Cuentalo = thread killer

Puerto reopened.

Abrelo, dale, vamos, cuentame lo que hiciste Contador.

Go Down.

Contador wasn’t supposed to do Tour of calif. but it might be biggest race for team all year.

What’s the max allowable blood alcohol level for park races?

Completely agree. Astana is a smeared company. So is Washington, D.C. And Roma.

Steph Slotten hit the nail right on the head. It’s better for cycling if Astana can prove to have a scandal free season and earn re-entry into the tour.

cyclists in glass houses

anyone who dopes is a complete idiot. and what a shame this is, man. the sort of shame you can never wash off your name. but ASO should take into consideration the fact that astana has a new squad. what are they, some fu***** lunatics? the whole tour is doped and corrupted, i tell ya. contador must feel horrible, can even defend his title. bwahhh

I second that notion

Great suggestion Jaison. Also Floyd Bennett races should clean up and deny participation to those teams. Thank you!

I strongly beleive that Branch Brook series, Bethel series and Spring series organizers should deny participation to dirty teams, such as Toga, Mengoni, UPMC and other teams associated with doping

Horner has had some great tours, he has had a steady progression. I was hoping to see him this year win a stage or move into the top ten in GC.
I think he is losing the most out of all the riders on Astana.

i can’t believe i’m excited to see the new astana at the tour of california.

even though some of it’s riders went unpaid last year, i’m excited to see Levi crash the rule book again this year. Who else will i see? Klodie, Chrissy, Contradi, Johey, more disco trekies?

pssst… the TDF is their restaurant, it is their place, it is their brand, it is their property. They are simply protecting it. God bless them for doing so. To race in it is a privilege not a right. Levi sounds like a midget anyway.

Dirty Russian Mafia Oil money and guys chasing the big paycheck. fuck them.

Levi should have gone with Slipstream, they are gay but clean.

Johan Bryneel is responsible for helping Lance Armstrong (The Roger Clemens of Cycling) win 7 TDF’s and Contador’s 1. This is ASO’s way of making sure that the “Dr. Evil Bruyneel” doesn’t start another 7 year dynasty.

Do you blame them?

Each of Astana’s ‘big three’ riders where or still are connected to some sort of doping case or allegation. Andreas Kloden, while never having been directly implicated, is guilty by association by having riding on the drugged Telekom/T-Mobile Teams and being on last year’s ill-fated Astana Tour Team. Levi Leiphemer tested positive back in the day at Crit Nationals. Alberto Contador was caught up in the Liberty Seguros scandal and was only cleared after Spain decided to protect its athletes.

For an image conscious Tour de France, removing the team to clean up the sport’s image is the proper thing to do irregardless of how revamped the team might be. Instead of complaining about unjustness, Team Astana should view this snub by the Tour organizers as a way to pull itself together and prove that they are clean by going through a scandal-free season. It is the same thing as being put on probation: you are marginalized until you have shown specific progress to be allowed back into the fold.

Secondly, Alberto, Levi, and Andreas should have little reason to complain. Given the sorry state of the team at the end of last season, they should have been wary of signing with the team knowing that it had not been guaranteed its Pro-Tour license, riders had not been paid from 2007, and the ugly doping revelations of 2007. They should have preceded with caution and stayed away from promises and hopes that the team will be invited to the Tour just based on the quality of their riders.

Unfortunately, Astana has nothing much to offer as tangible evidence about the progress it has made in the fight on doping. Sure it has cleaned house, headquartered to a new location, and promised to have an internal anti-doping testing program. If they were so adamant about showing themselves as clean, they would be plastering the web via cyclingnews.com, velonews.com or other cycling outlets with the results of their internal testing program for each of their riders: this would convey that they are doing something about it as opposed to just talking and thinking they should be let into the Tour because of their supposed strong riders. For exameple, look at Slipstream: they are making the results and successes of its testing program known to just about everyone. Heck, earlier last month, an in-depth article about Slipstream and its testing program was the lead story on ESPN.com’s home page: how often do you see that? The reason you saw it was to market the team and gain public trust: there was no sense of entitlement.

Frankly, the good thing that can out of this is that the team’s need to be squeaky clean and that promises and pleas will not overcome past reputations. Even if Astana is really revamped, they will be still be seen this year, if they are in the Tour, as a tainted team. Teams are being forced to realized that they will all have to pay the price for their misdeeds.

On another positive note, the lack of the “big-shot” teams in the Tour is a blessing in disguise to the other smaller teams who have smaller budgets, less exposure, and who now have a shot to compete on cycling’s biggest stage.

Frankly, I am in favor of teams being removed for doping allegations and convictions. By marginalizing them, it is the only was that the sport can survive because it shows that they will not be tolerated. As a sponsor, I would not want to invest in a team that has been tainted in the past even if there are promises that things will change. The best bet is that Astana takes a year “off” from the Tour, regains its credibility through clean racing, and prepare for re-entry to the Tour in 2009 instead of arrogantly claiming injustice and fueling the contraversy.

Mr. Atwood, I respect your views and post, and offer my post only as a response and discussion to your view on this matter.

If past doping transgressions is the criteria, what about Rabobank, Highroad, etc? Seems like typical Euro-bias and ASO power grab. They were smart to pick off a team that is unpopular, backed by eastern European sponsors . . .

They also realized that Astana would probably win the TdF, further unsettling their senses. Hope they realize that they’re hurting their own race with the exclusion of the top racers/team.

ASO couldn’t resist opportunity to stick it to Johann and they’re probably right that he is the unsurpassed dope master. good for the sport? probably not, but a long way from fatal.

The ASO probably felt Astana 08 was no different than the 07 team in status. Virtually the entire team and leadership is new this year, but with the same ownership that looked the other way as riders were doping last year. They also see at rider who has been implicated in Puerto, and a DS who’s has won the TdF 8 of the last 10 years, which corresponds to a period of frequent doping (even though none of his riders have tested positive). The ASO probably figures that it is just a matter of time before Astana will get caught, and they didn’t want it on their watch.

I don’t think it is fair, I just think I understand their reasoning. Do they really want to have their brand associated with doping for another year? the ASO wants the TdF to be the premier bicycle race not the premier doping event, they’re doing what they feel they need to do in order to protect that brand.

And the dumbass factor: It probably doesn’t hurt that this isn’t a French team.

This is an opportunity for the Tour Of America to step in. If both races took place in July, with the UCI’s backing of the US event, this tour might actually have a logistical chance of working out. Especially if the prize money is huge. Obviously it seems that 08′ will probably suck. Leadership of the TdF may have overstepped with this decision.

fair, no. but johan stuck his thumb in the eye of the cycling establishment and other teams, so this should come as little surprise