Wow. I had to admit, I wasn't that upset about Astana not making it into the Tour. I'm not entranced by Levi, and had never paid much attention to Horner. But now I think I'm gonna have to start watching Astana after all. That is too cool. And definitely not something you'd see in a stage of the Tour

I have been curious, though... T-Mobile had just as many doping issues as Astana last year. What was it that made the difference between these two teams for Tour organizers? Columbia/High Road's anti-dope program, I guess? Or perhaps there's just something about Brunyeel that they don't like...?