Ricco not so sauve

I always thought he was an arrogant jerk, and now we have confirmation. It takes a real special kind of d-bag to talk that much trash while cheating the entire time.

Disco is Dead

If the most dominant team in cycling for the past 9 years can't find a sponsor, who will be next? I'm hoping this trend doesn't trickle down to the local club level. But right now, who can blame anyone for not wanting to be associated with the embarrassment that was the Tour this summer?

Todays Doper Update

TDF winner Alberto Contador has announced he will be giving a press conference on Friday. Will it be Floyd Landis all over again? Story on VeloNews. Andrey Kashechkin tested positive for homologous blood doping and was suspended from Astana. Astana is making T-Mobile look like choir boys. I'm still waiting for Kloden to get busted.

Doping

"Doctor" Ferrari must have it all figured out. He's got the magic potion that guarantees victory and evades WADA's doping control like a stealth bomber. I'm sure it makes it easier for "athletes" to stare straight into the camera and declare to the world that they are clean. After all, they have never tested positive, have they? Easy to say when you're using a banned substance that hasn't been banned yet because there is no test for it and nobody knows it exists. It's a bit like being a money launderer for the Cali cartel in the 1970's and 80's before money laundering was written onto the books as a crime. They weren't doing anything wrong either, were they? It wasn't illegal.

Pretty good racket "il dottore" has going on. He can handpick the rider to win the Tour, commanding a pricetag of Bill Gates proportions from the highly-gifted but ethically-challenged cyclist who can't win on his own, in exchange for exclusive access to his bloodstream. I wonder how much money Ferrari has bet on cycling over the years?

A 2-year suspensions means nothing to these guys, especially those in the last years of their careers. If you can make a few million dollars, get busted and the worst that happens is that you can't race again for 2 years, or even ever again, the money will win every time. How about prison time for fraud, for starters. A fine of at least double the riders earnings from winnings and endorsements. What about the teams that were passed over for inclusion in the Tour in favor of these doper teams? They should be compensated for being fraudulently denied entry, missing out on lucrative exposure. What a mess.

Vino

http://www.velonews.com/tour2007/details/articles/12910.0.html

So the entire Astana team is gone, what a shock that former T-Mobile riders would get busted. I hope every team loses their sponsors and all the advertisers pull their commercials off the air. It'll never happen, so instead I'll just stop watching. There, I'm done. I now have an extra 3 hours of time for 3 weeks in July.

Lance, I still want to believe you. In 1999 as my mom was in the hospital, slowly and painfully dying of cancer, I turned on the Tour and explained your story to her. She had no idea who you were, but she was as proud of you as if you were her own son. She was dying and she started writing you a letter to give YOU encouragement. While she only lived long enough to see that first victory, I know it gave her hope. Maybe not as much for her as for others, as she would tell other cancer survivors and patients your story, despite her own condition, showing what was possible.

So, Lance, I want to believe you. I want that memory of my mom to remain positive, untainted. I want that hope to be real for all people affected by cancer. I still want to hold back tears whenever I think of that first tour victory, just as I did all 7 times you crossed the finish line on the Champs Elysees. Please don't take away one of the last really good memories I have of my mom. People always ask me if I think you doped or not, and when I say you didn't, it's not because I want to believe it, I have to believe it.