it's never going to end, is it?
From VeloNews:On a disappointing note, the peloton will have one less rider today, as Barloworld's Moises Duenas has been pulled from the Tour de France after a urine sample provided after stage 4 showed signs of (what else?) EPO.
Would you all please STOP TAKING DRUGS!? I don't even care about Moises Duenas, whom I'd never heard of before this VeloNews report. It's just--every rider I care about keeps getting bumped from the Tour because of drugs, and I wish they'd all just LEARN already. There's a long list of people who aren't in the Tour this year, who should be, and I'm finding it very hard to care about Cadel Evans and Alejandro Valverde and whoever the hell else is in the running for the GC. I thought I was going to care about the points competition because, you know, Thor Hushovd, but it doesn't even seem like he's competing for it. So this continues to be the most boring Tour EVAR.
Because I am in a very bad mood, here is a very pretty picspam of people who should be in the Tour and aren't:
Jan Ullrich, caught up in Operation Puerto, suspended from the 2006 Tour, and now in retirement, a tacit admission that the doping allegations were true. He has pretty pretty freckles:
Ivan Basso, also caught up in Operation Puerto and excluded from the 2006 Tour, after having placed 2nd overall in the 2005 Tour (behind Lance, natch). He is currently serving a two-year ban, having admitted he "planned to dope," and will (hopefully) return to racing after his ban ends on October 24th of this year. He is very very cute and has two adorable children:
Tom Boonen, who tested positive for cocaine in an out-of-competition test. Despite cocaine only being a banned substance during competition, his team dropped him from its Tour roster because of that stupid pledge the Tour organisers made them sign that they wouldn't field anybody who would make the Tour look bad (not that the Tour needs any help looking bad, but whatever). Tom Boonen is SO. VERY. PRETTY. I just can't even--Look, I have this picture tacked up in my cubicle at work (TONGUE!):
Tyler Hamilton, who in the 2003 Tour cracked his collarbone in the very first stage, but stayed in the race anyway, went on to win stage 16 with a 142 km solo breakaway, and finished the race fourth overall. He failed a test for blood doping in 2004, which he fought by claiming he might have an absorbed twin, and was ultimately suspended until September 22, 2006. However, he was linked to Operation Puerto in the summer of 2006 and ended up suspended by his team (Tinkoff Credit Systems) on May 9, 2007. He currently rides for Rock Racing, a team no one takes seriously.
Image used under a Creative Commons license from Frank Steele.
Alberto Contador, winner of the 2007 Tour de France, not racing this year because his TEAM, Astana, was barred from the 2008 Tour due to ties to Operation Puerto, even though they've replaced pretty much the entire team and support staff since then. Other teams tied to Operation Puerto didn't replace anybody and still got Tour invites. What's the difference? Those teams changed their names. The Tour organisers are fucking idiots. Man, he's pretty:
Image used under a Creative Commons license from murphy-R.
Ah, happier times. This is Armstrong, Ullrich, and Basso in stage 5 of the 2005 Tour (Lance's 7th, and last, GC win):
And not-yet-a-doper Thor Hushovd, who I really wanted to win the points competition this year, but who so far has been doing nothing but sitting in the peloton:
Okay, I'm enjoying the pretty, but now I'm really depressed. *sigh*
Would you all please STOP TAKING DRUGS!? I don't even care about Moises Duenas, whom I'd never heard of before this VeloNews report. It's just--every rider I care about keeps getting bumped from the Tour because of drugs, and I wish they'd all just LEARN already. There's a long list of people who aren't in the Tour this year, who should be, and I'm finding it very hard to care about Cadel Evans and Alejandro Valverde and whoever the hell else is in the running for the GC. I thought I was going to care about the points competition because, you know, Thor Hushovd, but it doesn't even seem like he's competing for it. So this continues to be the most boring Tour EVAR.
Because I am in a very bad mood, here is a very pretty picspam of people who should be in the Tour and aren't:
Jan Ullrich, caught up in Operation Puerto, suspended from the 2006 Tour, and now in retirement, a tacit admission that the doping allegations were true. He has pretty pretty freckles:
Ivan Basso, also caught up in Operation Puerto and excluded from the 2006 Tour, after having placed 2nd overall in the 2005 Tour (behind Lance, natch). He is currently serving a two-year ban, having admitted he "planned to dope," and will (hopefully) return to racing after his ban ends on October 24th of this year. He is very very cute and has two adorable children:
Tom Boonen, who tested positive for cocaine in an out-of-competition test. Despite cocaine only being a banned substance during competition, his team dropped him from its Tour roster because of that stupid pledge the Tour organisers made them sign that they wouldn't field anybody who would make the Tour look bad (not that the Tour needs any help looking bad, but whatever). Tom Boonen is SO. VERY. PRETTY. I just can't even--Look, I have this picture tacked up in my cubicle at work (TONGUE!):
Tyler Hamilton, who in the 2003 Tour cracked his collarbone in the very first stage, but stayed in the race anyway, went on to win stage 16 with a 142 km solo breakaway, and finished the race fourth overall. He failed a test for blood doping in 2004, which he fought by claiming he might have an absorbed twin, and was ultimately suspended until September 22, 2006. However, he was linked to Operation Puerto in the summer of 2006 and ended up suspended by his team (Tinkoff Credit Systems) on May 9, 2007. He currently rides for Rock Racing, a team no one takes seriously.
Image used under a Creative Commons license from Frank Steele.
Alberto Contador, winner of the 2007 Tour de France, not racing this year because his TEAM, Astana, was barred from the 2008 Tour due to ties to Operation Puerto, even though they've replaced pretty much the entire team and support staff since then. Other teams tied to Operation Puerto didn't replace anybody and still got Tour invites. What's the difference? Those teams changed their names. The Tour organisers are fucking idiots. Man, he's pretty:
Image used under a Creative Commons license from murphy-R.
Ah, happier times. This is Armstrong, Ullrich, and Basso in stage 5 of the 2005 Tour (Lance's 7th, and last, GC win):
And not-yet-a-doper Thor Hushovd, who I really wanted to win the points competition this year, but who so far has been doing nothing but sitting in the peloton:
Okay, I'm enjoying the pretty, but now I'm really depressed. *sigh*