Le Tour

I am sure some the Stay Classy faithful are wondering, "Where's all the posts about the Tour this year?" Most of you folks know that the Tour is my favorite sporting event of the year, with the exception of a Rose Bowl here and there, the Tour is pretty much it for me. I was excited about the Tour this year early on, Basso was riding for Team Discovery and Discovery was rolling deep. Shortly before the race Basso was pulled from the race for doping allegations. Well shit. Ok, who else is out there. I have never liked Alexandre Vinokourev, but I was happy to see him back in the race this year, he's a very strong classic rider, and a hell of a climber. He pulled in one hell of a TT in Stage 13, annihilating the field by 2 00 minutes. He won that race with a combined 50 stitches in his knees from a fall in an earlier stage. What happens the next day? He gets pulled from the race for doping allegations.
That leaves the race for Michael Rasmussen to win. Two years ago Rasmussen gave Lance a serious run for his money in mountains, and it was his first Tour. Plus he used to be a World Champion mountain biker, obviously I liked him a lot. Especially yesterday when he won the most competitive stage in the Tour. It was the last stage of the Pyrenees, and Rasmussen was being constantly attacked by the two Discovery teammates Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Cantador for the last 6 miles of the climb. Rasmussen did not falter, he pulled away from the attack and won the stage by 0 20. In the last mile of the climb to the finish he transformed into a super-human climbing machine, and I thought to myself, "Wow, he's got to be doping".... but I left it at that and fell asleep. And what do I find out this morning? Rasmussen has been pulled from the race along with the entire Rabobank team for doping. Unbelievable.
So how does it feel to find out something you enjoy so much has now been completely trivialized and may be the dirtiest sport on the planet? Not good. Hopefully after a couple more years of these take downs the dirty will be completely phased out and we can enjoy a clean Tour, who knows.
Anyway today was a good race, Alberto Cantador of Team Disco is in the yellow jersey and is in good position to win the Tour. I have a feeling he may be doping as well though. He doesn't have much experience and he's riding really strong, who knows. On a positive note, another one of my favorite riders who has publicly spoken against doping on numerous occasions in in the green jersey, the great Tom Boonen. Three stages left, including the last individual TT on Saturday. If you haven't been watching, you should tune on Saturday and Sunday - going to be a good day for the sprinters.