Rasmussen is out of the tour http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/6916698.stm Leader Rasmussen kicked off Tour Rasmussen had been in yellow for 10 days Tour de France leader Michael Rasmussen has been sacked by his Rabobank team and thrown out of the race. The 33-year-old Dane has been at the centre of controversy during the Tour since it was revealed he missed out-of-competition drugs tests. Rasmussen looked odds-on to win the Tour after taking Wednesday's stage and increasing his lead over second-placed rider Alberto Contador. But Rabobank have learnt he lied to them about his whereabouts in June. Young Spaniard Contador now assumes the race lead with four days remaining. And the Discovery Channel rider will go into Thursday's flat stage from Pau to Castelsarrasin with an advantage of one minute 57 seconds over Australian Cadel Evans. Contador's team-mate Levi Leipheimer, who finished stage 16 second to Rasmussen, is now third, two minutes 49 seconds off top spot. Rasmussen's sacking follows the high-profile positive drugs test on pre-race favourite Alexandre Vinokourov in a dramatic 24 hours for the Tour. Rasmussen's flippancy and his lies on his whereabouts had become unbearable Christian Prudhomme Tour de France director Vinokourov's Astana team were asked to withdraw from the race and Cofidis have also pulled out following the positive test on their rider, Cristian Moreni. Rasmussen admitted making a mistake in missing out-of-competition drugs tests but insisted he backed moves to make cycling drug-free. As part of Tour de France policy, the race leader is tested after each stage and Rasmussen has worn yellow since his breakaway win in Tignes last Sunday. And Wednesday's victory on the Col d'Aubisque seemed to tightened his grip on the yellow jersey. I can only applaud - it's a zero-tolerance policy and it's a lesson for the future UCI president Pat McQuiad's verdict on Rabobank's decision But Rabobank have since discovered that Rasmussen lied to them over where and what he was up to during the month of June, when he was in fact in Italy and not in Mexico as he had told them. "Michael Rasmussen has been sent home for violating the team's internal rules," confirmed a Rabobank spokesman. It remains unclear whether the team will continue riding or pull out as Astana and Cofidis have. The Danish Cycling Union said last week Rasmussen had been warned for missing two random controls earlier this year and banned him from September's world championships and the 2008 Olympic Games. It later emerged he had already been warned twice by the International Cycling Union (UCI) for missing two separate random tests in the past 18 months. Rabobank manager Theo de Rooy was aware of the missed tests fined Rasmussen 10,000 Euros (£6,720) at the time. 606: DEBATE There's no easy answer to this - how can a sport so huge, so popular, cleanse itself? TheInvigilator However, De Rooy has now taken the ultimate action after new information came to light about Rasmussen's whereabouts that made a mockery of the rider's claim he simply made an "administrative error". McQuaid said: "My immediate reaction is why didn't they do this at the end of June, when they had the same information? "The team decided to pull him out - that's their prerogative. I can only applaud that. It's a zero-tolerance policy and it's a lesson for the future." Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said: "The important thing is not that he has been sacked by his team but that he will not be at the start of the [next] stage. "We cannot say that Rasmussen cheated, but his flippancy and his lies on his whereabouts had become unbearable. "I at the very least do not feel that I have been dishonoured. "One cannot mock the Tour de France impunitively like those riders," he added, referring to Rasmussen, Moreni and Vinokourov. T-Mobile rider Patrik Sinkewitz crashed out of the race in stage eight days before he was revealed to have failed a drug test in training before the race began.
Well, that's what my post was trying to imply, but I guess it wasn't obvious. He had to have used artificial means of "enhancing" himself, from everything I know about the the grueling nature of the sport itself, unless he was superman who discovered his true ability only after battling cancer. My opinion is that he was using stuff that they can't find with traditional testing, so he could confidently say, and be right, that he's not doping. He could also have found a way to mask it, although I find this less likely given the scrutiny he was under during each tour. But whatever... either way, if the player isn't caught, I don't care how obvious he's doping. I just assume he's not.
funny: i was flamed a couple of years ago when i said that lance was the king of dopers. as it seems now i wasn't too far away with my statements. also funny: alberto contador of dsc will now probably win the tour. the guy hasn't shown anything in one of the 3 great tours (giro, tdf, vuelta) and now he dominates everyone. plus, he was on the inofficial fuentes list. his name was only removed because he promised to cooperate with the investigators. and guys, if you really think that doping is equal to all riders and all teams you should really think again. there are still several countries where doping is a lot easier than in others. that alone is a huge advantage. then you have to consider that there are several doping methods that are not easy to practice and are expensive. those methods can't be tested and are only affordable and available to few riders and few teams. human growth hormones, doping with your own manipulated blood - just to name a few. for example look at vinokourov. it's rumored he doped with the blood of his father. that's the method tyler hamilton used and which can be tested pretty easily since then. why would a rider dope with this stuff? only if he has to because better methods aren't available for him. it's pretty obvious that especially a team like dsc has good sources for that kind of stuff that can't be tested. you can't prove it with direct facts because no one can right now. but you pretty much know it if you know the answer to "what's 1 + 1?". i won't go into details. all this stuff has been talked about in the last years already. and if you watched the recent tours you'd know it all because you've seen the facts. and please, forget about the idea that anyone could ride 200 km long mountain stages at 40 km/h for several days without doping. it's not humanly possible and it never was.
I still consider Lance a badass because I think it was a level playing field. Everyone cheated. But to to think Lance won 7 tours in a row without cheating when almost every other rider in the field cheated is naive. Its like saying Bonds achieved what he did cleanly when every other player in the MLB was doping.
Million Dollar question: Is performance enhancement more widespread in cycling than in MLB, NFL, etc, or is the testing just so much tougher that guys get busted more often? I think pro sports in general today are tainted to a disgusting degree, and it's tough to believe that most of the NFL physiques are the by product of long hours at the gym and peanut butter sandwiches alone.... Heck, my fishy radar goes off when I look at the likes of Oden (and even Lebron) coming out of HS. Stinks to high heaven of steroids. Evan
I think cycling is at the top when it comes to how widespread doping is, but by no means the only sport. On the other hand, I think a sport like soccer is relatively clean.
Don't forget nandrolon. Davids and I believe Frank de Boer used it, and were suspended for some games. IMHO every topsporter used doping to some degree.
