Tour de France

[gdt]

So I got sucked in again, after last year's disappointment with watching for three weeks and then the Landis scandal.

One by one the people I admired most in the race have proved to be cheats. I thought perhaps I was cursing them with my support. But this can't be so, because a moment's thought gives this list of people who were meant to race in Le Tour 07 and found to be doping: Ullrich, Basso, Jaksche, Mazzoleni, Sinkewitz, Kessler, Moreni (taking out the Cofidis team), Vinokourov (taking out the Astana team, which must please the Tour organisers greatly since least year Astana forced their way into the race against the organisers' wishes), Rasmussen.

All Tour winners before 1966 were doping. If you make a list of the tour winners since 1966 and cross off those with some proven connection to doping you get only: LeMond 1986, 1989, 1990; Hinault 1978, 1979, 1981-2, 1985; Van Impe, 1976. Let's be generous and add Armstrong 1999-2005, since his positive test seems to have been a prescription paperwork error.

Merckx says "for me, that's the end of cycling." And with the lists above, you can see his point.

You have to feel sorry for the team. Imagine being in Rabobank. You can't blame Menchov for throwing in the towel, after all of his efforts to advance Rasmussen and the cost of his own chances.

And still the cloud of Operación Puerto hangs over Contador; even with the Spanish court saying he was not involved.