tour de france winner

[whoisjgalt]

tour de france winner

[kraziness]

Lance Armstrong :dunno:

[Steebo]

Fuck it. I'll bet on this crap.

[EMoney]

I bet on Floyd Landis. He is a wonderful cyclist. :dopey:

[kraziness]

I've watched a bit over the past couple years and it seems clear to me that the winner always has a team that understands that HE'S the guy. If Discovery has a clear #1, they'll win again, which is why I think that Papo or Hincapie have the best shot. :hyper:

[EMoney]

I've watched a bit over the past couple years and it seems clear to me that the winner always has a team that understands that HE'S the guy. If Discovery has a clear #1, they'll win again, which is why I think that Papo or Hincapie have the best shot. :hyper:

Nice analysis.

[Jim Mora]

that's a lot of lost bets...

STRASBOURG, France (AP) — Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich was suspended by his racing team Friday amid a doping scandal in Spain, forcing him out of cycling's premier race. Oscar Sevilla, Ullrich's teammate, also was suspended by the T-Mobile team.

They will not ride in the Tour that starts Saturday, T-Mobile spokesman Luuc Eisenga said.

The team also suspended sporting director Rudi Pevenage, he said.

Ullrich and Sevilla were among 56 cyclists named in a Spanish probe as having contact with a doctor charged in connection with alleged doping, a Spanish radio station reported Thursday.

Ullrich won the 1997 Tour de France and was a five-time runner-up. With Lance Armstrong's retirement, the German rider was considered one of the favorites for this year's race.

Tour organizers decided Tuesday that evidence against Ullrich was too limited to ask him to withdraw. On Friday, Eisenga said the team was acting on "very concrete information."

Eisenga said the team received information implicating Ullrich, Sevilla and Pevenage from Tour de France organizers, including documents from the Spanish government.

"The only thing I can tell you is that the information is clear enough and didn't leave any doubt," Eisenga said.

T-Mobile will discuss whether it would include two replacement riders on the team in place of Sevilla and Ullrich, Eisenga said. The team would also be willing to ride with only seven riders if necessary.

Spanish station Cadena SER said the Civil Guard decoded the names from notes taken by Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes. Other names included Italian rider Ivan Basso, American Tyler Hamilton, Spaniards Francisco Mancebo, Joseba Beloki, Roberto Heras, Santi Perez, Jose Enrique Gutierrez and Colombian Santiago Botero, the station reported. It wasn't immediately clear what Fuentes' relationship was with the cyclists.

Two Spanish cycling teams — Astana-Wurth and Comunidad Valenciana — have been implicated. Comunidad Valenciana had its invitation to compete in the Tour rescinded, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled Thursday that the Astana-Wurth team couldn't be excluded from the race.

Hamilton said on his website this week that he was never been treated by the Spanish doctor, and that he had never been contacted by Spanish authorities about the case.

Currently serving a two-year ban for testing positive for blood doping at the Spanish Vuelta in September 2004, Hamilton had his gold medal from the Athens Olympics upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport earlier this week.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[hdamien]

Basso and Mancebo are out too.

The Tour de France was stripped of three of its biggest names on Friday after Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso and Francisco Mancebo were named in a doping investigation in Spain.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/tdf2006/news/story?id=2505072

[kraziness]

Basso and Mancebo are out too.



http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/tdf2006/news/story?id=2505072

I was just coming here to see if they were listed... this is crazy man, those are 3 HUGE names, and 2 of the favorites to win.

My 3 bets are still alive though :floet:


Also, wtf is floet?

[whoisjgalt]

The rules of cycling are seriously fucked up. You're presumed guilty if under suspicion.

The UCI noted that while the probe implicated the riders, it had not yet established that they had cheated. Nevertheless, Tour organizers pushed for their exclusion and teams agreed, in keeping with their ethical charter that allows riders to be barred from racing while they are under investigation for doping.

Asked whether T-Mobile would consider cutting ties with Ullrich completely, he replied "certainly ... we are now demanding evidence of his innocence."

"Ivan <Basso> must prove with his lawyer that he is innocent," Riis said. "I believe in Ivan but I have been forced to take the necessary steps."

So effectively one rumor monger can eliminate all his rivals just by talking.

[Steebo]

well there goes $100 FAI bucks down the drain.:mad:

[hdamien]

The rules of cycling are seriously fucked up. You're presumed guilty if under suspicion.

So effectively one rumor monger can eliminate all his rivals just by talking.

So how does this explain Lance's run? He was accused constantly, was he always just quick enough with proof? You'd think that his rivals would push hard for an investigation a couple of days before the race. Or is this more of a team charter thing?

[kraziness]

So how does this explain Lance's run? He was accused constantly, was he always just quick enough with proof? You'd think that his rivals would push hard for an investigation a couple of days before the race. Or is this more of a team charter thing?


I think that what happened is that there is a LOT of evidence against those that were barred, this investigation has been going on for a while. So, as T-Mobile was shown the evidence, they said that Jan is really going to prove his innocence because there's a lot against him. To me, it'd be like MLB suspending Barry Bonds, not Pujols. It's not like it was just some guy that accussed Bonds, there's a lot out there, and unless he really can disprove all the documentation, he's guilty.

To the Lance thing, I really do have a hard time destinguishing between he and Barry Bonds. Both are surrounded by controversy and accusations (some pretty serious ones too, from some seemingly credible sources). Both have never tested positive (according to the league that they compete in). I guess the difference is that Bonds has admitted in court to taking certain things... but still, I'm torn.

[EMoney]

I bet on Floyd Landis. He is a wonderful cyclist. :dopey:


Holy fock! I nailed it! :hyper: :hyper: :hyper:


:D

[kraziness]

I've watched a bit over the past couple years and it seems clear to me that the winner always has a team that understands that HE'S the guy. If Discovery has a clear #1, they'll win again, which is why I think that Papo or Hincapie have the best shot. :hyper:

1. I was right, DC didn't have a clear #1, it was their doom.

2. I was wrong about how good DC is. I have a totally new respect for what Armstrong accomplished. Before, I thought that his team was just THAT much better and more organized than the rest of the field, but this year shows that he was a special rider, not a good rider on a special team.

[Jim Mora]

Holy fock! I nailed it! :hyper: :hyper: :hyper:


:D

too bad they didn't test him BEFORE the race...he was just suspended. Can they take back the trophy?