Or is there too great a risk that eventually his DNA will be matched to the OP blood bags? Because Disco know if Contador wins, everyone will be looking to tie him to one of those blood bags. A win by LL seems like it would be less controversial.

Phil Liggett doing his usual propping up of the Tour no matter how bad things look:
"The new leader of the race will be young Spaniard, Alberto Contador by 1:53 ahead of Cadel Evans and Levi Leipheimer who is +56 seconds in third. Thank heavens none of these three riders have ever been remotely suspected in dealing with drugs and could now turn out to be the race’s saviors."

What??? Has Phil ever heard of Operation Puerto?

Don't they already have his DNA, since he started the TdF? Or was that just agreeing to have a DNA test done?

Contador was cleared by the UCI of all involvement very quickly so far as I know. The UCI said they had made a mistake.

At least the Americans have a good shot at winning.

http://images.art.com/images/products/regular/10045000/10045786.jpg

Contador was cleared by the UCI of all involvement very quickly so far as I know. The UCI said they had made a mistake.
Seems there's more to it than that. UCI simply couldn't definitively tie him to OP.

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/sport/weitere/artikel/939/124756/

Can someone translate the German article, or give us a summary?

I don't think you're going to see the rumor mill start up on Contador - after all, if you knock him out, you're taking a big chance that Leipheimer could win it. Which would mean nine American wins in a row.

You know how well that'll go over with the Europeans.

I don't think you're going to see the rumor mill start up on Contador - after all, if you knock him out, you're taking a big chance that Leipheimer could win it. Which would mean nine American wins in a row.

You know how well that'll go over with the Europeans.

Ha! Your right. . .

Should something happen to AC tomorrow, the TDF organizers will be out on the road knocking Levi down to keep him from winning. . .

At least the Americans have a good shot at winning.

http://images.art.com/images/products/regular/10045000/10045786.jpg


I'd say less than 5%.

Yea I am sure that is what they will do. I suspect at this point they want negative test be it American or any other nationality.

It seems to me the French embraced Landis last year until he was caught doping.

Richard

Ha! Your right. . .

Should something happen to AC tomorrow, the TDF organizers will be out on the road knocking Levi down to keep him from winning. . .

Seems there's more to it than that. UCI simply couldn't definitively tie him to OP.

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/sport/weitere/artikel/939/124756/

Can someone translate the German article, or give us a summary?

In short it looks very bad for Contador and Discovery.

A short resume of the case is;
Contadors name (A.C.) appears on a Dr. Fuentes doping plan from the Puerto files (document 31). Apparently Contador followed the same doping plan as Jörg Jaksche.
The tasty bit is that on the evidence against Contador, someone has written "Should not be available for the UCI". So it looks like someone kept the evidence against Contador from the UCI, and that is why Contadors name got of the "black list" of puerto riders.
Another newspaper claims that Contador got of the list because he spilled his heart to the Spanish prosecutor about what he knew. Whatever the reason is, since Contador signed the anti-doping charter were he solemnly swears that he is not a part of the Puerto case, he may be kicked out of the Tour. Even if the UCI waits to after the Tour the case may still explode in the near future. It would probably be better for Team Discovery if Contador was kicked out now before he wins the Tour instead of being stripped from the title in two months time.

One could also ask oneself; if Rasmussen doped, but was beaten by Contador in both the TT an in a mountain stage, how does that reflect on Contador?

--
Regards

The Discovery Team and US riders has the advantage of US laws about privacy.

In the EU, they can conduct witch hunts across country borders within the EU.

If Landis had been European, he been long stripped of his title.

If there is any true, documentable evidence of Contador sheating, toss him for life. Toss all the cheaters for life,but be sure of it first. No half-baked accusations, real evidence.

If there is any true, documentable evidence of Contador sheating, toss him for life. Toss all the cheaters for life,but be sure of it first. No half-baked accusations, real evidence.
Ummm, did you see Stage 15? That was a super-human performance.

Sometimes real evidence comes too late to be useful. Riis comes to mind. Anyway, if AC wins, I'm sure people will be focusing on OP and Contador's connection to it.

Ummm, did you see Stage 15? That was a super-human performance.

Sometimes real evidence comes too late to be useful. Riis comes to mind.

I think if all the riders were clean, you would still the super-human performances... just at a lot slower pace.

A real shame because the mountain stages have been some really great racing otherwise between the leaders. All to naught now.

In short it looks very bad for Contador and Discovery.

A short resume of the case is;
Contadors name (A.C.) appears on a Dr. Fuentes doping plan from the Puerto files (document 31). Apparently Contador followed the same doping plan as Jörg Jaksche.
The tasty bit is that on the evidence against Contador, someone has written "Should not be available for the UCI". So it looks like someone kept the evidence against Contador from the UCI, and that is why Contadors name got of the "black list" of puerto riders.
Another newspaper claims that Contador got of the list because he spilled his heart to the Spanish prosecutor about what he knew. Whatever the reason is, since Contador signed the anti-doping charter were he solemnly swears that he is not a part of the Puerto case, he may be kicked out of the Tour. Even if the UCI waits to after the Tour the case may still explode in the near future. It would probably be better for Team Discovery if Contador was kicked out now before he wins the Tour instead of being stripped from the title in two months time.

One could also ask oneself; if Rasmussen doped, but was beaten by Contador in both the TT an in a mountain stage, how does that reflect on Contador?

--
Regards
Thanks for the translation.

Now that we have another rider testing positive (likely Soler), rendering this year's Tour a total fiasco, with the pre-Tour favorite, the yellow jersey and likely the polka dot jersey all being booted, I don't think the cycling organizers have anything to lose by gunning for Contador and Disco, whom I'm sure the organizers know are doping. And I'm sure others will be digging up everything they can on OP. If they don't get Contador now, they know that he is likely to be a dominant force in the Tour for years to come with the risk that he tests positive in a future Tour. Might as well do the bloodletting this year.

I could not sleep at night if Contador. It would not surprise me that he is taken out the race on the ride into Paris. I think his performance in the tour thus far has been a little questionable; Take Ras. out the tour, and this guy has been leading for almost two weeks. Insanely fast in the mountains on consecutive days? I am not one to point a finger, but it seems a little odd to me.

The courts and the UCI cleared Contador. Even the tapped and taped phone calls only mentioned Contador in relation to race results not as a client. Contador hasn't missed any drug tests, random or scheduled, so it would appear he is clean. This years TdF is so tainted with controversy, the winner will always be under suspicion as well as the rest of the field. Might take a few years before the TdF can recover and the number of riders caught doping subsides.