Chris Horner gives a ride to the finish.

[ilima]

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...?

Horner is great. He did daily interviews during the tour last year for VeloNews. Really great personality and smart analysis of the race.

Last year, T-Mobile had Sinkewitz crash out then turn up positive at the tour. I think that was their only positive. Before Bob Stapleton took over last year, I'm sure T-Mobile was pretty dirty, but he put in place a rigorous anti-doping program. Astana had something like five positives last year, and three I think at the tour. So no real comparison there. Astana was way dirtier. I don't think Bruyneel instituted an agressive anti-doping program until after ASO indicated they probably wouldn't be getting a tour invite.

I thought it was risky of Contador and Levi to sign with Astana. They knew that up front, so I didn't shed any tears for them, either. Que sera, sera. Lance is calling their exclusion from the tour an Armstrong/Bruyneel penalty, but I think it's probably more of a Kazak Mafia penalty.

[SadieKate]

Read here for Horner's comment to the SRAM guys who went to help.

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...hlight=Cascade

[Kalidurga]

Last year, T-Mobile had Sinkewitz crash out then turn up positive at the tour. I think that was their only positive.

Don't forget the controversy over Jan. I don't recall whether anything was proven definitively in his case, but the scandal left one heck of a taint (no pun intended) on that team. And I thought there was someone else besides him and Sinkewitz, but I can't remember for sure. I think I'm beginning to block it all out...

[ny biker]

Don't forget the controversy over Jan. I don't recall whether anything was proven definitively in his case, but the scandal left one heck of a taint (no pun intended) on that team. And I thought there was someone else besides him and Sinkewitz, but I can't remember for sure. I think I'm beginning to block it all out...

There was Bjarne Riis admitting to taking EPO the year he won the Tour and Eric Zabel admitting to doping the same year, in which he won the green jersey. Plus others who where on the team at the same time.

http://velonews.com/article/12315

http://velonews.com/./article/12310

Returning to the (happier) topic at hand, I personally would like to give Chris Horner a hug.

[bluebug32]

This brings new meaning to the terms "Sag Wagon"

Apparently he still finished the race with a decent time, too!

[ilima]

Don't forget the controversy over Jan. I don't recall whether anything was proven definitively in his case, but the scandal left one heck of a taint (no pun intended) on that team. And I thought there was someone else besides him and Sinkewitz, but I can't remember for sure. I think I'm beginning to block it all out...

Jan was out in 2006 because of Operation Puerto. Blood with his DNA was found.

And, as has already been mentioned, last year both Bjarne Riss and Erik Zabel admitted to using EPO while on T-Mobile in the 1990s. Zabel is still racing for Milram; while there was some hand-wringing tour organizers let him race last year & he's back this year.

IMO, Rabobank is a team that could have been kicked out. Their DS knew that Rasmussen was fudging his whereabouts list.