Business Week wonders about honesty in sport

There's really a question?  What is glaring here, and in other stories about the "clean" teams of Columbia and Garmin, is that the CSC-Saxo Bank team put an anti-doping program in place years earlier, and got little fanfare. The French cycling federation instituted longitudinal testing before that got even less love.  For their efforts, the French were portrayed as whiners who couldn't win at their own race.  Maybe it's just me, but French riders were amongst the most aggressive of the Tour, looking more competitive than they have in years. 

Tour de France Raises Fresh Questions About Honesty in Sports
BusinessWeek - USA
The 2008 Tour de France raises the question of whether this century will
witness the criminalization of professional athletes. As the Tour nears the

finish ...

http://businessweek.com/globalbiz/blog/europeinsight/archives/2008/07/tour_de_france.html

Love and Hate for Cavendish from Australia

Love his confidence.  Hate his quitting.  He denied his competitors the chance to beat him by dropping out.  Bad theatre in this columnist's eye.

A self-assured slice of naked sporting glory
The Age - Melbourne,Victoria,Australia
And he said that by the end of the Giro d'Italia in May, the others -

that is, the world's leading road cyclists - knew he was the best. ...

http://www.theage.com.au/news/tourdefrance/a-selfassured-slice-of-naked-sporting-glory/2008/07/25/1216492737744.html

Saunier-Duval out, American Beef in

Saunier-Duval-Scott is now Scott-American Beef.  It's hard to imagine anything called American Beef sponsoring bike racing in Europe.  Why not American-style football, or basketball, or monster trucks.  But with el Toro everywhere in Spain, they've got a job ahead of them convincing the Euro public that American Beef is safe and good.

Saunier Duval becomes Scott-American Beef
SportsYA! - Spain
The team has also asked Unipublic, the organizers of the Vuelta a Espana,
for a period of 8 days to clarify definitively the events which led them to

leave ...

http://www.sportsya.com/english/news.php/Saunier_Duval_to_withdraw_sponsorship_following_Riccardo_Ricco_positive_doping.html?id_estruc=283&id=183284

Newseek Blogs about the Spectre of doping

It's not so much the inattention to fact, or the odd moral outrage, but the strange moments of hypocrisy that define this piece.  The closing statement is the kicker.  (Spoiler alert)  Here it is, "The Tour won't be itself until Lance Armstrong has a true successor--someone who wins and keeps yellow, and returns to defend it. Until then, the advances in drug screening can keep the show on the road, but the heart of the race will keep bleeding on the asphalt."  Won't be itself to whom?  If that is the case, then the problem lies with the public.

Can the Tour De France Outrun Doping?
Newsweek - USA
A year ago the Tour de France disintegrated before it left the Alps. The
presumptive winner, Michael Rasmussen, fired by his team for evading doping

...

http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/starr/archive/2008/07/24/can-the-tour-de-france-outrun-doping.aspx

A new British Team for the Tour next year

Lots of money talk.  They may get the money for this team, but so far, it's hard to see the riders joining.  The best of the Brits seem happily ensconced on other teams already.  Don't see Cavendish or Millar leaving their squads.

Brailsford reaches for Sky to promote dream of Tour de France team
guardian.co.uk - UK
Dave Brailsford's dream of a British professional team to ride the Tour de
France came a step closer yesterday with confirmation of a

multimillion-pound ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/jul/25/tourdefrance.olympicgames2008

tainted love for the Tour

The author is a soccer writer and enraptured by the Tour, but is nagged.

Tainted love for the Tour de France
Asia Times Online - Kowloon,Hong Kong
By Jesse Fink For the past few weeks I have been writing about the Tour de
France for a television network in Australia. I am a complete novice when

it ...

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/JG26Aa01.html

Cadel Evans at Home

Since he hails from a faraway land, getting color on the bland-seeming Evans is next to impossible.  If he wins the Tour, this Australian article will serve as the basis for many profiles.

True grit: quirky kid's a tour de force
Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
Photo: AP With Cadel Evans on the brink of becoming the first Australian to
win the road cyclist's holy grail, the Tour de France, even his own father

...

http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/true-grit-quirky-kids-a-tour-de-force/2008/07/25/1216492717814.html