The Tour de France begins Saturday

Just checking. Which sport is the joke? Cycling, in which a rider who tested positive for testosterone was met Wednesday at the finish line by cops who took him away? Or football, where Shawne Merriman tested positive for steroids, got four games off and came back to resume his contention for Defensive Player of the Year? One positive is two years off for cyclists and a positive during the TdF includes a fine equal to a year's salary. I know cycling is dirty as hell, but they are trying to clean it up, and the testing is getting better. Football, baseball? It's just business as usual, swept under the rug. It would be nice to see a few NFL guys arrested and their teams withdraw from the league for the rest of the season. Then maybe they're as serious as cycling about trying to really be clean.

 

Merriman was an all-pro last year!

 

Is there any reason to ever take this sport seriously?
Will there be any riders left by the time it ends or will they all have failed drug tests?

 

Echoing what badmoon said, it ought to be taken as seriously as football, at least, which is/has turned into a total genetic freak show.

 

Wasn't Rasmussen also kicked off the Dutch national team for not showing up for two tests? Serves the jackoff right. My question is, with all the testing at the end of the stage, why do these guys still do it? Its not like baseball-football, oh, you'll see a guy a couple times in the off-season, this is all the freakin time. Do they think they will still get away with it?

Does the Tour need to shorten the race, put in more off days? I would think any of these riders are doping to help recover b/c its such a grueling event.

Alessandro Petacchi (who won several stages in the Giro) was cleared of doping.....But he wasn't allowed in the tour because of the allegations. Why can't we do that with baseball, football. Sorry Barry, there is allegations that you're a roid freak, so you can't play until YOU prove otherwise.

Does this help Leipheimer at all--or is he too far back with just a week to go?

 

It moves Leipheimer up to 3rd, 2:49 behind Contador.

 

The podium spots, after Rasmussen was yanked:

Alberto Contador - Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
Cadel Evans - Predictor - Lotto 1:53
Levi Leipheimer - Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 2:49

This will be, just from a purely race perspective, a very interesting finish. Evans was second to Vinokourov (CHEATER! ahem..sorry, had to clear my throat) in the first TT, and Leipheimer's strong as well...which should tighten things up with Contador, who has no more mountain stages to use for time bonuses or advantages.
Two riders are within three to four minutes of Leipheimer for third, but you're likely looking at the podium in some fashion, there.
Discovery could make out like bandits in this.

 

Discovery should win the team title, which never happened in Armstrong's time (with Discovery or U.S. Postal), I don't think.

 

Oscar the Cat has just been spotted on the course.

 

...And a T-Mobile rider promptly rode into it, falling down and out of the race.
I don't know about anyone else, but for all the sport's been through over the past few weeks, I'd love to be there to feel what the atmosphere's like, to see first-hand if these guys are just trying to save face until Paris.

 

I was commenting to one of our page designers -- he is a former Cat 1/2 cyclist and ex-president of a local cycling club -- that it would be very interesting to be a fly on the wall inside the team bus with Rabobank, Disco, etc.

 

Levi almost did it. Should be a compelling final stage for a change since Levi needs to clear just 8 seconds to get second. With a few time bonuses available at various sprints, there will undoubtedly be some real racing on the final day.