T-Bones Rare

Well a real surprise tonight from the Tour de France. After watching a series of high-lites on OLN from 2001 to 2005 it was a shocker to hear 9 riders had been dismissed from the Tour on the 2006 preview show. In what I would say was a courageous decision by the directeaur sportifs, the riders who were named in documents obtained in the Spanish Operation Puerto were sent home from the Tour. Now the fact the riders included Basso, Ulrich and Mancebo means no top riders from last year will be competing. This really opens up the Tour.

Now, the riders sent home are innocent until proved guilty, but it’s nice to see the directeurs sportif are doing the right thing. Cycling has really got to clean up its act in the doping arena. There have been too many scandals over the past couple of years and this just another embarrassing moment, given we are on the eve of the greatest race event of the year it sure makes the sport look bad. We to give the legal process time to do its job as no charges have been laid. Until then we can only wait and watch as details are released.

It’s sad to see doping cropping up in any sport and personally I find it takes away from the accomplishments of those who participate in the sport in general. The public is all too quick to paint all the athletes with the same brush in some cases and the innocent get hurt just as badly as the guilty. Maybe I’m a bit naive in thinking there are still some athletes who make it on their own with out performance enhancing drugs. However I suppose there will always be people who do anything to get a edge in a competition, must be human nature. One hopes the cheaters get caught and the true champs rise to the occasion.

Overall it’s going to a really interesting few weeks in cycling this July.