Wednesday update

So Di Luca is finally caught, after doping for likely his entire career. About damn time. He actually publicly stated that notorious doping doctor Carlo Santuccione was his "family doctor" since he was child, so while it is a relief to see him fall at long last, it is also a sad indictment of the total inadequacy of the usual sort of anti-doping testing that it took so many long years to catch him. Like Kohl, who explained that he should have tested positive any number of times long before his CERA positive, I think that Di Luca has long been getting away with it with ease due to the help of Santuccione and his informers, who warned the doctor about upcoming "surprise" tests. The jury is still out on whether the bio-passport will really be able to end the dark days of obvious dopers being able to smugly say they never tested positive. In catching Di Luca, the UCI can now earnestly wave a big fish under our noses as "proof" of their sincerity in the anti-doping fight. With the UCI however, cycling fans have long since learned the hard way to question everything and temper our expectations. Putting your faith in the UCI's veracity is sort of like declaring the Tour to be clean. As much as you might want to believe it, you are just asking to look stupid a few months down the line. The UCI's history is nothing if not one big object lesson on the power of denial and the misuse of official authority. McQuaid will soon be reelected as head of the UCI, without any opposition candidates even running. Verbruggen, who has to be among the worst doping apologist ever, is still in a position of power at the UCI. The UCI is still suing Dick Pound. Is this an organization that you can believe in?

The other point made by this latest positive is that some cyclists are clearly not afraid of getting caught when taking CERA. Why is this? It seems that they must have info that the chances of getting caught are relatively slim. You have to wonder what percentage of CERA users the CERA test actually is able to catch? How many other cyclists have been using CERA and got away with it? There must be quite a few if there are still high-profile, frequently-tested cyclists who are willing to take the risk and face the odds of discovery. For cyclists who have been doping and not getting caught for their entire career, the sense of invincibility must be deeply ingrained, and their attitudes toward the acceptability of doping seem to be lagging behind the growing ability of the bio-passport to catch them. The idea of many long-time dopers in the cycling world seems to be that they are simply not doing anything wrong, and that tacit acceptance of doping is and ought to be the unwritten law of the sport. Riders who have lived this reality for years will have a hard time coming to grips with the idea that the UCI might actually be serious about anti-doping this time...maybe.

In other news, Kohl's manager Matschiner has pointed the finger at a former Gerlosteiner rider who is currently an active rider on another team, and who rode previously at the Tour. Former Gerlosteiner head Holczer has replied angrily that Matschiner ought to just name names if he is going to say things like that. Take a look at the former Gerolsteiner roster.

Problems at Silence-Lotto? How unusual.

Team Sky have applied for a ProTour license. I think the UCI is really asking for trouble if they are planning to increase the number of ProTour teams next year. Meanwhile in Nicholas Roche's latest Tour diary where he details coming in fourth on yesterday's stage, there is a section about the ProTour: "...straight away the team manager was giving out that we only got fourth and we didn't get enough UCI points. He is worried that with the ProTour being cut from 20 to 17 teams next year that we won't have enough points to stay up there, which would mean missing the biggest races." So the ProTour is being cut to 17 teams next years? But new teams are applying? Who is leaving to make room? Are some teams actually going to be kicked out for lack of UCI points?

Jens Voigt's crash yesterday was among the scariest I have ever seen while watching a race, with the sheer force of his impact provoking momentary nausea. While it is a big relief that he is out of danger, I still wonder sometimes about the ethics of being a fan of a sport that can carry such a huge risk for its participants. The stress and media attention of the Tour sometimes seem to magnify the dangers, and I just wish as fans that we weren't contributing to the pressures that might sometimes lead riders to take a bit of extra risk. I guess it is just part of the race that has to be accepted, but I still don't like it. Meanwhile everyone seems to have a theory about what exactly happened. Even the Tour officials weighed in, with Francois Lemarchand saying, "They are using deep-profile carbon wheels and they are just too stiff. You combine that with the stiff carbon frames and it is just too rigid. They can't absorb any shock." Not sure if that theory holds any water, but I doubt Specialized will be interested to consider the idea that their frames might be too stiff. Also I would highly suggest NOT looking at any of the usual places for TdF photos from yesterday's stage, as there are way too many graphic and disturbing pictures of the crash out there. I wonder how the photographers feel about that, being more or less obligated to document such events as they happen, without knowing the medical condition or prognosis of the rider.

As for today's stage, I loved Thor's long solo escapade, which showed that his class as an all-arounder is not to be overlooked in the tendency to classify him as a sprinter. Truly amazing to see him climbing that well and looking fairly comfortable doing it. Cav is young and brash, yet perhaps today was a small lesson that it is not always the best strategy to provoke your opponents with angry words that may inspire them to feats of unexpected brilliance. Many riders feed off of anger and the desire to prove their naysayers wrong, and if you give such riders a good reason to be angry then you are surely not helping your own cause. Cav's outspoken nature is often dismissed as a sort of "boys being boys" thing that is to be more or less expected of high-strung sprinters, yet if you consider that his comments contributed no small part to the Garmin-Columbia feud and now also to antagonism with Hushovd/Cervelo, you have to wonder if at some point the Columbia management will ask him to hold his tongue a little more. Creating enemies in the peloton is not helpful for any team, and Cav seems to be developing a certain talent for it. Meanwhile, LA seems to be taking a suspiciously outsized interest in Cav, which has the usual sort of transfer speculation rumbling around. LA's new team is likely in the process of considering new hires at the Tour, and whenever LA suddenly takes a shine to a rider, it raises the same speculation, such as previously happened with Gerrans.

Other than Thor's exploits, I did not much enjoy the outcome of today's stage. The guys I wanted to do well had some trouble, and the guys I am either indifferent to or actively dislike were flying. That's life as a fan. You get used to it. I have no interest in the Schlecks, as Frank's tendency to blithely send money off to Fuentes is hardly reassuring. Then there is Kloden, who as far as I can tell should not even have been allowed to ride at the Tour due to info from the Freiburg report implicating him in blood doping. Really, why is he still even employed as a professional rider? Yet there he is, having a big impact on the race and perhaps ending up on the podium. It is a sad spectacle that shows why the sport has many miles further to go before the Tour will be a believable race. Then there is Contador whose past is an enigma shrouded by the impenetrable shadows of Puerto and Saiz. Some heavy hitters swear to his current cleanliness, yet he hardly seems forthcoming about his past as a protege of Saiz, unlike his teammate Jesus Hernandez. Next in line we have LA, whose past hardly needs mentioning. Take a read of Le Sale Tour or From Lance to Landis if you need a refresher, which if you read this blog, I bet you don't. These are your top five, a group with plenty of questions and doubts lingering. I don't know for sure whether there is even a single rider in that top five that I can believe in. That's life as a fan. You get used to it. As for Nibali, who knows, but as least he's not entirely keen on Di Luca and sometimes wears a doping-free tatoo, which proves so much.

I am a bit worried about what is going on with the usually amiable Sastre, as his rest day comments seemed rather out of character. There have been rumblings that all is not serene within the Cervelo ranks, and some riders are said to be running for the exits next year. I wonder how much Sastre misses the presence of Sunderland, who was supposed to be his DS and who he knew from his CSC years. It was seemingly an ill omen for Cervelo when Sunderland left suddenly for no clear reason very early last season. I also wonder how different Sastre's Tour might have been if he had not been under pressure to perform at a high level at the Giro. You would think that Cervelo could pick their goals with a little more discretion, especially with the degree of success they have already had, yet they always seem slightly greedy for wins. I wonder how close the link between Sunderland and Sastre really is, and if Sastre might want to eventually follow Sunderland to Sky if Cervelo is not working out for him. Watching the videos at bartape.net, you get a feeling that the directors at Cervelo are sometimes a bit dictatorial and there is a certain regimented feeling about the way things are run. I am not sure how well that meshes with Sastre's ethos, and whether Sastre's decision to join Cervelo was driven more by a need to escape the soured relationship with Riis than by a real desire to become main attraction of Vroomen's team. If Sastre was expecting to have Sunderland as his DS, how does he really feel about having Jean-Paul Van Poppel instead?

Reading Michael Barry's view on the Hincapie polemic is quite depressing, although it must be taken into account that Barry is a close personal friend of Hincapie and is not exactly in a position to be unbiased. If there is really this huge feud between Garmin and Columbia and it is not just being magnified in the media, then I wish that the managers involved would just schedule a meeting, sit down, and hash out a peace deal to put this stupid nastiness behind them. Maybe that is unrealistic, but this ugliness is truly distasteful, and it is bad for the sport, bad for the riders involved, and bad for the fans. I have no interest in being a fan of any team which engages in petty backstabbing, unsportsmanlike conduct, personal grudge-matches, or ego-driven hissy fits. Any team whose managers, owners, or riders like to publicly and loudly act that way can kiss my interest good-bye once and for all. When people talk about wanting a team to cheer for that has some actual ethical backbone, they are not just talking about doping. Everyone involved should really think twice about the bad image they are projecting to the fans and to their sponsors. I am not exactly sure any longer who needs to be apologizing to who, or why, but everyone involved needs to stop being led around by their out-of-control egos and start acting like responsible adults, and that includes Garmin as well as Columbia. It is bad enough that we are subjected to the twisted spectacle of LA and Bruyneel publicly undermining the Tour's yellow jersey in a game of psychological warfare that is both sickening and predictable. We really do not need any more bad behavior in this Tour, especially from teams who are supposed to be better than that.

Sunday update: Regular edition

Martin Dugard tells a strange tale of a quick trip to France. Don't mess with the ASO?

Emanuele Sella denies that his info was responsible for the latest Italian doping raid. Omerta relapse.

French rumors suggest that Saxo Bank wants to hire Pierrick Fedrigo. Saxo Bank denies.

The British commentators are almost bouncing off the walls with delight over Wiggins. Sort of endearing to see how excited they are to have a British contender. Sky team head honchos must be squirming though...

Vande Velde interview.

I like the big photos at Steephill.tv.

Tommorow is a rest day which sometimes means big announcements are made. Some people think that LA will be announcing something about his new team for next year. Stay tuned.

Lanterne rouge Kenny Van Hummel is gaining quite a following. Today he bravely fought to the finish despite being almost stalked by the broom wagon. Good pics of this at Cor Vos.

Today was finally FINALLY a stage where the attacks really started to make the difference and show us something about the real contenders and their prospects. It was a strange melange of new and old, as the youngsters Contador and A. Schleck put the hurt on the elder statesmen and Saxo Bank blew apart the peloton in the brutal slow torture manner that USPS used to favor. Having guys like Jens and Cancellara driving for all they are worth is a formidable tactic with a serious intimidation factor, but seemed in the end to help Contador as fewer guys were there to try to chase down The Big Attack. This hard early tempo seemed to cause the most trouble for Sastre and Vande Velde (which perhaps was exactly Riis's plan as he surely knows those riders well), but Sastre at least showed his resilience to claw his way back. Evans meanwhile was having a crap day according to his post-stage comments, which is really too bad, as he has never had a chance to show himself properly in this Tour and now it seems too late to turn things around. For the deflated Aussie fans, there are some highlights left to savor, as half-German semi-Aussie Haussler showed with his recent stage win that he is still riding like a man reborn after his torrid spring season. Meanwhile Contador has rightly silenced his detractors and given LA a big old middle finger, which will hopefully mercifully silence the endless gush of stories on the Astana team squabbling. However, if I was Contador I would be very careful to watch my back and not let down my guard, because if there is one thing we know about the LA/Bruyneel axis of power, it is never to show any sign of vulnerability or doubt, because they will exploit any chance to further their own agenda, which seems to be to successfully create a new team for next year separate from the Kazakh-Vino version of Astana.

I loved the moment when Hinault brought out the lumbering Saint Bernard onto the podium. Contador was standing there patting this giant dog in the yellow jersey. Something totally wacky and funny about that, yet very fitting to the weird world of cycling. Of all the strange things you see on cycling podiums, from giant sausages to massive cups of beer to smelly over-sized cheeses to exotic hats, I like the giant canine prize the best. You win a bike race, we'll give you a dog (temporarily). Makes perfect sense. Too bad Contador can't keep that dog as his bodyguard, as he could use one. He is now wearing the yellow bulls-eye and all the other contenders will be aiming their every last bullet right at him. Whether he will still be shooting his signature victory salute in Paris depends on what ammunition his foes have left. I would not underestimate the tenacity of riders like Sastre or Evans, who may not be good enough to win, but have the pride and determination to fight until the bitter end. Wiggins is the true wild card, as no one has a clue what he can really do in the next days, and the Tour may find itself alight with a totally unexpected new storyline as a Brit is poised for that most elusive and hallowed of prizes, a podium spot in Le Tour.

Sunday update: The soap opera edition

This Tour has more dueling egos, hidden agendas, and melodramatic whining than a Melrose Place season finale. So this is CFA, the soap opera edition....

As my fellow blogger Wannabe Bike Girl so succinctly explains, "The whole point of the Tour de France is to RACE THE GOD DAMN RACE. I don't care what kind of history you have with George, there are no favors in cycling. And as much as I adore George, and as much as I think he has a right to be angry about those five seconds, it's no one's fault but his own and maybe Columbia's." Agreed. But apparently it suits Stapleton to act all high and mighty and entitled and pretend that he has the moral high ground, as he whines and stomps his feet like a baby about not getting what he wants, when he wants it, with a cherry on top. He actually called Doug Ellis to complain! Reminds me of when kids get mad at each other and one yells that they are going to go tattle to their mother. I hope Ellis told him to shove his smugness and spoiled rich kid attitude where the sun don't shine. Oh yeah, and how about Stapleton take note of the fact that his own directors go around calling Garmin losers one day, then the next day they slate Garmin for being unsporting, as if their our name-calling and goading are nothing at all. Who's really being unsporting here? Sending a truckload of trumped-up bad PR spin crashing down on Garmin's head? Is that sporting, Bob, or just your own personal enmity due to your fannish devotion to Hincapie?

I also think that Columbia should be careful with their shoot-from-the-hip tantrums whenever they lose, because if you read the forums it is clear that a lot of cycling fans see right through their self-serving claims and are increasingly disgusted. Winning alone does not make a team popular, and trying to use the media to create smoke-screens to distract people from the real problem (you lost, god forbid!) does not help. What seems to me to be happening is that Stapleton and a few riders such as Cavendish have a personal problem with Garmin and they are sowing the seeds of a team-wide anti-Garmin attitude. Cav's big mouth is well-known, and his poking at Garmin seems to come in part out of his dislike and jealousy of Wiggins. As for Stapleton, I am not sure why he hates Garmin so much, but I know that he and JV have fought sometimes-bitter bidding wars over hiring certain riders in the past, and I also wonder if they may have at times competed with some of the same companies in their sponsorship hunts. Stapleton is supposed to be a great manager, but is it really a good way to manage a team to sow anger, throw tantrums, and foment thoughts of revenge against another team, which wastes energy on feuds and polemics when the Tour is already draining and demanding enough?

Then there is Cav, who is busy slagging off Hushovd with all kinds of nasty comments like "I hope Thor can sleep at night." I guess Cav blames him for the fact that he was relegated, which is a bit dumb since according to chief referee Martin Bruin, the decision to relegate Cav had already been made before the jury even received official notice of the Cervelo team's protest. But really, it must all just be Thor's fault, like Hincapie missing the jersey is all Garmin's fault. Columbia have a talent for placing blame, as long as it is not on their own shoulders. Maybe Stapleton, in all his management expertise, should remind his charges and himself that sometimes the person to blame isn't always someone, anyone, else.

These sort of slimy polemic episodes are also not good for the sport of cycling as a whole, as they make the Tour look more like a sordid soap opera populated by prima donnas and egomaniacs rather than a compelling and inspiring athletic endeavor.....well, who am I kidding, the sport has always had that sordid soap opera aspect (see: Anquetil), but Stapleton is just making it worse. There are lessons to be learned from this distasteful episode, with the primary one being to resist the impulse to lash out in anger in the heat of the moment and create a media firestorm without considering the potentially severe fallout for all involved, including your own team. This is a lesson Cadel Evans could likely give Stapleton a few object lessons on after last year's Youtube moments. It requires a lot of self-discipline and restraint to not lose your cool at the Tour when things go badly wrong at the same time as microphones and cameras are shoved in your face, but hopefully people can try a bit harder to bite their tongue and not start a war of words that comes back to bite them in the ass.

As for Garmin, if they wanted to ride to protect Wiggins and Vande Velde's positions as they saw fit, then why should they have to apologize for that? Why should they care about the placing of another team's rider who happens to be in the breakaway? Why would it be their job to make sure someone on another team gets a yellow jersey?

Friday update

Nicholas Roche is writing a Tour diary for the Irish Independent. He details an incident last week at the start village where he thought that he had been shot: "Yesterday morning, I was sitting talking to one of the main bosses of Ag2r...when a massive bang -- like a gunshot -- went off. Immediately, I felt a sting behind my left knee. I looked down to see blood pouring from my leg and a massive bruise appearing at the back of my knee around the tendon area. I had been shot!" In a later installment of his diary, he adds, "I also found out that there was a police investigation into the incident that left me with a massive bruise on my leg. The gendarmes confirmed it was an exploding ice compressor. But just to keep the conspiracy theory going, my soigneur told me that as I lay on the ground clutching my leg, he ran around the back of the lorries to find an old guy bent over laughing. When my soigneur confronted him he said 'ah they were only having a bit of fun', which makes me think somebody did do it on purpose." With the incident today in which Dean and Friere were shot with an air-gun, it raises the question of whether the 2 incidents are actually truly unrelated as the gendarmes seem to think, or if there could possibly be a Tour sniper on the loose, a truly horrible potential scenario to contemplate. With the huge stress of the Tour already bearing down on the riders, the last thing they need is to deal with the added fear of such scary incidents. Very sad.

The recent Italian doping raid is a result of information given to authorities by Emanuele Sella. This is the reason that he was given a reduced ban, as his inside info has now led to the potential prosecution of around 30 people involved in doping. The riders reportedly implicated in the case include Davide Rebellin, Matteo Priamo, Andrea Moletta, Marco Ghiselli, David Munoz, Daniele Ricci, Armado Camelo, Amerigo Novembrini, Sasa Gajicic and Francesco Rivera. Three DSs are also involved, including Simone Mori (formerly manager of Amica Chips). Among the many doping products seized were CERA and Viagra (recall that Moletta's father was previously found in a car with large quantities of Viagra). Notable also that pharmaceutical company employees are implicated in this case, and you have to wonder if they were actively marketing their products to dopers or what. The prominent involvement of the Serbian coach and ex-pro Aleksandar Nikacevic in this case also reminds me of the case of the Serbian rider Ivan Stevic, which last I heard had gone to CAS. Not sure what ever happened with that as he was supposed to be banned for life, but yet was racing in Serbia as recently as this June, as a member of the Serbian national team, of which Nikacevic was previously a coach. Another tangled web of deceit, to follow in the dark footsteps of the Oil for Drugs case and Operation Athena, among other Italian cases.

Today also brought news that two more Spaniards (surprise), Serrano and Landaluze, have been caught doping, specifically CERA in recent tests. Great to see more riders caught for CERA, although Serrano was already named as a bio-passport case (very bad news for Fuji-Servetto who are still mired deep in the crap from the Ricco and Piepoli debacle). Even when riders know that a test exists for a certain drug, they still seem to think that they have a reasonable enough chance of getting away with it that it is worth using. It is a gamble that they must win often enough to make the odds attractive. Either that or they are just stupid or desperate. Perhaps some mixture of all of the above. I have often wondered about Euskaltel's status in terms of doping, ever since their former team doctor, Jesus Losa, linked to Duenas and Millar cases, was nailed. Plus Mayo. Over the years, a few too many of their riders seem to have had weird roller coasters of drastically varying form. Then there is also the recent phobia that Samuel Sanchez seems to have developed about riding in France....maybe he is "racist" like Cavendish?

The recent radio ban was amusing if only for the revealing glimpses of Bruyneel and Riis's nutty control freak tendencies, couched in politically correct concerns about rider safety that rang hollow coming from them. It was about power and control, not safety. It almost seemed that they were confronted with a sudden attack of existential panic, a debilitating ennui, an identity crisis (who am I? why the hell am I sitting for hours jammed in this damn car driving like a maniac around France for three weeks?? for what?) at the very idea that for one entire stage they would not have their riders directly under their thumb, that they would be stripped of the hallowed privilege and utter necessity of instructing their child-like charges precisely when to eat, drink, pee, pull, pick their nose, descend, climb, turn, pedal, and don't think a single independent thought. Because, really, riders cannot be relied upon to know when to do these things on their own. They must be controlled and instructed by the all-knowing genius minds in the team car or they will simply self-destruct with mindless vapidity, riding willy-nilly off the road in confusion over not having the ever-present voice of their guru puppet masters whispering shamanic words of wisdom into their ears, brainwashing them into perfect obedience at all times.

Meanwhile Cavendish is busy planning his upcoming victory salutes for his next few stage wins, in which he will theatrically sniff his underarm to thank his deodorant sponsor, unclip and grab his right foot to thank his toenail clipper sponsor, stick his finger in his ear to thank his Q-tip sponsor, and frame his crotch (again) to indicate his devotion to his chamois cream. When I saw that picture of him holding his glasses in front of him as he crossed the line, all I could think was that his head had suddenly swelled so big that his glasses were suddenly three sizes too small for his inflated ego. And Aldag is still mouthing off, recently making a hardly-veiled comment aimed at Garmin, "I don’t think you can make friends with the riders and agree to everything. I do believe the best way to have fun on the team is to have success. Not talking yourself into it...saying "oh what a great team of losers!" Nice, Rolf, sure are making lots of friends with that sort of trash talk.

WADA has asked for the length of Hamilton's ban to be reviewed, due to their preference for a life ban. I'd guess the reasoning maybe is to try to prevent Hamilton from working in the sport after his ban expires as a DS or manager. Remember that when he supposedly retired for good, he also stated, "Cycling's not done with me yet." What was that supposed to mean anyway? Sounded ominously like he was already planning some sort of unwelcome eventual comeback. If you don't want to get on WADA's bad side, then it is really very simple, DON'T DOPE!

Poor Boonen, his problems in his personal life are splashed all over the newspapers. No wonder he is having troubles at the Tour. He has bigger problems than finishing a bike race, and it is really sad that his team management cannot see that. It starts to seem that Lefevere is just exploiting him as a sort of human commodity, and cannot see past that to the human being who needs care and guidance to sort out his difficulties.

The blacklist lives.

Saturday update

According to the Austrian newspaper Kurier, Kohl has given info to the Austrian authorities implicating Michael Boogerd, Thomas Dekker and Pietro Caucchioli in the Humanplasma case. In a true indication of the genius minds at work behind this scandal, the nickname used to identify Rasmussen's bloodbags was simply Chicken.

Chris Anker Sørensen is not enjoying his first Tour, saying that he can hardly get out of bed, feels like an old man, and is just trying to make it to the rest day. Bet he's not the only who feels that way after what has been a very hectic and intense first week of the Tour.

Review of the first week.

Rasmussen complains that a French neo-pro has no business winning the first big Tour mountain stage, as it should be contested by all the best climbers. I think what he's really annoyed about is that it wasn't won by him. Bad enough to be a doper, even worse to be a jerk. How can he sit there and criticize Brice Feillu, who won by going in a long breakaway, just like how Rasmussen used to win stages? And who is to say whether or not Feillu is one of the best climbers at the Tour or not? I doubt anyone knows how good he is yet (including him), as this is his first try.

Tomorrow Andy Schleck will face the Tourmalet, where last year at the Tour he lost big time after bonking. He admits he has bad memories of this climb, but insists that his bad day last year will not happen again. Only time will tell which GC favorites will face the dreaded "jour sans" this year.

Winner of the weird headline award: "Tour shaping up as Star Wars, but which is Darth Vader?"

"Before the stage to Arcalís, many were anticipating an Armstrong attack, perhaps midway up the climb, like he did in the old days. The Texan’s modus operandi was always to attack hard and decisively on the Tour’s first mountain-top finish, then use his team to defend the lead. That he didn’t suggests only one thing. He couldn’t do it."

Bradley Wiggins: "To be honest I think a lot of people think I'm on drugs. I'm sure of it. I know how the sport is. Lots of guys are going to be thinking 'what's Wiggins doing?' That's unfortunate, but I'm not Stefan Schumacher or Bernard Kohl. I've worked hard for this."

Prior to the Tour, when Agritubel's Christophe Laurent found out that he was not selected for his team's tour roster, he suggested that Brice Feillu shouldn't have been picked. Oops.

I guess that Sergio over at Ciclismo 2005 is none too pleased with the Tour so far: "Este año el Tour es un duelo de certificados médicos."

Former CSC rider Jakob Piil says that he is not impressed with Frank Schleck's support of his brother Andy so far in the Tour, and that Frank needs to be less passive and attack more. So easy to say that from the couch, but I guess he has a point as Frank has not been overly visible at the front, and it has been mainly Andy doing the attacking. It will be interesting to see whether later in the Tour Frank will be willing to totally sacrifice his own placing in order to help Andy.

LA has a documentary crew with him at the Tour, which has raised the question of whether he is essentially staging certain scenes to suit the planned storyline of the documentary, or to make himself look better to the documentary's eventual audience. For example, some people think that his whole decision to get Frankie Andreu to interview him was so that he could get a scene of the two of them acting reasonably friendly (a faked "reconciliation" scene) to use in his documentary. The documentary's director, Alex Gibney, admits he doesn't know much about cycling (bad sign!) but has said about Armstrong, "He's a masterful producer-director of his own myth." For more on the documentary, see this LA Times article.

Today Cadel Evans bravely, or stupidly, depending on who you ask, attempted a sort of Landis-esque exploit (hopefully without the extra testosterone) by attacking on the first climb, but his adventure was cut sadly short by his decidedly cranky break-mates plus the inexorable chase of the Astana android army, all hopped up on vats of FRS, no doubt. Cancellara's whining in the break was a bit like a spoilt toddler who doesn't want to share his toys. If I was Evans, I would have reminded him that today's stage was not a time trial so he doesn't get to dictate the result. Since when is Cancellara entitled to the god-given right to get into a successful breakaway with only his preferred fellow competitors whenever the hell he wants? If Cadel (or any rider for that matter) is strong enough to get off the front and stay there, then tough luck to the others. It is a RACE not a damn etiquette contest. Cadel has nothing to lose, so why shouldn't he actually try something? Why this idea is so seemingly foreign to so many riders is a mystery I will never understand. If Cancellara doesn't like it, then he and his freakish quads should just skulk themselves back to the peloton and cry about the terrible injustice on Jen's bony shoulder (ouch). That is, if Jens wouldn't just snarl "Harden the fuck up. Me counter-attack now" and charge like a possessed beserker madly off the front yodeling his war cry, as the rest of the peloton shivered in terror....Er, anyway, Evans has basically been screwed bigtime by the return of the team time trial, and I think he has a right to be pissed about it. The good news is that he's finally really learned to attack. The bad news is that Astana surely won't give him many chances to showcase this newly honed skill. Like a terrier trapped on a short leash, some growling and snapping will likely ensue. I hate to say it, but the Australian media scrum best beware and stand back, as this situation is crappy enough to cause anyone to lose their cool.

I wish that by some magical spell, we could take L.L.Sanchez's excess tactical cleverness (he has plenty extra, don't worry) and transplant it into some other riders who desperately need it. Because there are seemingly some riders who couldn't win out of a 2 man breakaway if the other guy had one broken leg. Seriously, can you teach that? Or is it an in-born gift, a sort of savant talent for reading a race? You better believe that Sanchez didn't need a darn radio to know when to attack or when to start sprinting. It was also a fitting continuation of our brotherly theme from yesterday, as Sanchez always rather movingly dedicates his wins to his late brother who sadly died in a motorbike accident in 2005.

Perhaps tomorrow our fraternal theme will extend, and it will be the turn of Luxembourg's lanky duo to take their places as the headlining brothers of this Tour?

Friday update

Milram's Johannes Fröhlinger writes a diary for radsport-aktiv.de and talks about his third place today, calling it an "unreal feeling" and saying that it took a big toll on him as he was still having cramps on the massage table. Nice to see a young German rider having a go. Between Martin, Ciolek, and potential up-and-comers like Fröhlinger, it seems that there is hope for German cycling yet. Gerdemann had a tough day though, losing 4:48. Ciolek has had a problematic spring dealing with some health problems, but seems to be coming around now judging by his recent decent tries in the sprints.

Too bad that Sébastien Joly abandoned. It was great to see him back after his illness, and hopefully the reason for his abandon is nothing overly serious. He also had a few interesting comments in a recent interview that show he takes a somewhat different view of his cancer than some.

Science of Sport analyzes today's stage.

Interview with Garmin DS Lionel Marie.

Michael Rogers just does not have much luck sometimes. Although his x-rays showed no broken bones after his crash, his DS Rolf Aldag admitted, "The way he was struggling to get back on his bike...he is normally a really tough guy. To see him like this, then something is wrong."

I would not go so far as to cast the Second Coming as Nazis, but apparently other people would.

Joe Papp is asked for his predictions on the Tdf, and says the most likely event is that some riders will still be using transfusions. Sad but true. If you don't know who Joe Papp is, read this.

Andre Greipel won again at Tour of Austria (where Columbia also holds the GC lead with Albasini). Greipel seems to be trying to keep pace with Cav. Bet he will be looking for a new team next year.

New edition of TdF barometer.

Nice win by Voeckler on stage 5. Important for the French fans to get some joy. Good to see his team get a win, with their upcoming sponsor issues looming. I've always hated the way that Phil and Paul comment on his frequent attacks in various races in such a dismissive and condescending manner ("there goes little Tommy Voeckler attacking again for no conceivable reason"), so it was nice to see them eat some crow. I also have to say that Voeckler always fondly reminds me of a hobbit. In a good way.

Oooh, I do so love me some vintage Jeremy Whittle. The Times has more than a few seriously good cycling writers with Kimmage, Walsh, and Whittle, all hard-core anti-dopers. Must be in bold on top of the blacklist.

New test for Synacthene (ACTH) is in use now. Seems that it would have been better if this test had been kept secret like the CERA test last year during the Tour, if they really wanted to catch people instead of basically warn them to stop taking it.

Challenged by work schedules and cranky DVR software on my computer (technology is overrated, give me back my VCR), my Tour watching has been sadly intermittent the past few days. However, I managed to catch the second half of today's stage and I loved the Contador attack. Defiance in the face of the Second Coming is always a very beautiful thing. Anyone who thinks that they can stop Contador attacking when the road turns steep has not been paying attention. Bruyneel can pontificate and feign authority all he wants, meanwhile Contador will just be detonating the group with that vicious acceleration. If he's eventually ostracized by the Second Coming's mafia and needs support, CdE have said openly that they will help him.

Very happy to see that Garmin had two guys right there at the end. Vande Velde's quiet steadiness is starting to give me a little prickle of pleasant anticipation for the final week, and Wiggins, well, who knew? I thought he was just another time trialist. Shows what I know. I like the way Garmin has been riding the last few days, showing aggression and initiative yesterday and then very disciplined work by the team today in protecting and positioning their leaders near the front of the group for the climb.

I have a weakness for fraternal storylines, and the Feillu clan are both the sort of appealing underdogs that make for great brotherly drama. One is a feisty, fearless sprinter with a great backstory of overcoming a severe leg injury requiring five operations to correct, the other a spindly young neo-pro climber in his first Tour. Together on the tiny Agritubel team, they are thumbing their noses at the might of the big teams with a yellow jersey and now a stage win between them. "It made me cry....I believed in him," said an emotional Romain after Brice's unlikely triumph thrilled the French fans (among others) today. Be still my beating heart. Brice wants to take the polka dot jersey to Paris, and I hope he does. It would (hopefully) provide quite a refreshing contrast to the sleazy polka dot jersey winners of recent years like Kohl or Rasmussen. It is also interesting to consider how some young riders arrive in the pro peloton and just deliver wins right from the start, while others who seem fully capable and talented enough, take years of time to "develop." Are the truly talented riders the ones who can just win from the start? Or is it normal for great riders to take years to mature and grow into their potential?

Tuesday update

"JerkStrong: How Lance Armstrong is like Sarah Palin." Great to see that some writers have no fear.

After today's TTT, Evans said on his diary, "Still close to guys like Andy Schleck and Carlos, but a long way behind the favourites of Astana. I certainly have my work cut out for me now." His team dealt with crashes and punctures, bad luck, yet Evans seems to be keeping his cool better than last year so far.

B samples of Schumacher and Rebellin are positive, and "lawyers of five athletes had met to discuss strategy in their appeals to the international Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)."

The UCI will not let Rasmussen ride again until he pays his one year's salary fine of 700,000 Euros. He has refused to pay.

Both Boogerd and Dekker will have to answer questions from the Austrian officials investigating the Humanplasma case. They are said to be considered witnesses, not suspects (yet?).

Before the Tour started, Prudhomme called Rabobank boss Harold Knebel about Menchov's possible Humanplasma links. Knebel insists that the team has no indication that Menchov is dirty. Sounds familiar? Deja vu?

One fan's view on today's stage.

I think today's route was stupidly dangerous. What was the point of those tiny roads? Thin down the peloton by breaking people's bones? Mashing the morale of the GC guys who actually have some pure climber-non-TTers on their teams? TTT is hard enough as it is, do they have to make it into a crash-fest? Sometimes race organizers just seem perverse, truly. As for the result, it makes me sick. That is all I can say. Really, I hate seeing unworthy teams getting the glory. Being a cycling fan too often requires tolerating frustration over and over. Let me just say that if it was the Second Coming in yellow, then the Tour would be over for me until someone else took the jersey away. I will not waste my time watching the Versus commentators endlessly drooling and crowing like deranged groupies over a fraud. They may like their ratings, but I despise their totally unbalanced view of the sport.

Monday update

It seems that the Swiss Olympic Committee may yet be calling Ullrich to account for doping. Better late than never? Or just too late altogether?

Süddeutsche Zeitung has an article on Sinkewitz's info on doping at QuickStep, with specific mention of the roles of team doctor Yvan Van Mol and Manuel Rodriguez Alonso. It seems that Sinkewitz has also implicated Kloden in blood doping at the 2006 Tour, which the Freiburg report already suggested had happened.

Rasmussen is being called as a witness related to the Humanplasma case. The Chicken is said to have a contract ready for signing, but has yet to announce the team, as there seems to be a possible hitch related to this unnamed team's desire to be allowed to race the Tour of Denmark and their fear that hiring Ramsussen will endanger their invitation due to the DCU's hardline against doping.

Somewhat interesting to see the comments of Cadel's wife Chiara Passerini on twitter: "honestly i don't care at all about lance." Also on twitter is Bradley Wiggins' wife and Levi Leipheimer's wife.

According to Cyclismag, it is likely that McQuaid will remain president of the UCI until 2013. Fabulous, more years of Lance pal Verbruggen's puppet running the show, just what cycling needs. One interesting point made in the new book Le Sale Tour is that people who receive letters from the UCI signed by McQuaid often notice that the specific writing style and vocabulary is that of Verbruggen. Who's really running the show?

In recompense for getting kicked off the QuickStep Tour team at the last minute, Allan Davis was given a plane ticket to Australia by Lefevere.

Congratulate VeloNews's Charles Pelkey, as he has officially been banned from The Second Coming's holy Twitter. Join the club. I'm banned too, and consider it a badge of honor.

"One of the keys to being a good bike racer is forgetting a lot of stuff."--Svein Tuft provides wisdom on crashing

Today's stage was a snooze-fest that suddenly exploded into a classic piece of Tour drama, the sort of unpredictable fireworks that keep us watching this race every year. It is fascinating that no matter how well warned all the riders were about the dangers of the crosswinds today, they still couldn't do much of anything about it when the split came. It is way too easy for the DSs and armchair observers (me) to say snarky stuff like 'why weren't they more vigilant?' or 'why didn't they stay on the front?' In reality, 180 riders cannot all be on the front at once, and in a long, hard, hot stage with tricky changing wind directions, it is not easy to predict if or when the split will come. It is a lot harder said than done to avoid getting caught in the second group, and it requires not just strength, but also bike handling ability to keep good position in the peloton, mental discipline to not lose concentration, serious motivation, plus a good helping of luck. So, as much as it really pains me to see Garmin's yellow jersey chances crumbling, and seeing Vande Velde losing time, there is not much else to say about it. Bad stuff happens, and that is bike racing, cruel and unforgiving as always.

After the stage, Columbia DS Aldag said that it was frustrating that no other teams would help with the chase, and that any team that wants to win has to contribute to the work of chasing. Er...hello, Rolf, let me introduce you to something known as reality. No one is going to help you win again for the millionth time this season, and if you think they are, then you are dwelling in fantasy-land. Stapleton also had some snarky criticism of Garmin, saying that they should have supported Farrar by chasing. So why does Stapleton pick on Garmin? Are there not a ton of great sprinters with teams capable of chasing? Why not pick on them? I swear Columbia has it in for Garmin for no good reason. It is like David picking on Goliath (their budgets are hardly comparable). Pick on someone your own size. And why should Garmin chase on the day before the TTT when they need to save their legs for another goal? Columbia has to realize that winning too much and being too dominating (and gloating about it constantly on twitter) has a lot of downsides in the long run. They will not get any cooperation from anyone. They will only get the cold shoulder. Why cooperate when there is never any payoff, just a clear view of Cav's wiggling backside receding far into the distance? If or when Columbia's GC guys (do they really even have any?) need a bit of a hand, will they get it from anyone? Doubtful, unless it involves a fat brown envelope. How can Columbia complain about being frustrated when they win everything all the time? They don't have a clue about frustration. Try being Silence-Lotto who have won like 3 or 4 times all season. Columbia has won more than that in the last 3 days between TdF and Tour of Austria (where they have won all the stages so far, shock). Plus, I find Stapleton's smarmy monologues on "execution" incredibly irritating. It is pretty damn easy to "execute" when you've got enough money to buy all the best new talent coming into the sport. I'd like to see how well Stapleton could execute if he had Garmin's budget to work with. Bet all his supposed genius ability to build team cohesion would suddenly evaporate. Plus, I never can forget Stapleton's attempt to hire Valv.Piti, and his lack of support for release of info from his team's internal testing program. Hey, two can play at this game.

I've gotten the new LA book by Wilcockson from my local library, and will attempt to read and maybe review it. I am not promising anything, as I am afraid I will find it sickening and quit after 5 pages.

In other news, I really need a job where I can take 3 weeks off every July. Ha, fat chance of that.

Sunday update

Stéphane Mandard interviews Patrice Clerc.

Rich Hincapie (George's brother) blogs from the Tour.

If the UCI ran the world...

Daryl Impey interview.

Riis thinks that one day Cancellara could get a top 5 placing in the Tour, but not this year. This idea seems to be popular these days, with various commentators saying that Cancellara could be a contender for the Tour podium someday soon. Seems that he would have to lose quite a bit of muscle mass, which could have untold impacts on his TT ability. Often it seems that good TT riders get worse when they focus on becoming better climbers. Z sometimes seems to be a case of this? Seems to me it only pays to become a better climber and worse TTer if you can become good enough to either win mountain stages or contend for overall GC. If you are a great TT rider and semi-bad climber, then you work on climbing and become a good but not great TT rider and a decent but not great climber, is this really the best way to make use of your talents? Is it better to focus on the area where you can win? Or is it better to diversify and become a jack of all trades but master of none? Yet, it is hard for a rider to really know what they can do, if they never try something different.

Clement Lhotellerie bites the dust. Another one where the rumors come true. Gives a good impression of the Skil-Shimano team's attitude toward doping. According to info filtering out of that team last year, Lhotellerie was essentially ostracized by the other Skil riders, as they thought his sketchy behavior put all of their jobs at risk. Then his contract was ended suddenly despite (or perhaps due to) his very (overly?) good results. I would suggest that this team's stance on doping is a considerable part of the reason why they are in the Tour this year. If you are the ASO, having recently been burned by Barloworld, and now having to choose between a team like Skil or a team like LPR to be an example of the sort of wild-card team you want in the Tour, which would you pick? Skil may be seen as a fairly weak roster, but isn't a clean roster of whatever strength better than a dirty roster of great but potentially fraudulent and scandalous strength? ASO wanted a wildcard that wouldn't end up embarrassing them with a doping scandal, and Skil seems to fit the bill. All the little desperado teams that like to gamble on hiring questionable riders such as Sella and Ricco may be able to get away with that on the wild west frontier of the Giro, but the Tour requires a higher standard. Isn't it a relief to see that Valverde, Di Luca, Petacchi, and Basso are all blessedly absent from hogging our TV screens this Tour? I'd rather watch a clean but unknown Skil rider giving it a go in a breakaway than watch the Killer tearing legs off. The former is (hopefully) an authentic athletic achievement showing a rider living his perhaps once-in-a-lifetime dream of riding the Tour, while the later is little but the sad ongoing masquerade of a con man.

Poor Allan Davis, sounds a bit rough. He needs that Aussie team to start up sooner rather than later. Or maybe if Cav rejects Sky, then Davis could be his stand-in there. Not great to be a non-Belgian sprinter on a Belgian team that has Boonen.

It seems that if anyone really wants to beat the Columbia sprint juggernaut, that they will need to really think creatively and outside the box. Trying the same old things over and over to try to beat Cav have only a slight chance of working, as it mainly relies on Columbia making a mistake or a twist of fate like a crash, which are fairly rare events. What can be done? Try something different. For one, get riders in the breakaway and then refuse to help chase. Over the length of the Tour, Columbia will probably be sick of chasing alone and eventually the win may go to the breakaway. Any of the second-tier sprinters have a far better chance of winning from a breakaway group than from an ordinary sprint finish. Feillu worked this strategy to utter perfection previously in the Tour and showed that this is a worthwhile if slightly unoriginal strategy. Other ideas are to try to tire or confuse the Columbia leadout guys. For example, Garmin has all these great TT riders. On a day with a flat run-in, they could try some late surprise attacks like Ignatiev did today. Maybe Millar could go once, then if he gets caught, Wiggins could try. Then, if they really want to shock everyone, maybe Z could attack (ha, yeah right). OK, much easier said than done when the speed is so high, for sure, but at least trying something unusual would challenge the Columbia guys to have to think on their feet a bit, and not make it so easy and almost routine for them to just crank out another textbook win. Also, if they are going to just try the traditional route, then Farrar seems to need more guys with him at the end. Today Cav still had 2 guys, when Farrar was already alone. If Cav gets too far ahead of Farrar, it seems unlikely that Farrar has the speed to catch him in a flat-out drag race (it was at least 4 bike lengths difference today). Beating Cav is a tough try, but I just think all the other teams have to try everything and anything to make it happen. It can be done with the right combination of ingenuity, cleverness, surprise, and tenacity. Plus it will be a long and boring set of sprint stages if Cav just cranks out every win day after day. A race where one team wins too many of the stages is not good for the sport or the race either, as so many sponsors rely heavily on the Tour's publicity to get the biggest return on their investment. When too many teams are left out of that publicity bonanza, it fuels bad feelings and desperation among those left out, as the temperature in the pressure cooker rises and no stage win materializes.

I think Lloyd Mondory of Ag2R should be awarded a special jersey for being the best generator of controversy at the Tour (any other jersey would be better than the usual Ag2r one). So far he made some quite inflammatory anti-doping comments prior to the start, then in the TT yesterday he provoked the usually kindly Phil Liggett into almost angry commentary after he was passed by Tony Martin and proceeded to blatantly and distractingly draft off of Martin despite the rules against this in a TT, and then today he was cited as barging around a bit crazily in the sprint run-in, hitting a Skil rider, who then hit Cavendish. After the stage, Cav reportedly was upset with the Skil rider, but Skil said it was all really Mondory's fault (although who really knows in the fog of battle?). At least Mondory is giving us some of the mini-dramas that give colorful life to the Tour's ever-volatile human tableau.

Excellent fifth place today for Japanese rider Yukiya Arashiro, which had Harmon and Kelly amusingly almost sputtering in surprise as they commentated on the sprint. Arashiro also must take the prize for having THE wildest haircut of any Tour rider. Not sure how that fits under a helmet, but I like the semi-metrosexual vibe. Very Japanese fashionista and a breath of fresh air compared to the gel-soaked Euro-redneck mullet favored by some.

Sastre says that he had problems with his helmet yesterday and could not keep the position he wanted on the bike. Let's hope that the Test team wasn't testing a new TT helmet in the Tour of all places?

Quick Step rider Jurgen Van De Walle is the first abandon of the Tour due to injuries. Bad luck. Marzio Bruseghin was also taken to the hospital after the stage for x-rays but right now seems OK to continue.

Eurosport (in French) has a Tour barometer, indicating which riders are going up and which down. Needless to say Koldo Fernandez is heading down after today's bizarro crash. He seemed to go straight ahead when the route turned, and bam, that was it. Never seen a gendarme jump and run so fast to get out of the way.

Garmin and Astana are sharing a hotel tonight. That must be cozy.

Saturday update

Italian U23 rider Gianandrea Mariola has tested positive for EPO in a test from the baby Giro. Always great to see the U23 riders getting an early start practising their doping skills. Prior to the race start, four other U23 riders were kicked out for strange blood values.

New Kimmage article.

Amusing photo shoot of Columbia riders by TDWSport, which also has good Tour photos after each stage, along with Cor Vos, Bettini, Graham Watson.

New book from Matt Rendell.

ITV podcast is usually a good listen for insider insights during the Tour.

Watched part of the time trial today, but the Versus advertising-to-race ratio is maddening. It is far better to watch one of the ad-free live streams, but many were getting shut down for copyright violation. I guess it is rather too easy for the copyright nazis to track down these free streams when they are listed on assorted cycling sites, but it still stinks when your only option is listening to endless Cialis ads (when the time is right, I am going to throw the tv out the window). Craig Hummer's voice also reminds me of a braying donkey. Great ride by Wiggins. I was a little worried about Zabriskie, who didn't look at all happy waiting to start. Maybe it was just concentration? Hope so. Sounds like Danny Pate was a bit disappointed in his ride, or more likely he just joking on his twitter when he said, "37th! Hmm... Guess I will be working at burger king next year."

In the bad luck and trouble category, Michael Rogers had technical difficulties with his chain and lost 1:13, after also crashing earlier in the week, bruising his hip. In the less than expected category, we have Menchov wilting and Columbia's other GC guy Kim Kirchen losing 1:57. Ouch. Yet somehow it seems only fair that Columbia gets a bit of bad luck for once. Maybe it will make them quit picking on Garmin. Karma? In the mysterious unknown rider category, there are quite a few riders I have never heard of in this year's Tour, which is likely due in part to the inclusion of Skil-Shimano, but also probably because I haven't been paying enough attention. Marcin Sapa? Maxime Bouet? Simon Geschke? I guess I need to do some remedial reading. Then there are those enigmatic riders whose names are certainly very familiar but whose likely performance or lack thereof in the upcoming weeks seems totally unpredictable, such as José Angel Gomez Marchante or Igor Anton for example. They have shown flashes of potential brilliance in the past but then melted silently into invisibility again. Who knows?

Meanwhile human-rocket Cancellara has apparently fully recovered from whatever was ailing him earlier in the season, and now again has enough blatant superiority to demoralize the rest of the time-trialists who simply don't have a chance. Bert Grabsch, for one, seemed not to bother today, although perhaps it was the climb that put him off, not the inevitability of getting crushed by the Swiss tidal wave. In the narrow escape category, watching Millar's back tire jumping around like a bucking bronco in that bad corner made me feel slightly ill, as it looked like he was only seconds from taking a potentially Tour-ending header straight into the barricades. Worst possible way to leave the Tour is by crashing out on the very first stage. Well...I guess maybe there are worse ways to leave the Tour, like say getting caught with dope in your room or something. Just ask Duenas. In the dangerous dark horse category, watching Kreuzinger's smooth-as-glass pedalling today made me think of a sharp blade through butter.

Yet, the best thing about the Tour is that in the minds of the fans and in the sweep of its history, it is far bigger than any one rider, regardless of how famous they may be either in reality or in their own over-heated imaginations. The world's media may be magnetically attracted to the Second Coming's antagonisms, but the Tour is not really about any of that if you ask me. All the fans are not there just to cheer for their favorite rider, they are there to celebrate the spirit of the race, its history, tradition, human drama, inspiration, and beauty. Even Lance cannot change that.

And lastly, don't be a sheep.

Wednesday update

I am very pleased to see Dekker getting caught at long last. Finally the rider forever dubbed by the Dutch as The Great Talent is revealed for what he really is, just another doper. I hope that many more of the past samples that contained Dynepo will also be re-tested, as I am sure that there are many other riders who were doing the same as Dekker, including Rasmussen for one. I guess that could count as a second offense and the Chicken could get life. Good riddance. The more and more times we see these rumors of doping being proven true, the harder it becomes to ignore other unproven rumors under the proviso of innocent until proven guilty. Time after time, it seems that those riders who have a cloud of suspicion over them, and who make loud protestations of how unfairly they are being treated, turn out to be guilty. Ricco, Sella, Piepoli, Rebellin, Schumacher, Kohl. It also provides more firepower for those who rightfully object to riders using doping doctors such as Cecchini or Ferrari for "training plans". Dekker's once-close relationship with Cecchini was such that the good doctor claimed he viewed him as a son, and Dekker moved to Italy specifically to live nearby. Shows what a bit a bad fatherly advice will get you. Busted.

This turn of events also casts a dark cloud over Silence-Lotto, for the very fact that they hired Dekker (never mind Kohl) while many other teams refused to hire him based on the evidence they reviewed. Notably, Garmin thoroughly examined Dekker's background and blood profiles and found something that made them refuse to offer him a contract. Lotto surely reviewed much of the same evidence, yet their scrutiny reached a very different conclusion. Why? It seems clear that Garmin's standards are just plain higher and they have a lower tolerance of risk for those riders whose behavior and past falls into that vast gray area of suspicion. Lotto's willingness to overlook whatever it was that made Garmin reject Dekker suggests that they seriously need to reevaluate their hiring criteria. Kohl's comments on this topic were also instructive, as he thought that Silence-Lotto looked at his blood profiles, knew exactly what he was up to, and hired him anyway precisely because his profiles showed that he was skilled at careful blood doping without raising overt suspicion.

The next piece of the puzzle in this case is the Humanplasma scandal which involves a variety of former and current Rabobank riders. Dekker's close friend at Rabobank was Boogerd. Boogerd's retirement and breaking of links to Rabobank, Dekker's now-not-so mysterious fallout with Rabobank, Rabobank's increased fear of doping after the Rasmussen debacle, the first press reports of the Humanplasma case (including Boogerd's name), and Kohl's reported naming of names to AFLD (perhaps including Dekker?), now all seem to possibly be pieces of the same sprawling puzzle, slowly fitting together. Kohl's quite specific information on the transfusion business run out of the Humanplasma lab makes all the flat denials of implicated riders such as Boogerd, Menchov, and Rasmussen seem rather empty. Kohl's case proves that a doping ring was run from that lab and he was hardly the only rider involved. Perhaps it is only a matter of time before more of these riders are caught based on the growing web of evidence arising out of the Austrian crackdown linked to Kohl and his manager, the bio-passport data, and more retro-active testing.

Another issue this case raises is what role physiologists or trainers play in catching doping. In tests with the Dutch national team at various ages, and in other venues, Dekker was constantly heralded as a great talent based on his physiology and natural ability. So was he actually clean at those times, or were the testing values being manipulated by doping that all the power gurus and number crunchers were simply oblivious to? Was he really a great talent, or was he just good at using dope and fooling people? Should a good physiologist be able to tell by power numbers and other data when a rider starts and stops doping, or if he simply has impossibly good numbers? (Seems that Lim's experience with Landis says no?) Consider the fact that Rabobank was so desperate to keep the long-awaited new hope for Dutch cycling success on their team, that when Dekker said he was going to start working with Cecchini, they were actually afraid to tell him flatly that he was forbidden to do so. They wanted to keep him happy so he would stay on their team, such was the overwhelming perception of his vast talent. Yet, since Dekker stopped working with Cecchini, his performances have been intermittent at best, inexplicably terrible at worst (often blamed on his hip problem, which may be real, but is also rather convenient). So far this season, he has been strangely invisible in most races, hardly up to his old standards. Did he go clean? And if he is clean, where is all that great natural talent? Or was it just dope all along and all those drooling physiologists were just duped? LeMond has suggested that data from power output can be a way to detect doping. Yet, with known-doped riders whose power outputs and physiology have no doubt been recorded and studied in great detail, such as Dekker and Landis, it did not seem to have alerted anyone to doping until it was far, far too late...unless perhaps there was marked tendency toward willing suspension of disbelief? Heads in the sand? A refusal to be the one to discredit The Great Dutch Talent? Was Dekker so clever he could fool a raft of coaches, physiologists, and trainers? Or did they just not want to see the evidence right in front of them?

In other news, I was looking at Tour rosters and especially Cervelo's. It got me thinking...is it not a bit strange and even rather sad that the defending Tour de France winner does not even get a whole team devoted to his cause at this year's race? Look at the Cervelo roster and it is one of those lame mish-mash sprinter/GC teams like Lotto used to always be with Evans and McEwen. Half for Hushovd/Haussler and half for Sastre. I am afraid that poor long-suffering Sastre may find his chances of repeating as victor reduced by the lack of enough support riders specifically dedicated to his cause. If Hushovd ends up being in the running for the green jersey, it will even be worse. Cervelo is showing precious little faith in Sastre by hedging their bets in such a manner, especially after all those now-seemingly rather misleading early season claims that the Cervelo team would be built around Sastre. Not so much. If anyone can quietly persevere despite a lack of commitment from his team, it is the implacable and stubborn Sastre, whose amiable exterior masks an iron-willed tenacity, yet it gives me a bad impression of both the Cervelo management and sponsors that they are not willing to commit 100% of their team's resources to supporting the success of a deserving rider who has proven that he is capable of winning the Tour. If Sastre wins again, it will seem to be despite rather than because of his team's roster. Riders such as Haussler and Hushovd have already had their big chances for success this year, and have achieved it, so what would be the harm of Cervelo picking a Tour team where all nine riders were there for one reason only, to win the Tour. It must sting for Sastre to see his unfortunately hostile ouster from Saxo Bank and much heralded move to Cervelo go this way. He has so rarely had the chance to ride for himself on a team dedicated totally to his success. Last year he had to fend off the inter-team squabbling between himself and the Schlecks and the seeming ambivalence of Riis. Before that, he was often called on to ride support for dopers such as Basso, a rider who he apparently is better than when the playing field is rather more level. Now he is again given less than a clear shot at a Tour win and it just seems wrong. Without a single bad day in the mountains like he had at the Giro, and with a bit of luck and form, Sastre could win the Tour. If he does, Cervelo will have some very awkward PR scrambling to do to try to explain their tepid half-baked support of his success. People have heaped criticism on Cervelo's tactical bungling after the Pauwels incident at the Giro, yet it seems to me that this is hardly Cervelo's only glaring mistake this season. If Sastre crumbles at the Tour, I guess they will look smart, but it still would have been an honorable and decent thing to do to grant their greatest champion their full and complete commitment.

In other weirdness, I was on Myspace yesterday and there was this giant ad on the top of the page. A set of eyes peering at me (just like this ad from Youtube). I stared, taken aback. Could it be? No? A certain recognizable visage, with that tinge of arrogance and conceit. Yes, it was LA staring evilly at me from Myspace, part of the giant and loathsome Nike ad campaign. I can't escape it, even when engaged in totally non-cycling related endeavors, he's everywhere! This may be a long July....