Friday, June 30, 2006

Speechless

Like most Tour de France fans, this was my reaction to today's news of the eruption of one of the biggest doping scandals in the history of sports.

From Cycling News, the list of riders implicated so far (31 riders) (not all are on the starting lists for the Tour):
Astaná-Würth: Michele Scarponi, Marcos Serrano, David Etxebarria, Joseba Beloki, Angel Vicioso, Isidro Nozal, Unai Osa, Jörg Jaksche
CSC: Ivan Basso
Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears: Constantino Zaballa
Saunier Duval: Carlos Zarate
AG2R: Francisco Mancebo
T-Mobile: Jan Ullrich, Oscar Sevilla
Phonak: Jose Enrique Gutierrez, Jose Ignacio Gutierrez
Comunidad Valenciana: Vicente Ballester, David Bernabeu, David Blanco Rodriguez, Jose Adrian Bonillla, Juan Gomis Lopez, Eladio Jimenez, David Latasa, Javier Pascual, Ruben Plaza, J.Luis M. Jimenez
Unibet.Com: Carlos Garcia Quesada
Retired/suspended riders: Roberto Heras, Angel Casero, Santiago Perez, Tyler Hamilton

The status of Astaná-Würth rider Alexandre Vinokourov remains questionable. I'll believe he's riding when I see him roll down the Prologue starting ramp. (Update: Yeah, the whole team pulled out, including Vino).

The only rider that I think whose name has come up in our Lanterne Rouge discussions is Constantino Zaballa, who was the first abandon of the 2005 Tour due to a knee injury. I'd like to think that the other riders we have talked about have been working in the peleton simply doing their jobs and keeping their noses clean. But the extent of this scandal makes a person wonder.

Monday, June 19, 2006

One returning Lanterne Rouge

The Tour de France provisional riders list has been posted! We have many familiar riders back, but many who regretfully will be unable to attend.

There will be a whole new roster of media star personalities and - our focus here - incredibly important supporting players and unsung heroes in the upcoming 2006 Tour de France. It promises to be an exciting one!


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