Cycling News is full of news flashes regularly this time of year, but this year they take on special urgency because of Operacion Puerto . The Tour de France folks want Astana-Wurth out of the Tour. Apparently El Pais, a Spanish newspaper has detailed the allegations against the team and its staff (and former/current riders) and now the Tour wants them out. It is not clear the Tour can kick out a pro tour team that has been approved to race by the governing bodies, so the team has appealed the decision. IT IS A HUGE MESS.
I am disgusted with the state of doping in the sport. Cycling is like any sport, you follow riders and you cheer for them. I am in the process of choosing my fantasy team. I know from Chris's training schedule how much these riders sacrifice to get where they are, the whole sport is tainted when one is implicated & now a whole team is on the verge of disappearing (along with the hopes and dreams of those innocents who ride on that team). Even if they can ride in the Tour, it will take an act of amazing strength for those riders to focus on it.
These scandals are upsetting. I have some conspiracy theory thinking (thanks dad for that) so I am not inclined to believe the media is an innocent bystander in all this (How come a sealed affidavit is published in a newspaper a week prior to the TdF suggesting Lance used drugs prior to his 1996 cancer diagnoses?).
I am naive, I am convinced. The talk should remain on those great, clean riders who have an incredible three weeks ahead of them. GO IVAN BASSO!!! I look forward to high drama in the Alps.
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