Ullrich won the race in 1997 German rider Jan Ullrich is out of the Tour de France after being suspended by his T-Mobile team. T-Mobile have been notified by the sport's governing body UCI that Ullrich is involved in an anti-doping probe in Spain, a team spokesman said. Ullrich's Spanish team-mate Oscar Sevilla and team manager Rudy Pevenage have also been suspended. Ullrich, the 1997 winner, had been among the favourites for this year's Tour, which starts on Saturday. On Tuesday, the El Pais newspaper reported that Ullrich could be implicated in a widening investigation into blood doping in Spain, but the T-Mobile star denied any wrong-doing. Ullrich had high hopes of winning this year's event following the retirement of seven-time champion Lance Armstrong. In addition to his win in 1997, the German has been runner-up five times and was third last year.
So Ulle is suspended because he was named and lied about it but Basso who has also been named and made denials will be allowed to race? Anyone inplicated (if there is corresponding proof in the court documents being released in Spain this morning) should not be allowed to start. We have to bear in mind that Dr Fuentes was most likely not the only doc in the world "assisting" riders with illegal means and the riders on his list were most likely not the only riders in the peleton being "assisted". Therefore we are left to conclude that favourites such as Valverde, Landis, Menchov et al are not necessarily clean but lucky not to have been caught. I love my sport but the attitudes of many of the Pros sickens me.
bomber said:
Suspended Ullrich out of Le Tour
Ullrich won the race in 1997 German rider Jan Ullrich is out of the Tour de France after being suspended by his T-Mobile team. T-Mobile have been notified by the sport's governing body UCI that Ullrich is involved in an anti-doping probe in Spain, a team spokesman said. Ullrich's Spanish team-mate Oscar Sevilla and team manager Rudy Pevenage have also been suspended. Ullrich, the 1997 winner, had been among the favourites for this year's Tour, which starts on Saturday. On Tuesday, the El Pais newspaper reported that Ullrich could be implicated in a widening investigation into blood doping in Spain, but the T-Mobile star denied any wrong-doing. Ullrich had high hopes of winning this year's event following the retirement of seven-time champion Lance Armstrong. In addition to his win in 1997, the German has been runner-up five times and was third last year.
I think actually having bad/unreliable drug tests/enforcement is worse than none- it introduces an incredible element of luck to the entire sport. If you can't catch MOST dopers then it is insane to penalise just the minority that are caught.
rocko said:
So Ulle is suspended because he was named and lied about it but Basso who has also been named and made denials will be allowed to race? Anyone inplicated (if there is corresponding proof in the court documents being released in Spain this morning) should not be allowed to start. We have to bear in mind that Dr Fuentes was most likely not the only doc in the world "assisting" riders with illegal means and the riders on his list were most likely not the only riders in the peleton being "assisted". Therefore we are left to conclude that favourites such as Valverde, Landis, Menchov et al are not necessarily clean but lucky not to have been caught. I love my sport but the attitudes of many of the Pros sickens me.
I have mixed emotions - dopers deserve to get caught, but I`m feeling this scandal involves a lot more riders than just the 31 namned. So I feel bad for Ullrich when it seems like he has done no more wrong than the entire peloton.
