As a result of being named, Francisco Mancebo has retired from cycling. Thats right retired, as in he’s quiting his job.
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Also, according to Cycling News a cleaning person found a bag of 100 syringes in an underground parking lot the day before the Paris-Roubiax. Apparently the bag came out of a car with CSC logo’s all over it.
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Also, Astana-Wurth will not be allowed to start due to only having 4 racers, below the 6 racer minimum.
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David Millar is still slated to start tomorrow.
Ok, so if you don’t know already it’s a day before the Tour and the shit storm has just officially started. The doping allegations have come to a head and people have been pulled from the tour. Here’s the list so far: Jan Ullrich (T Mobile), Oscar Sevilla (T Mobile), Ivan Basso (CSC), Francisco Mancebo (AG2R). Joseba Beloki (Astana-Wurth), Sergio Paulinho (Astana-Wurth), Isidro Nozal (Astana-Wurth), Allan Davis (Astana-Wurth), Alberto Contador (Astana-Wurth). Thats some big names removed from the biggest race in professional cycling. From the sound of it there may be more riders pulled later today, most likely from the Astana-Wurth team.
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Heres the complete list, including those that have not been pulled from the Tour … yet:
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
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A few thoughts:
1) At least David Millar can race. Will he be pulled simply because he just came off suspension? (Sarcasm)
2) Could this be a conspiracy put on by the French and assisted by the Spainish to make the chances better for a French or Spanish rider to win the Tour? I wouldn’t put it past Le Blanc.
3) Where’s the beef? I mean has there been some sort of proof? I heard some things about some documents with code names and doping schedules but legitimately that could be anything. I suppose it’s like when a teacher or a principal at a school gets accused of sexual misconduct. Regardless if it proved or not, accusal is enough to get removed.
4) Is it cool if I change the Tour picks from last week? If so, I got Landis, Leipheimer and Valeverde for the podium. The rest of my picks I’m sticking with. I never thought I would have to count in a “likelyhood to dope” variable. At this point if racers keep getting pulled, it’s possible that I could fly to France and find a team to race for and win the Tour.
So I’m back on the bike. The week thus far has gone fairly well, including this morning 6.5hrs total ride time. Hopefully this weekend I will get out for a longer ride and build up some desperatly needed endurance. If anyone is interested in a more than 3 hour medium paced ride on Sat or Sun. Let me know.
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In other news it seems like Saul Rasin is back on his feet according to Cycling News (near the bottom). It’s good to hear he is doing well, before you know it he will be back to his winning ways.
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Also, it looks like the doping situation it getting pretty intense. The news papers in Spain are dropping more names than I think anyone expected. Here’s an excerpt from Cycling News.
Jan Ullrich, Roberto Heras, Oscar Sevilla, Joseba Beloki, Santiago Botero, Santi Pérez, Tyler Hamilton, Quique Gutierrez and Angel Edo are all mentioned in the 500 page report that will be delivered to the Spanish Secretary of State for Sport, Jaime Lissavetsky. In addition, Spanish radio Cadena Ser mentions that Ivan Basso, Francisco Mancebo, and Rabobank riders Denis Menchov and Juan-Antonio Flecha are on the list. In total, 22 riders scheduled to take part in the Tour de France are on the list of 58. All the riders questioned by journalists so far have denied any involvement in the affair.
We can only pray that the allegations are completly false, otherwise we may end up with a situation like Festina but about 100 times worse.
Here is my little bro showing all y’all how to draft in the junior race. Later in the day he showed the the guys in the 4/5’s that he could hang with them. Later in the race in a feat of selflessness he showed the 4/5’s how to crash. All at the tender age of 14. He’s a little banged up but fine. Oh and Daniel, I wouldn’t be worried about showing the 4/5’s how to crash most of them already know.
Every Tuesday and Thursday morning until Gateway Cup, 9am at the Muny. Fun for all. Come out and ride with your favorite washed up local cat 2 racer, Joe Williams.
Some of you may be wondering “How fast are these rides, I mean didn’t you race in Belgium or Slovakia or something?” My answer to you is, slow. I plan to use my Power Tap wheel, Polar HRM with Infra-red sensor, SRM Pro and a laptop on each ride to plan rides that are the wattage output equivalent to doing a crossword puzzle while chewing gum. In other words, everyone should be able to hang on.
I hope to see you there.
