Road Bike Racing - Astana out of Tour de France

Per Velonews.

yowza

but..... not surprised,

sorry you joined the team chris horner, heh. it's fine with me, i want to watch legit teams...


And which exactly are legit?:rolleyes:

i've never liked contador, he seems sketchy... kloden? meh... doper. levi? levi is weird.. that uber time trial at the end of last years tour?? wowza.. sketch.. the whole team is suspicious and i'm glad they're not in the tour... sorry you joined the team chris horner, heh. it's fine with me, i want to watch legit teams...

Has this ever happened before? Has the team carrying the previous yellow jersey not been invited back prior to this?

While I'm disappointed I can't say it won't stop me from watching The Tour.

Seriously, it's The Tour.

wow.

deadly downtube strikes with the quadruple post!

I'm sad. I love kloden.

This is completely ridiculous. They wiped out most of the riders, put new management in place, and they are spending $560,000 this year on internal doping controls. It's an entirely new team that's showing real commitment to eliminating doping. And the Tour is going to exclude them?

I'm sick of this crap. I've been glued to the Tour for the last 5 years. Not any more with asinine decisions like this.

Bryan

i wouldn't be surprised to see this decision reversed at some point during the year. the giro decided to exclude astana and macquaid yelled about it. so i see this as a chance for ASO to take some more shots at him. you may see them allowing astana into the tour after all. makes them look like they're fighting doping AND they're good guys to let in a team that looks like it's mending it's ways

This is completely ridiculous. They wiped out most of the riders, put new management in place, and they are spending $560,000 this year on internal doping controls. It's an entirely new team that's showing real commitment to eliminating doping. And the Tour is going to exclude them?

I'm sick of this crap. I've been glued to the Tour for the last 5 years. Not any more with asinine decisions like this.

Bryan

I think it's euros, not dollars, which would make it almost $1 mil, I believe...

This is completely ridiculous. They wiped out most of the riders, put new management in place, and they are spending $560,000 this year on internal doping controls. It's an entirely new team that's showing real commitment to eliminating doping. And the Tour is going to exclude them?

I'm sick of this crap. I've been glued to the Tour for the last 5 years. Not any more with asinine decisions like this.

Bryan
Yeah, I must say I'm a little bothered by this too. I'm really not an Astana fan [the addition of Bruyneel and company haven't helped, in my opinion], but I am definitely a support of the biological passport, in which all the Protour teams must participate. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt in addition to adopting the biological passport.

-bullseye

It's an entirely new team that's showing real commitment to eliminating doping.

As long as Bruyneel is at the helm, I would consider this nothing more than PR hype.

looks like we might only get to see them in the US tours. im hoping they do pretty well next week.

As long as Bruyneel is at the helm, I would consider this nothing more than PR hype.

Indeed. Maybe it's not fair in terms of due process, but this was pretty clearly going to be the doping team of 2008.

ASO are not a court of law. Due process has nothing to do with it.

From another article:

This could get interesting.


Also, both the pro teams’ association and the pro riders’ union indicated last week that they are prepared to boycott this year’s Giro d’Italia should the organizers not accept Astana and other UCI ProTour teams to the Italian grand tour. It’s likely they will now threaten to boycott the Tour. If that is the case, then there will be open warfare between the sport’s major players — that could only be resolved by arbitration.

From another article:

This could get interesting.
Where can I find that artice?

Good, I'm glad to hear it.

It may make the Tour a little less interesting without Contador, but the sport has to be cleaned up. The dopers have been given to much rope already, with lenient 2-year suspensions and little or no ramifications for their teams. More drastic measures are required. Hopefully, punishing teams for the actions of their riders will lead to an environment of greater internal control, where the teams themselves have to make themselves responsible for eliminating doping from their squads.

L A M E

what a joke. so what do you think did it? the fact that it was astana, or the fact that contador was on the team. all you guys supporting the decision are very gullible if you think this team would have been disqualified without having bruyneel, contador, and levi. there are shadows around them, and they are unfairly having astana's past serve as a justification for keeping them out. I guaruntee that if moreau, cadel, or even the schlecks were the gc guy for astana, they would be in the tour no questions asked.

maybe a team incentive to keep people from doping is a good idea, BUT THAT ISN'T A RULE NOW! why should a team that will be headed by people that raced in the tour last year be punished for something that their COMPETITORS did last year?

L A M E

what a joke. so what do you think did it? the fact that it was astana, or the fact that contador was on the team. all you guys supporting the decision are very gullible if you think this team would have been disqualified without having bruyneel, contador, and levi. there are shadows around them, and they are unfairly having astana's past serve as a justification for keeping them out. I guaruntee that if moreau, cadel, or even the schlecks were the gc guy for astana, they would be in the tour no questions asked.

maybe a team incentive to keep people from doping is a good idea, BUT THAT ISN'T A RULE NOW! why should a team that will be headed by people that raced in the tour last year be punished for something that their COMPETITORS did last year?

Contador, Levi, etc. knew of Astana's past before they signed on the dotted line. No-one is going to convince me that they really believed there wouldn't be repercussions for what happened at last year's Tour.

Contador, Levi, etc. knew of Astana's past before they signed on the dotted line. No-one is going to convince me that they really believed there wouldn't be repercussions for what happened at last year's Tour.

remember? last year? discovery folded very late into the season and everyone on the team had to scramble to find someplace to go. they were lucky to get in with astana. plus, there is a big difference from the aso saying they were going to try to keep astana out, and actually keeping them out when there is NO PRECEDENT for doing so. again, do you think that if moreau was the gc leader for astana, that they would be in the tour?

Seriously. You go from one team that sheltered dopers to another, and then you expect people to believe you when you say you are clean?

Come on.

From another article:

This could get interesting.



Also, both the pro teams’ association and the pro riders’ union indicated last week that they are prepared to boycott this year’s Giro d’Italia should the organizers not accept Astana and other UCI ProTour teams to the Italian grand tour. It’s likely they will now threaten to boycott the Tour. If that is the case, then there will be open warfare between the sport’s major players — that could only be resolved by arbitration

What, like they did last year when Unibet got shafted? LOL. Not going to happen. Nor would the French strike or boycott in support of the likes of Bruyneel or Astana.

Where can I find that artice?

http://velonews.com/article/72013

Per Velonews.

If this stands, I'm not even going to watch the damned Tour. Pretty gutless and lame of ASO.

Good, I'm glad to hear it.

with lenient 2-year suspensions and little or no ramifications for their teams. More drastic measures are required. .

UH, even though you feel this is leniant, it is the harshest penalty when you consider other sports don't even come down half as hard.

UH, even though you feel this is leniant, it is the harshest penalty when you consider other sports don't even come down half as hard.

That's like comparing slavery to the holocaust. Sure, one is worse, but they're both terrible.

I'll still watch, cause it's the race, not the racers, that make the battle. Throw a bunch of cat 5's around the French country side and I'd probably still watch.

The fact their excluding a team with a known doping past, being run by someone they suspect (as many do) as being complicit in running teams in the past with doping regimes - all this while thumbing their noses at the UCI? That's just good PR. All news is good news when it comes to promoting.

That's like comparing slavery to the holocaust. Sure, one is worse, but they're both terrible.

Ouch brain hurt.... bad analogy...... must buy crappy gift for woman.... For Valentines Day.... damn Walgreens is open...