Cancel the Tour

You can't cancel the Tour because there is a lot of undoped riders who need to be encouraged.
Cancelling the Tour is a victory for cheaters.
I just would see more television on the last riders and their sponsor, they deserve that.

Don't cancel the Tour. Cancel the dope testing. I enjoy watching the spectacle, and no longer care that the results are achieved through modern science.

Dont cancel it. Turn GC upside down. Vanseverant is in yellow and Moreau has 50 minutes on Rasmussen.

Cancel the recognition of the winner. Hold the remaining stages, but stop the timings at the end of stages. Don't award any of the classifications in Paris. Do this in conjunction with announcing a hard line policy that mandates longitudinal testing that will be in effect next year.

Don't award the jersey? That's so last year 😉

poulidor said:

You can't cancel the Tour because there is a lot of undoped riders who need to be encouraged.
Cancelling the Tour is a victory for cheaters.
I just would see more television on the last riders and their sponsor, they deserve that.

The undoped riders are just as culpable. They know who is doping and how it's done. They stay silent. If the sport is to come clean, they need to call each other out. If the fans leave in droves they will have incentive to call out their dirty buddies and keep the peloton clean. My personal boycott starts now - which sucks because I do love to watch. Just tired of getting screwed in the end after getting emotionally attached to the whole thing. Screw them all. I have no idea what is reality or fiction when watching anymore. The whole thing has just gotten beyond silly and way too predictable.

Finish the TdF, but suspend racing until all parties sit down (UCI, ASO, Riders) and but the sport back on a sound footing. Everyone is to blame in this mess, and false moves by the UCI/ASO and stupidity by some riders will conspire to see it destroyed in short order.

I think T-Mobile pulls out on the weekend. We might lose several Pro Tour teams due to lack of sponsership by year's end.

snood said:

Dont cancel it. Moreau has 50 minutes on Rasmussen.

He probably still couldn't hold the lead through tomorrow. 😉

Absolutely not!

This is the rich history of the Tour. Cheating has and will always be part of all sports. Cycling is no different. The Tour has great stories of cheats riding trains, drugs, sabotage, ect. It is the story of all human endeavors. This is exactly what makes this such a great spectacle. This is exactly what makes the drama. Show me a sport where no one cheats or tries to cheat and you'll have shown me a sport no cares to win or cares about. Long live the cheater caught and long live the TOUR.

VIVA Le TOUR!!!

Tour will continue despite doping cloud
Tour officials say dopers playing Russian roulette with cycling
By Neal Rogers
VeloNews senior writer
This report filed July 24, 2007

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme and Amaury Sports Organisation president Patrice Clerc held a hastily assembled press conference in Pau Tuesday in reaction to the news that Astana's Alexander Vinokourov had tested positive for homologous blood doping.

Clerc began the press conference by explaining that he had spoken with Astana general manager Marc Biver by phone earlier Tuesday, and requested that Biver and the Astana team leave the race. Biver accepted the request without hesitation, Clerc said.

Clerc was asked if the news of Vinokourov's positive, combined with the cloud of suspicion hanging over yellow jersey Michael Rasmussen, had prompted ASO to consider canceling the Tour. The ASO president replied that the thought had "never crossed my mind."

"We have started a war on doping, and unfortunately in war there are losses, but it is out of the question to quit," Clerc said. "There was never a question the Tour would stop. Then the cheaters would win."

Clerlc later said cycling needed an "an ethical revolution," adding that he now regretted inviting Astana to the race.

"We have to be careful of the reputations within a team," Clerc said, likely referring to the suspensions of Astana riders Eddy Mazzoleni and Mattias Kessler in the weeks prior to the Tour. "Astana had some of best riders in the world. We told Astana about the risks. We thought they had a place. Yes I regret inviting them. I regret being cheated."

Prudhomme said he had told the riders in London that this Tour was "a fantastic opportunity to start over again," adding, "The riders are playing Russian roulette. They have to get this through their heads. They need to understand that their determination is total It doesn't make me happy, but in a certain way it shows that the system is working."

Clerc was also asked about Rasmussen's participation, given his warnings from the UCI for repeatedly failing to record his whereabouts for anti-doping purposes. Clerc said Rasmussen should not have been allowed to race in the Tour, saying the Dane "did not serve as a good example."

"In a period of crisis such as we are living in at the moment, a champion must be a good example," said Clerc. "His attitude, his lack of respect shown to the administrative rules, which is unacceptable, should be made known to us and we would have refused his participation, because he is not a good role model for the others in the peloton."

roadhog said:

The undoped riders are just as culpable. They know who is doping and how it's done. They stay silent.

Maybe you don't read french... but since Bassons there is a lot of riders and team manager who are speaking, but you can't defame people without proofs.
Look at here there is here some people who are thinking that Lance won CLEAN.

poulidor said:

Look at here there is here some people who are thinking that Lance won CLEAN.

I don't know too many people who think Lance won clean. But some of us do take pleasure in knowing that he outwitted LeClerc, [censored] Pound, and the other cronies who targeted him for so many years, because they're far more reprehensible than he is.

This is where Clerc has got it wrong, you don't suspend, sanction or fail to invite riders that have not violted the rules you have set out. If Rasmussen's rule violations equate to disqualification, then so be it, but you cannot continue to improvise ex post facto law. To now say that you should not have invited him, destroys your credibilty, the UCI's credibility, and his credibility.

If Rasmussen new the rules, and new that missing the reporting would not disqualify him and he chooses not to report, so what, you can't make new rules after the fact.

You all know I'm a Ras fan, but don't you agree that after the fact rulings are BS. What is Clerc going to do, withhold the jersey. If not, why discredit the wearer with those type of statements.

IH8LANCE said:

Don't cancel the Tour. Cancel the dope testing. I enjoy watching the spectacle, and no longer care that the results are achieved through modern science.

Yes! It is a spectacle. It's the best reality show on TV for crying out loud. Suspense on the slopes, suspense in the labs. If last year's Tour didn't give everyone (fans) thicker skins about this stuff, I don't know why they ARE still watching it this year. How could anyone possibly be surprised about this?!

stilesiii said:

This is where Clerc has got it wrong, you don't suspend, sanction or fail to invite riders that have not violted the rules you have set out. If Rasmussen's rule violations equate to disqualification, then so be it, but you cannot continue to improvise ex post facto law. To now say that you should not have invited him, destroys your credibilty, the UCI's credibility, and his credibility.

If Rasmussen new the rules, and new that missing the reporting would not disqualify him and he chooses not to report, so what, you can't make new rules after the fact.

You all know I'm a Ras fan, but don't you agree that after the fact rulings are BS. What is Clerc going to do, withhold the jersey. If not, why discredit the wearer with those type of statements.

There comes a point when an infection gets so bad you have to chop off the entire limb, good tissue and all. We have reached that point.

Cobblestones said:

Don't award the jersey? That's so last year 😉

Ha ha! Why don't they just put a big red asterisk on it ? :p

(As in for baseball record holders, for my European friends.)

Serafino said:

Finish the TdF, but suspend racing until all parties sit down (UCI, ASO, Riders) and but the sport back on a sound footing. Everyone is to blame in this mess, and false moves by the UCI/ASO and stupidity by some riders will conspire to see it destroyed in short order.

.

agree 100%

Finish the Tour. Stop the timing on the GC and don't award any jerseys. Immediately kick out all of the riders under suspicion. This includes Rasmussen, Cantador, Valverde and Pereiro. Invalidate all of the Tour results dating back to Riss. Revoke the licenses of all of the teams and directors that have had doping scandals in the last year. This includes Liquigas, T-Mobile, Rabobank, Dicovery, Caisse deParne, Quick Step, etc. Stop all racing for the remainder of the year. Suspend all riders currently under investigation. Participation in this sport is now a privilege. If you want to race and you are under suspension, you should have to prove your innocence. Establish an amnesty date of October 1st. By that date, all riders, managers, teams, soigners, etc. have to confess to the sins of the past and name names of everybody that helped them dope, encouraged them to dope, allowed them to dope or supplied them with dope. They have to name names of all other riders that they know have doped. If somebody doesn't come forward and is named by somebody else, then they get banned for life. Lifetime bans for anybody that tests positive in the future including a lifetime ban for the team management. No more challenges to test results The TUE system must be scrapped. All testing responsibility must be removed from the UCI and given to WADA.

We have hit rock bottom. Its time to stop [censored] around.

helmutRoole2 said:

Does anyone care who wins anymore?

its obvious who i was rooting for, and although what has transpired in the last 24 hours royally sucks, i would not cancel the tour. the tour is bigger than any one rider's deviancy. that being said, i dont care who wins in the end since the top two are entirely suspect to me. all i will say is that i am rooting for a zabel stage win and miracle of miracles winning the green jersey and hoping for soler to capture the kom.