Comments on: Contador wins the Giro…will the Tour de France come calling for Astana?

By: jaxgtr

jaxgtr — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:00:33 +0000

Although he can't be too hurt, he's riding in the Dauphiné Libéré.

"Belgian squad Silence-Lotto will have Mario Aerts, Christophe Brandt, Dario Cioni, Bart Dockx, Cadel Evans, Matthew Lloyd, Yaroslav Popovych and Roy Sentjens at the start, with a clear focus on the Australian 2007 Tour de France runner-up who will be targeting the victory in July."

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2008/…

By: jaxgtr

jaxgtr — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:58:14 +0000

Yea, I heard something about that, but did not see anything specific. That is too bad if true.

By: daveydave

daveydave — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:46:47 +0000

@Jaxgtr – I didn't realize they had scraped snow off it that morning. That's insane! Good information!

I did see that Contador had changed his low rear cog to a 30+ because he was spinning out the rear tire when testing his climbing out of the saddle.

Did you guys hear that Cadel Evans may have suffered a knee injury in training this past week?

dave

By: jaxgtr

jaxgtr — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:04:33 +0000

Dave,your right on the difficulty of the last few stages. That TT was unbelievable and the fact that they scraped snow off if it that morning really had to make you wonder what they were thinking.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 07:04:43 +0000

@daveydave: You're right, we would be hard-pressed to find a team without a rider that's been involved in some kind of doping scandal. The race organization for the Tour has always been defunct in my opinion. I didn't get to see much of the Giro so I can't appreciate how hard it really was. I've heard from a lot of sources though that it was very difficult. You know next year that the French will up the anty to compete with the Italians on race difficulty. Even with race organizers making the routes harder, I find it hard to fathom that folks will still dope. I know that some will try to circumvent the system and get caught but I just don't understand. They know the sport is trying to get cleaner and do it anyway. I guess some people will sell their morals and character for a taste of the glory.

By: daveydave

daveydave — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:45:03 +0000

I have so many mixed feelings about who deserves to race in this years TDF.

@Pig: Just about every team going set to ride in the TDF has a rider without a clean record.

@Bryan: Maybe the riders would not have signed with Astana if they knew they would not be able to ride the TDF. However, I think that wasn't established at the time of new contract signings. Plus, these guys pick the team they want to ride on based on the strengths of the riders around them.

I wish we could see Astana – but without Contador. Maybe that would have been the best way for the race organizers to have handled it. Levi would have been fun to watch with a decent supporting cast.

Bottom line: I blame the race organizers. Case in point… the Giro was arguably harder this year than any of the last few TDF's. They are encouraging the use of drugs by making cycling an extreme sport rather than an extremely difficult sport. Time trials with 29% grades and 3 ridiculous stages toward the end of 3 weeks? You just have to question if the race organizers of these events really want a clean field.

dave

By: jaxgtr

jaxgtr — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:39:23 +0000

If they are trying to send a message then they need to drop several other teams as well, then they would have about ….. oh yea, no teams in there. Every team in the last several years has had someone popped for doping except 1 or 2. Notably, US PostalDiscovery is one and it drives them nuts that Lance won Their race 7 times in a row.

It's really French hypocrisy at it's finest.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:04:48 +0000

@thePig: I see your point. Is the tour sending the right message by not inviting Astana? I think yes and no. They're trying to stand firm on the doping ban by banning them but are they punishing the team name or the riders that weren't on that team last year? As for Contador (and Levi for that matter), they likely had no idea that Astana wouldn't be invited to the tour this year when they signed their contracts. If they had known, I wonder if they would have made the move. Oh well, at least it's a great topic for discussion.

Glad to hear your trip went well.

By: thePig

thePig — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:55:37 +0000

Great summary Bryan. I missed the last 1.5 weeks of the race and this has bought me right up to date.

As to whether Astana should be invited to the tour I think NOT. Cycling has been damaged over the last several years and I think banning Astana is sending the right messages.

As for the impact on Contador. He CHOOSES to ride for Astana and I am sure he could very easily ride for another team that has a cleaner record.