Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Yellow Jersey Rasmussen out of the tour

Well there's just about nobody else left to kick out of the Tour de France. They got rid of Moreni and the whole Cofidis team pulled out, and before that Vinokourov and the Astana team. And also the T-Mobile rider who crashed out and it looks like T-Mobile and Adidas will pull their sponsorship when this tour is over.

But now the Yellow Jersey Rasmussen is fired from his team and kicked out of the tour. So now the race lead goes to Contador on Discovery with Evans in second and Leipheimer in 3rd. I was joking this morning that Leipheimer would get on the podium when they kicked out Rasmussen, but I didn't really expect it to happen. What a mess.

The crowds were booing Rasmussen at the sign in today and on the mountain as well. I can't help but feel a little sorry for him as he did get tested 14 times with no positive. But he broke the team rules, and said he was in Mexico when he was apparently in Italy and avoided testing before the tour. The race organizers said they wouldn't have wanted him to start had they known this before the race.

I wonder if it isn't time to let women have a chance at the spotlight in cycling and give the men a time out? I know they have a women's version of the race. I think I'd rather see that for a while.

2 comments:

Diane Lowe said...

Wow.

I kind of feel bad for the guys who are still in the race.

I mean, it would be cool to say, "Hey, I won the Tour de France 2007," but then they would have to admit that it happened to be the year everyone got caught doping.

How far is Leipheimer off from first now?

don said...

With Rasmussen out, Evans is at 2 min 3 sec. And Leipheimer at 2 min and 59 sec out. So it is possible actually for Leipheimer to take the race still. So don't count him out. He has no obligation in the time trial Saturday to protect teammate Contador as the time trial is individual. I don't think Contador can TT that well. But Evans can. Leipheimer looks stronger than Evens in my opinion. I think it will be between Leipheimer and Evans in the final time trial now. I think Levi will pull something out in the time trial and win the race!

How cool would it be for a guy from Montana to win the tour?!

It's possible now I think. And it would actually mean something for me and for you too if Levi won with our Montana connections. It's beyond cool to say you won the tour, it's historic! The dopers are just a side bar.

But I would like to see the women race next year instead of the men. How cool would that be?!