Tour De France 2007

would be fun to watch on the mountain stages , just think of the possible carnage

 

i would pay to watch that!

 

Well - no, not true. He did not miss drugs tests. He failed to inform the governing body about his whereabouts - twice. That meant that the International testing doolally and the Danish ditto - both tried to find him, and gave him warnings. 2 agencies, two warnings each for two offenses.

Also, regarding the c&p from tenhourslater - Rasmussen was not kicked out - he was pulled by his own team. The Tour could not kick him out like this as the rule states that you can only get punished if you get 3 warnings on 3 offenses.

That said, cycling and a sport, and the tour as an event, CANNOT afford to have any doubts surrounding one of it's more prominent riders - not without taking action.

As a Dane I am GUTTED that Rasmussen won't be allowed to win this year (as I am sure he would have) but as a cycling fan I am relieved that - after years and years of turning the other cheek, it seems teams, sponsors, organisers and VERY VERY IMPORTANTLY - other riders - are starting to put their feet down. Zero tolerance is what's needed to make cycling clean again.

Re. whereabouts. My neighbour trains a Danish 21yo who is on the national team. That "kid" has been checked 53 times out of conpetition so far this year. 53 times and he's not even a pro yet! That's the degree to which they go to try and keep people clean. And that's where informing about whereabouts is so important.

Re. Contador - well, he's mentioned in Operation Puerto - the Spanish blood doping scandal - alongside J*rg Jachkse who has been banned already. His name (Contador's) is being kepot out of official documents because he agreed to give evidence. Very sordid.

 

I have been following cycling for many years and the sport has been dogged by drug taking
over all these years.

What I do not under stand is that the first I think 10 places are drug tested after each stage
and some thing like 15 riders are randomly tested after each stage.

How do these riders think they are going to get away with drug taking when they are being tested
when they have done well in a stage.

How do you make drug testing so rigorist that riders will know that if they take drugs they will be found out.