Professional Cycling For the Fans - Tour de France Cancelled for 2007

I thought I read somewhere that the governing body is collecting blood samples from the pro riders and keeping them for several years so they can test for drugs and masking agents that are either unknown (to the testing organizations) or cannot be detected with current tests. Is this happening already, or merely under discussion?

Who gets hammered if they cancel? WADA and associates, that's who. To cancel would be to proclaim to the world that the Dope Police can't handle the job. More than that, it would be an indictment of the "we're just here to help you" bureaucracy in the EU. Heads, hands, and feet would roll!

You think watching racing is fun? Watching that would be fun!

They do back testing all the time. That's how Armstrong got more accusations levelled against him... Were WADA not to back test, that would be negligent and anti-improvement. And yes, riders should know the results, as should we. It's a bit tricky reassigning medals though....

Phew! The Tour guide we're giving away with the Guardian is still relevent then.

,Tom

what's hockey?


Its a Canadian sport involving beer, sticks, and knives strapped to your feet while skating over a great many ice cubes. I stopped watching after Fox got rid of the "puck highlighter". I simply couldn't follow the game anymore.

separate tours for dopedup and nondopedup cyclists?

Well, it appears that the number of former "winners" of the Tour de France who will start the race tomorrow is zero.

So, while the Tour has NOT been cancelled for 2007, the quality of the field makes it look more like the "Tour de Avenir" than the "Tour de France".

Seeing as both Ullrich and Basso didn't ride last year, I don't see this year's field being particularly weaker.

Also, the difference between the top tour riders and the bottom rung tour riders isn't that huge when you compare it to the gap between even the middle of the pack Tour riders and any field of riders put together in North America.

These guys are all still amazing to watch. To see cycling of this level, you've gotta go to Europe for the Grand Tours. I look forward to the day that bike racing is this big in North America again.

While the doping leaves a sour taste in my mouth, it's been part of the sport for a long LONG time, and I don't feel terribly sorry for anyone who's been in denial about it and is feeling disillusioned because they're just now realizing the depth of the problem.

I don't know how the Tour/Pro Cycling can solve this issue, or even if it can. Doping and other forms of cheating are pervasive in almost any physical (or even mental, beta blockers) competition these days where there's any money involved for winners. Not that the athletes are motivated by financial greed, but once there's money in the system, there's money in the system to pay for that extra 'edge'.

What happened with all the Football (soccer) players implicated in OP? North American football and baseball are rife with doping as well. Doping tech is well ahead of testing tech, and likely will remain that way.

Should we give up on following all forms of professional competition? I don't know. I'm certainly not going to point to any athletes and tell my daughter 'Now THERE is a role model for you!', that's for sure.

That being said, it sure is entertaining to watch. Expecting our athletes to remain squeaky clean, doesn't seem realistic. Maybe even a little unfair. What these guys do pales in comparison to what actors, politicians, and other public figures get away with time and time again.

It's a spectacle, a carnival, and makes for some glorious displays of what the human body can achieve when asked. A perfectly fair testing ground to determine the best cyclist without any cheating? Mmmm, not so much.

Well, it appears that the number of former "winners" of the Tour de France who will start the race tomorrow is zero.

So, while the Tour has NOT been cancelled for 2007, the quality of the field makes it look more like the "Tour de Avenir" than the "Tour de France".
Come on Alan you can't be serious its kind of hard to have past winners of the Tour de France when the guy who won 7 of the last 8 is retired.

I remember last year it had zero past winners as well, and it still made for a great Tour.

The 2007 Tour de France SHOULD have been canceled before it started. Of the twenty or so strongest riders in the world, about half "retired" when faced with increased drug testing, or were not eligible to enter due to problems with drug testing.

Of the remaining ten "best" riders, day by day, they are caught cheating, or their team leaves the tour because a member of the team was caught cheating. Now, only three or four "top" contenders remain eligible to start the race tomorrow, and the "Yellow Jersey" has just been removed from the race.

Tour organizers say they would never have permitted Rasmussen to even enter the 2007 Tour IF they had been fully informed about his suspicious pattern of behavior in missing four drug tests this year.

So, this is the year that the Tour was not cancelled in advance, it merely got canceled day by day, until a smelly finish in Paris.

The 2007 Tour de France SHOULD have been canceled before it started. Of the twenty or so strongest riders in the world, about half "retired" when faced with increased drug testing, or were not eligible to enter due to problems with drug testing.

Of the remaining ten "best" riders, day by day, they are caught cheating, or their team leaves the tour because a member of the team was caught cheating. Now, only three or four "top" contenders remain eligible to start the race tomorrow, and the "Yellow Jersey" has just been removed from the race.

Tour organizers say they would never have permitted Rasmussen to even enter the 2007 Tour IF they had been fully informed about his suspicious pattern of behavior in missing four drug tests this year.

So, this is the year that the Tour was not cancelled in advance, it merely got canceled day by day, until a smelly finish in Paris.

If so, I don't understand what you are doing in BikeForums/TDF. If you don't care about cycling you should not be here.

"The Tour de France has been cancelled for 2007". That headline has not been in the "New York Times" (yet), but THAT might be what it takes to save pro cycling.

WHAT?

Save pro cycling from what - being a clean sport? Le Tour (and the UCI, ASO, etc) is kicking OUT dopers!

Is it because they (and the olympics) are the only sport to do REAL testing, and attempt to clean up the sport? I repeat .... WHAT?

... Brad

[QUOTE=goldenear;4549253]

"Absolutely not! The two sports are at the complete opposite ends of the spectrum. Also, last time I checked, an American won the event in 2006 (first time in what, 30 years since Kaz?), so it's not just the big blondes who are participating.

The fact of the matter is that cycling would never turn into a "freak show" as you put it because there is a point of diminshing returns - actually NEGATIVE returns - when it comes to PED's and TdF racing. Actually, nothing would change since the whole field is using already. My point is none of this drama exists in non tested sports. Guys aren't "retiring" because of doping allegations. This is pure stupidity. Most of the big names are now gone, and that adversely affects my viewing entertainment."

Goldenear:

first of all - this Tour has been the most exciting to watch in years, in part because guys are actually cracking, fading and getting dropped. Why, because they are cleaner as a peleton. So, if your entertainment value is based on names and superstars (which are really nothing more than creawtionsof the media anyways), you are lurking around entertainment through hero worship. Now, this is fine and all when you are 12 and have Derek Jeter's jock staring at you on the wall.

But I imagine you are older than that. As such, perhaps you should grow up, and watch the sport for the strategy and action versus the hero worship.

Nice little gimmick to get people to read the thread.:rolleyes:
It will not be cancelled -- short of a World War.

I saw the thread and almost had an effing heart attack! Jeez...

The show MUST go on!

The Tour de France is a bit like the "Kentucky Derby".
i would consider it more of the Belmont Stakes, because it's the longest and toughest race, every so often there's a surprise, and even though there's usually no hope for a triple crown winner many people still watch it and enjoy it.

If so, I don't understand what you are doing in BikeForums/TDF. If you don't care about cycling you should not be here.

Quite the opposite. If pro cycling has even a slight chance of surviving, it must end the domination of the sport by criminals, and cheats. Canceling the Tour de France would be a small first step to show cyclists that they must either clean up their act, or go out and get a job.

Those folks who keep pretending that THIS Tour, with (as of Wednesday night) only about four of the world's "top twenty" stage riders not barred, kicked out, fired, suspended, or under arrest... is a "true" Tour de France have their heads in the sand. And, that head in the sand attitude is the primary reason that the criminal element was able to take over pro cycling.

Time is running out. There are reports today of pressure on Olympic officials to bar cycling from the next Olympics. It is time for pro cycling to get its act together, or else...

If so, I don't understand what you are doing in BikeForums/TDF. If you don't care about cycling you should not be here.

I'm not sure I follow. I don't agree with ABH, but there's more to pro cycling than the TDF, a lot more to racing than pro cycling, and HELL of a lot more to cycling than just racing. I don't know about you, but I ride my bike because it makes me feel good and it's a good way to get around, not because I want to imitate a bunch of guys in multi-colored funny suits (nothing against spandex, which is just great, but the outfits can be pretty funny-looking). Maybe pro cycling is cleaning up and maybe it's not, but no matter what happens I'll still be riding MY bike.