Sky news report Rasmussen plus Rabobank out of Tour

Snapper1

Don't know any other details yet

demac

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/6916698.stm

BBC have it as well. What a shame.

KdjaCL

So who is left?



kdjac

mloc123

After the stage he put in today and the sprint at the end I reckoned it was only a matter of time.

dohouch

Looks like zero tolerance now, must go and read the news

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/6916698.stm

Rasmussen's flippancy and his lies on his whereabouts had become unbearable

Christian Prudhomme
Tour de France director

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

Trojan

Now c'mon, who didn't see this one coming?

uberwolf

this eviction took some cahone's in fairness.

Despite this I have difficulty accepting that teams are not involved in the riders indiscretions. This is fueled mostly by descriptions of team doctors actively aiding in avoiding positive tests during the early EPO days.

Kimmage on the radio in the last couple of days asked how the sport would ever be clean if people who were raised on the idea of drug abuse being normal remained involved in the backroom these days.

Gary Players comments during the open, and the subsequent analysis I heard echoed the early days of the cycling drug scandals, head in the sand, this couldn't be true. Where money is determined by a minute competitive edge, the temptation to use drugs will exist.

Hopefully the situation where not testing positive is no longer good enough gets through to the riders. They will have to be seen to be clean

dohouch

http://www.velonews.com/tour2007/news/articles/12939.0.html

The growing Rasmussen brouhaha is also squelching any joy around the Rabobank bus.

On what should be the most rewarding day of the Dutch squad's 12-year history, team officials admitted it's hard to rejoice in light of the growing sense of distrust of Rasmussen and cycling's sliding credibility.

It wasn't the tour people who did, or could do anything but, Rabobank who pulled the plug, because even though supposedly wining, Rasmussen's casual attitued to missed "localisations" was losing them friends and smacked of arrogance

P.S. If Contador failed a test now, they realy would have to call it off, if only because he has been so exciting to watch and I myself
would turn of the TV.

Pherekydes

We've a few more to go yet, I would say. I can't see them allowing Contador to win it; Evans might be acceptable. Contador and Discovery will be gone, and probably CSC, Euskaltel and Caisse d'Epargne, too.

Bets? :mad:

Pherekydes

mloc123 wrote:

After the stage he put in today and the sprint at the end I reckoned it was only a matter of time.

Well, someone's got to win it!

dohouch

Not a betting man, but with 3 real days racing left it would be a real 2nd string affair if any other major team packed their bags.

But I think if they, the sporting authorites realy want to show zero tolerance, they will have to apply life-time bans. One strike and lyou never ride,run,jump or even golf or play centre half for Man U.

iregk

Well I said yesterday that I was only waiting for a test from Raz. Good news and after the more than frosty reception he got at the start of yesterdays stage this is a very good move from Rabobank.

I can see a lot of riders waking up now and realising the gig is up. This years tour is a necessary sacrifice. Next years will be a lot cleaner.

Pherekydes

iregk wrote:

This years tour is a necessary sacrifice. Next years will be a lot cleaner.

People probably said the same in 1998.

Robin1982

You only have to look up Contador's suspicious "removal" from the Puerto list and Discovery/USPS's shady history to have serious doubts over him.

Contador finished the 2005 Tour de France as 3rd best young rider (behind Popovych and Kasheshkin). He was one of the 5 Liberty/Astana riders (along with DSC sprinter Allan Davis) that was prevented from competing in the 2006 TdF - meaning team lead Vinokourov couldn't compete that year due to not enough teammates.

His name was removed from the OP list a few weeks later. There is a rumour that he agreed to give evidence against those involved in the doping in exchange for been "cleared" - but thats very much a rumour.

Frankly, I don't trust him - especially his TT abillity, for a pure climber.

Spanish and Italian riders have so many question marks over them its hard to believe any of them.

I'd love to see Cadel Evans win it - even though i've backed Contador at 40/1

dohouch

Was it 88 Delgado was caught, so at this rate there will be just 1 doping case in 2027

iregk

Slow coach wrote:

People probably said the same in 1998.

People did say it then. But since then we have had many years of the great Lance cover up. Essentially he was the hero, returning from his illness to win so many times. What a man!!! Could never shatter that illusion. Now he is gone its open season.

kincsem

I am a betting man, and laid Rasmussen to finish in the top six. In plain English that means before the tour began I took bets that he would not be in the top six. In previous years he put in big efforts to pick up King Of The Mountains points, and recovered in the following days on the flatter stages by conserving energy arriving with the last/later group.

Rasmussen has passed all testing in yellow, or has he? My guess is he has not failed any tests.

Last year the tour finished before Landis was disqualified. (I had backed Pereiro Sio at 180/1). There was a gap of a few days before it was announced that Landis had failed a test.

I suspect they do not get the full test results before the start the following day. To do that they would need a travelling lab, or would have to courier / helicopter the samples to a lab for overnight testing. I'm sure many of the tests can not be completed in a few hours.