"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - TV stations dictating who rides and who doesn't?

Another case of post-OP hysteria:

Deutschland Tour on TV, but without Ullrich?
(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/nov06/nov30news2)
By Susan Westemeyer

German television viewers will likely see the Deutschland Tour again in 2007 but they may not be seeing Jan Ullrich riding in it. Both ARD, the German television provider, and Tour director Kai Rapp have spoken out against having Ullrich's participation in the race.

"It is our job to take care that Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso do not start our race," Rapp said, according to the press agency dpa. He said he was willing to face any legal problems with the two riders, "no matter how much it hurts."

Rapp is echoing the line from the ARD, which said that in "a clear decision in favour of cycling," it has decided to renew negotiations with the race organizers. In October the TV station had said that it would not carry the Tour in 2007 because of the damage caused to cycling's reputation by doping allegations.

"This is respect and acknowledgement for the enormous steps taken by cycling in the fight against doping," ARD Director Fritz Raff told the press agency sid. "The Bund Deutscher Radfahrer and the teams too have done a lot to fight doping." Raff was also against a start by Jan Ullrich, saying "That would be a problem."

An additional problem may be in the dates of the Tour, which is now scheduled to run from Wednesday, August 8, to Thursday, August 16. The ARD would rather have the race run over two weekends, from Saturday, August 11, to Sunday, August 19, but the dates must be cleared with the UCI

There's a Deutschland Tour?

;)

Whomever is writing the checks gets to make those decisions.

This is where a strong WADA and UCI (as well as local federations) need to
step up to the plate.
on one hand we have Basso who has been cleared to participate by his local federation,
but was implicated in OP although no evidence has been found (or released) that he
was a participant.
Then there is Jan who also was implicated in OP, his local federation yanked his license
(but have we seen "proof"? ) and is going to apply for a license somewhere.
WADA, UCI etc. should be the ones directing whether a rider can or cannot participate
in any racing during an investigation. I'm not talking about a rider who has returned a positive
but someone who's been implicated and cleared.

I don't think the TV stations should be the lead on this.

marty

I think your wrong Marty. It's about time tabloid journalists started running things, replacing democracy and rule of law.

fark that, anarchy baby.

Wow! Botto makes a post that doesn't involve dissing someone. lol.

Oh my. We can't have TV stations deciding who rides and who deos not. Next thing you know we'll have newspapers deciding things like that about races.

Britney Spears should run Tour Of California, then.

Without shorts of course.

Wow! Botto makes a post that doesn't involve dissing someone. lol.

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/images/smilies/Yawn.gifhttp://forums.roadbikereview.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gifhttp://forums.roadbikereview.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif
http://forums.roadbikereview.com/images/smilies/Yawn.gifhttp://forums.roadbikereview.com/images/smilies/Yawn.gifhttp://forums.roadbikereview.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif
http://forums.roadbikereview.com/images/smilies/Yawn.gifhttp://forums.roadbikereview.com/images/smilies/Yawn.gifhttp://forums.roadbikereview.com/images/smilies/Yawn.gif

Wow! Botto makes a post that doesn't involve dissing someone. lol.

Irony, anyone? :rolleyes:

I mean, I can see dumping The Jan because he's actually got a case against him, but wasn't Basso's case thrown out by Spanish police and he's been cleared to ride?

Let's actually throw all the dopers out, then, and just cancel the race because nobody's left.

I mean, I can see dumping The Jan because he's actually got a case against him, but wasn't Basso's case thrown out by Spanish police and he's been cleared to ride?

Let's actually throw all the dopers out, then, and just cancel the race because nobody's left.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/6202680.stm


'Cleared' Basso wants fresh start

Ivan Basso has distanced himself from an ongoing investigation into doping in cycling to concentrate on riding for his new Discovery Channel team.

The Italian star was banned from this year's Tour de France as part of a Spanish doping probe but the charges against him were dropped last month.

"I've been cleared of any wrongdoing by the sports authorities," said Basso.

"All I can think about now is of being competitive for the Giro and Tour."

The 29-year-old was cleared in October by the Italian Olympic Committee and Italian Cycling Federation, and he signed a two-year deal with Discovery last month.

"Basso was speaking at the launch of the 2007 Giro d'Italia which will feature eight climbing stages, including the 10.1km ascent, at a punishing average gradient of 17 percent, of the Monte Zoncolan on stage 17"

Holy Christ....

"Basso was speaking at the launch of the 2007 Giro d'Italia which will feature eight climbing stages, including the 10.1km ascent, at a punishing average gradient of 17 percent, of the Monte Zoncolan on stage 17"

Holy Christ....

My HR hit 185 just reading that. Ugh.

"Basso was speaking at the launch of the 2007 Giro d'Italia which will feature eight climbing stages, including the 10.1km ascent, at a punishing average gradient of 17 percent, of the Monte Zoncolan on stage 17"

Holy Christ....

hey man, nothing that a trip to madrid for some tapas won't take of. :D

Walking up that would be a *****, nevermind riding up it.