:

Take EXTRAORDINARY measures to clean up your team. Fire everyone and start over. Spend 460K Euros per year on an anti-doping program....
....get disinvited form the TDF.....
....no good deed ever goes unpunished.

Astana should have done what T-Mobile did - change their name to something that sounds clean - instead of Astana, they should be calling themselves "Team Pureblood"

It's B. freaking S.

I think the only team Pro Tour team that could claim "Pure Blood" would be Euskaltel - Euskadi. Astana's only hope would be to claim "Mixed Blood", but that wouldn't get them far.


=- Curt

We don't need the Tour of America in July. We just need to move the Tour of California to July and make it three weeks!

never thought of pureblood that way but you're right. ...I'll have to rethink that name.

Team ... virtue?
Team ..."we never cheat?"


That is a good point about the Vuelta a California.... I wish it were later in the year so we could see REAL alpine battles and epic climbs. Would be cool to see a stage run behind the sierras or end on a mountain top. Too many routes, including Death Valley. ...I would love to see the entire peloton roll into South Lake Tahoe for a sprint finish in front of the Casinos - good stuff

Oh Holy Cow - that means that Óscar Pereiro is the de-facto defending champ since he never officially defended his "title."

Hope Cadel Evans buries him.

That is pretty funny.

Here's a nice commentary from one of my favorites:

http://www.velonews.com/article/72013

I like Joaquín Rodriguez's comment in this article: http://www.velonews.com/article/72054

Let's see...
o 2006 winner tests positive and is banned from the 2007 and 2008 tour.
o 2007 winner and 3rd place are barred because they ride too fast.
o Floyd had definite repeatability promise in his strike.
o Contador, with the support he has on Astana could definitely repeat.

Is the ASO trying to be certain there is a new winner every year or just trying to create controversy?

Let's move the TofC to July, expand it to Colorado, get a prominent beer company to sponsor it and call it a classic.

=- Curt

Ok - let's do that. Actually - if you can bypass Nevada you can also include Utah and Parts of New Mexico or Wyoming and have a Western States' Classic race.

Pick a City for the Prologue and spend 18 - 21 days in some of the most amazing scenery on Earth.

I vote for an ITT Starting in Napa and Ending in Downtown Calistoga - up the Silverado Trail. It's 30 miles and unbelieveably picturesque. The Napa Valley has the resources for a large number of tourists as well.

Maybe Prologue in a place like La Jolla
SOME of the Death Ride incorporated into a stage. From Angels' Camp up Hwy 4, through Markleeville, then down 89 to Tahoe - end at Stateline - is 114 miles.

I would think it would be amazing to have races ending in cities ilke SLC, Santa Fe, Denver, etc.... I think it could be done with minimal airplanes, etc... You could throw in a Honolulu Prologue in some years for spice.