What the ?????

[SadieKate]

http://www.cyclingpost.com/tour/article_005202.shtml
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/ticker...l?item=1259979

[Tri Girl]

Another one? I so wish news like that was surprising... sadly it's not.

As much as the doping drives me insane (and yes, to drink)- I just can't turn away from the Tour.

I'm really, really hoping beyond all hope that all of this will demoralize the sport to the point that it HAS to become clean. Then maybe other sports will follow (ahem... baseball, football- you know who you are).

[SadieKate]

There's really something to be said for amateur sports.

UCDavis recently changed to Div 1 which means they can now provide scholarships to athletes. It makes me sad. I liked going to a school that did very well in sports but the athletes had to get into the school and stay in based on their academic merit.

[salsabike]

Ugh. Who would believe it? The Tour de Drugs.

[Tri Girl]

There's really something to be said for amateur sports.

UCDavis recently changed to Div 1 which means they can now provide scholarships to athletes. It makes me sad. I liked going to a school that did very well in sports but the athletes had to get into the school and stay in based on their academic merit.

That is sad. Good and bad I suppose... when money and sponsorship is on the line- everything changes. Not that amateurs don't do bad things- but when nothing's hanging over your head as a carrot- you tend to do it for the right reasons.

[Trekhawk]

Bl**dy Hell!!!! The list of bad boys just keeps growing.

[yellow]

Sooooo much drama. I checked out a while ago. I may get slammed for this, but it's not life or death and no one is dying...it's only cycling. I love cycling, and understand the desire to maintain the "integrity" of the sport...but the drama is really not worth my energy. I'll let others maintain anxiety about it all.

[Eden]

the sheer numbers seem almost impossible in themselves..... what has changed so drastically since last year that they are catching so many more.... different tests? more doping? (I find this to be unlikely..), more testing (but its mostly the top riders who are always tested being booted anyway....), more sensitive tests? more false positives/shoddy testing? what gives?

[Duck on Wheels]

That is sad. Good and bad I suppose... when money and sponsorship is on the line- everything changes. Not that amateurs don't do bad things- but when nothing's hanging over your head as a carrot- you tend to do it for the right reasons.

Well, on the other hand ... The "gurus" who make sponsorship arrangements here were on the news the past couple of days explaining why all the sponsor rats are fleeing the sinking pro cycling ship: Sponsors spend hundreds of millions fielding a team for the Tour de ... The point for the sponsors is to have their company name associated with a winner. So, who's gonna shell out hundreds of millions to have their company name associated with cheats and dopeheads? Which is why sponsors are now shifting their money elsewhere.

Meanwhile, in other news, anonymous surveys claim to have found that thousands of Norwegian teens are taking steroids to be faster, stronger, buffer. So we can't turn to amateurs to save sports either. Maybe we really should follow one Norwegian comedian's advice: Get your kids into drinking before they get hooked on sports!

[Thorn]

Get your kids into drinking before they get hooked on sports!

Sad, but funny.

Here's some food for thought...while I tend to look for conspiracies (bad habit, I know), Kloden is saying what I've been thinking...

Kloden: "I know it sounds fanciful. In cycling the UCI and ASO are fighting for the Tour. People are plotting things, everyone is wishing the worst for everyone else. A lot of money is at stake. What if some people are manipulating things, ruining things, in order to take control of what's left?"

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/280720...etirement.html