Rasmussen Out....American Streak Back In?

In case you have missed this year's Tour De France, here is a little update for you;

- On July 20th it was revealed that German rider Patrik Sinkewitz tested positive for elevated testosterone levels before the tour.

- Yesterday Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for a illegal blood transfusion. Vinokourov and his entire team (including the 5th and 8th place riders) pulled out of the tour.

- Italian rider Cristian Moreni and his entire Cofidis team withdrew from the tour today after Moreni's positive test for testosterone was revealed.

- Tour leader Michael Rasmussen was removed from the race today after his team cited violations of team rules. Rasmussen had been under suspicion ever since it was revealed that he had skipped two doping tests leading up to the tour and had been kicked off of the Danish national team.

Suffice it to say, the Tour De France is in a bit of a shambles right now. Now that the dust has settled (maybe) as far as expulsions, the new tour leader is Spaniard Alberto Contador. Contador holds a 1:53 lead with four stages remaining, but in third place lurks a rider that could continue an eight year run at the tour.

American Levi Leipheimer.

Leipheimer stands 2:49 behind Contador, his teammate on the Discovery team. If Leipheimer is able to make up the time between himself and Contador he would join Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis as the ninth straight American winner of the Tour De France. Could it happen? Maybe. Leipheimer would likely have to make up a huge amount of ground in the time trial in stage 19, which is not out of the realm of reason.

Who knows, if a few more tests go the wrong way Leipheimer might end up winning by default.

Tour De France Video Highlights

I know you aren't watching the Tour De France. And I can't blame you; there are no American contenders, and there is yet another doping controversy. So just so you aren't totally left out, here are the video highlights from the Tour De France thus far. And by video highlights I mean crashes and Borat. Enjoy.

Someone Needs A Reality Check

Cyclist Bjarne Riis recently admitted that he used EPO. EPO of course, is a blood booster and obviously is considered cheating. Riis' anouncement, which included the revealation that he was using EPO when he won the 1996 Tour De France, has caused quite the controversy in the cycling world. And by controversy, I mean catty stupidity. Evidently, the Tour itself does not have the authority to revoke Riis' title, so they appealed to UCI which evidently has authority over such things. The result? Well, UCI informed the Tour that the time limits had expired for sanctioning Riis. So story over right? A cyclist, in the interest of cleaning up the sport, admits to his former cheating ways to bring greater awareness of the problem at hand. Open and shut right?

Nope.

What has ensued can best be described as an immature teenage catfight. Since the Tour can't revoke his title, they have chosen instead to "remove him from the list" of champions. Which doesn't mean he didn't win. And it doesn't mean he isn't still the official winner. No, all it means is that some little crybaby in the Tour's upper echelons wants to say "I told you so" to Riis. Even better however, is the approach that the UCI is taking. In addition to "encouraging" Riis to give back his yellow jersey they...well, just read the qoute:

"From a disciplinary point of view, you cannot strip him of the title but it is possible not to mention it anymore," UCI lawyer Philippe Verbiest said Thursday. "Because of what he admitted, he is not the winner of the Tour de France. Riis did not win."

So...if we just don't talk about Riis winning, it means it didn't happen? Wow. I'd like to see Bud Selig take this approach with Barry Bonds. For example, if when Barry breaks Hank Aaron's home run record, Selig could just not show u...oh. That is what he is doing, I forgot.

The real problem here is that cycling is fooling itself. If you really want to clean up the record books, you pretty much need to wipe out the entire 90's. That is how prevalent doping was in cycling, and sadly, it still is given the doping scandal at last year's Tour De France. Cycling can't just erase what happened over the past two decades: it can only work on preventing cheating in the future. And the same goes for baseball. Anyone that tells you that there should be an asterisks on any of baseball's home run records is an idiot. That may sound strong, but honestly, where would that avenue lead? How can you put an mark on Sosa or McGwire: they never tested positive. Bonds? Nope, not him either. So would you just wipe out every major record that has been set in baseball over the past 20 years? Of course not, and cycling shouldn't either.