Tour De France 2007

[Kugbok_Fennin]

I agree. I love watching the tour, but seriously these doping charges are getting out of hand.

Although, this is nothing new to the sport...They have been banning people for drug use since the 60's. At least in Pro Cycling they strip you of any awards if convicted. Much more then we can say for other sports.

*Cough* MLB *Cough*

Edit: Contador is a fucking 24 year old Machine. You guys see the way he has been bitch slapping Rasmussen the last three days? I can't wait to see the last mountain stage tomorrow. Expect Contador to get his time on Michael back.

[Araxen]

Can't these riders realize they are killing the sport? I am shocked Alexandre Vinokourov basically got caught blood doping.

I pray Contador is clean. I really love the way he races. The last two days on the Tour De France have been some of the best racing I've seen with Contador and Rasmussen going at each other. It is a pure joy to watch. I just wish these dopers would cut the shit out.

I have a question also. I'm still a newbie to the sport and jumped on the bandwagon when Lance was racing towards the end of his career, but why isn't there a Tour that spans the entire US? There are just so many options for that kind of race it's staggering. I know there are a couple states(CA and GA) that hold races but I just wonder why there isn't a national race. You figure somebody would have stepped up during the height of Lance's popularity and organized a race.

[Kugbok_Fennin]

Professional Cycling in US doesn't bring in the money is does in Europe. Look how long it took us to have professional Football(soccer) in the US.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of Pro Cycling events in the US, just none that are considered to be "grand tours", that is the realm of the European countries.

At the end of the day, it comes to money, followed by a distant popularity.

Side note: A 2-3 week major Tour in the US would be amazing. A grand tour in the US has major potential. "If you build it, they will come"

[Araxen]

Well if they got Lance behind it during the height of his popularity it might have caught on. Who knows, really. It's just me wishing we had our own Tour. I think it would be a blast partying/tailgating and waiting for the riders to ride by.

[Blumpster]

Well it's settled, the Tour this year is a complete joke. Rasmussen removed from the race by his team for missing the drug tests that got him removed from the Denmark national team, and lying about being in Mexico.

How can this sport become more of a disaster?

[Araxen]

Jesus christ I just read the news on the cycling newsgroup on usenet. I can't fucking believe this shit. Will Lance show up in Paris on Sunday now? lol

It seems the biggest test on the Tour is making it out of the drug testing truck clean.

[Akileese]

Originally Posted by Blumpster

Well it's settled, the Tour this year is a complete joke. Rasmussen removed from the race by his team for missing the drug tests that got him removed from the Denmark national team, and lying about being in Mexico.

How can this sport become more of a disaster?

If Lance Armstrong and FLoyd Landis tie.

[Arbuste]

Lance Armstrong was 100% clean. He is a hero. Seriously.

The real shame is that people are surprised. The truth is that the Tour de France is the only competition where they really try to catch dopers. After a couple scandals, they got into their heads they could "clean" their sport. Now, I bet they wish they never looked so hard into it. I don't think they do in the Giro d'Italia and the spanish one. They certainly don't in Tennis or Soccer, and not so much in athletism... And nobody actually cares.

[Algol Devilstar]

I hope you are joking about Lance. How can you guys talk about these awesome moments of his when you know it was taking candy from a baby for him? Doped up legs vs the rest - oooh there's a real contest. Fucker quit riding, because he knew he couldnt win without doping.

[Faltigoth]

Or maybe he quit because he completely proved his dominance of the sport and wanted to focus his time on other issues, like using his star power to highlight awareness of issues like cancer research.

The guy is an inhuman physical specimen. Even questioning that is ridiculous. Jesus.

[Eomer]

No one's saying he wasn't an amazing specimen. Even if he doped, he's still a pretty inspirational character.

But I can't see how anyone could realistically think he didn't dope. Everyone else in the sport, apparently, is hopped up on something. Just look at this year's tour. Are you telling me that Lance Armstrong, who won it 7 times consecutively, was such an amazing athlete that he beat the world's best dopers for 7 years in a row completely clean?

Give me a break.

[whocaressd]

Johann Mühlegg stole what was left of my hopes for that you could ever be succesful in an extreme endurance sport without doping of some sort. Sad but true, it has taken away all the enjoyment I used to get from any of this kind of sport, wether it be cross-country skiing, running or cycling. You're a fool if you think Lance Armstrong wasn't doped up, or anyone else who stands out above the rest.

[Kugbok_Fennin]

Pretty sure Lance was accused of doping more times than any other rider. He has always denied any wrong doing, but you know what, Michael Jackson denies any wrong doing with 10 year old boys too.

I love Lance, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but its highly likely he was using something. Hell the guy almost died of cancer, I can assure you he doped up to recover from that...I think he learned also how to beat the testing and shit.

[Kugbok_Fennin]

For the record, people have been caught doping in Pro cycling since 1925 or something like that. And whats his face died on the way up Mont Vonteaux because he was tweaking ballz on the meth in 67.

[Algol Devilstar]

Originally Posted by Faltigoth

Or maybe he quit because he completely proved his dominance of the sport and wanted to focus his time on other issues, like using his star power to highlight awareness of issues like cancer research.

The guy is an inhuman physical specimen. Even questioning that is ridiculous. Jesus.

Or maybe the pressure was mounting and they had developed new testing methods for designer drugs? He left because he knew if he stayed that whatever he was taking would be found and all those titles would be suspect, null, and void.