Tour de Farce

Phnom Pen, Cambodia
I've managed to get my annual fix (how apt) of Le Tour de France, perhaps a product of being in a former French colony. On Monday I saw the Kazakh Vinoukourov storm to victory on stage 15 whilst being held together like some rag doll after his stage five crash leaving him with more stitches in his legs and arms than a mass quilting class. Amazing that he bounced back especially given his shocker in the Pyrenees on the previous day's stage (14) when he conceded about half an hour to the main GC contenders. Everyone was saying that the man has such a big heart, such spirit and fight, a never-say-die attitude. But wasn't it a bit like last year in the Tour when Floyd Landis shot off the front for a huge and unbelievable solo ride in the Alps to line up 'victory' in Paris. He too had blown up the previous day and was seemingly out of contention. And then he was subsequently found to have been doping with testosterone?

I checked in yesterday to catch the latest tour news and, oh look, Vino has tested positive too, this time for homologous blood doping (i.e. receiving a transfusion of someone else's blood to boost red blood cells, oxygen carrying capacity and recovery). Hoof! - the Astana team is kicked off the Tour.

Whilst checking my emails today I had a quick squizz at the BBC cycling coverage. What's this? Team Cofidis are out of the Tour as one of their team members, Cristian Moreni, a former Italian National Champ, was found to have been doping with testosterone. The 'zero tolerance' of the Tour management means if one rider is found cheating, then they ask the entire team to withdraw (altho' why T-Mobile are still there after one of their team, Patrick Sinkewitz, was found to have been doping on the Tour I'm not sure...probably because he crashed out of the Tour anyway on stage five). This is especially sad news for me as it means the end of the Brit Bradley Wiggins Tour and he was a favourite for Saturday's pan flat 54km time trial. Hmmm.

And then I noticed some 'Breaking News' - Rasmussen, the current wearer of the Maillot Jaune, the leader of the race, has been sacked by his team Rabobank and is therefore off the Tour. What for? Well, it turns out that he has received a number of official warnings from cycling's governing body, the UCI (and also from the Danish cycling federation) for missing out-of-competition drug testing. More than that, he lied to his team about his whereabouts in June saying he was in Mexico when he was actually in Italy. Not proof positive (so to speak) that he's doping but why lie if you're clean? Whilst I applaud Rabobank's stand it's just so shocking and sad that two teams, one of the Tour's favourite characters and also the current holder of the Yellow Jersey have been kicked off the Tour. Or is it? Doesn't this happen every frikking year? I mean, last year's winner of the tour is still hanging in the balance pending the doping investigation into the winner, Landis, and why that's dragged on for a year I don't know.

Every year I get excited and every year I feel let down, cheated and disappointed in a sport that has such a fantastic heritage, is incredible to watch and if it had the high Corinthian ideals, could be the most admired sport in the world. The debate rages - is cycling drug scandal prone because it is the most tested sport in the world (i.e. impose the same stringent testing regimes on other sports and some nasty worms would also appear in the woodwork)? Is doping simply endemic, a product of the history of competitive cycling when it was ignored or even expected? Who cares? It needs to be clean and although these anti-doping measures are the way forward, it's a losing battle with the public's impression and also the sponsor's willingness to stump up cash for a seemingly dirty sport. The sport and the cheats within it will basically kill cycling. I for one have lost my patience with it.

If you want more check out www.cyclingnews.com

More jolly light hearted travel humour when I get out of my cycling related phunk!