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

IHT gives love to Team Columbia

'bout time someone noticed that Columbia, formerly High Road, is winning on the new formula that isn't so new.  Since the Herald Tribune is owned by the NY Times, and Wyatt reports on the Tour for them, it wouldn't be a surprise if this story appeared there, too.

With new burnish, young team glows in Tour de France
International Herald Tribune - France
By Edward Wyatt SAINT-ÉTIENNE, France: Bob Stapleton brought his cycling
team to the Tour de France with a new team name, new uniforms, a new

sponsor, ...

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/24/sports/BIKE.php

See the Tour from a Chopper; pay through the nose

Looks like viewing stages from a private helicopter is the new high-end way to watch the Tour.  There appear to be no shortage of people lining up for the expensive treat.

One heli of a way to view the Tour de France
Melbourne Herald Sun - Australia
CADEL Evans is hard to pick out in the peloton from above, but watching the
Tour de France wind through the Alps from a helicopter takes your breath

away. ...

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24071576-11088,00.html

Danish Premier rides l'Alpe d'Huez

And his name is Rasmussen.  No relation to the doper Rasmussen.  Don't know why the cycling press didn't get this one.

Danish premier to test ride part of Tour de France stage
Bangkok Post - Thailand
Copenhagen (dpa) - Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Ramussen was Thursday
set to test ride part of the tough mountain stage in the ongoing Tour de

France, ...

http://www.bangkokpost.com/sportsplus/sportsplus.php?id=129052

bloomberg news: TdF Health depends on sponsors

A no-brainer for anyone who knows cycling.  Possibly an eye-opener for those who don't.

Tour de France Health Depends on (Your Ad Here
Bloomberg - USA
The folks with the real power, the ones who can ensure that the Tour de
France isn'ta haven for cheats, live in the board rooms of companies like

...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_soshnick&sid=aHYwReH.PK0U

Courrier-Dunkerque Wins 2008 Tour de France

The sailing race.

Courrier Dunkerque winner of the 2008 Tour de France
Adonnante.com (Communiqué de presse) - France
Souben's crew was assured to win the race after the second leg of the
dayŠ so finished only twentieth in the last race of the Tour de France

Sailing Race! ...

http://www.adonnante.com/./article,10334,en,Courrier-Dunkerque-winner-of-the-2008-Tour-de-France

too many doping stories

I would have preferred to post fewer doping stories.  But the stories are getting written because athletes are getting caught.  I have no idea if this means that the testing is better or that these riders aren't too swift.  I'd like to believe the former. 

Doping is with us.  With us because whenever there's competition, people want an edge.  This isn't just sport, but life.  Enron, Halliburton, Keating, the list of cheats goes on and on.

I agree with the contention of a number of cyclists that the reason for the positive tests is that people have decided that, at least when it comes to bike racing in France, something should be done to rid the sport of doping.   

Doping exists in other sports.  I did a cursory search and found two articles about steroid use in football.  One is from 1986 and the NY Times.  The second from 1990 and Sports Illustrated.  Both have Bill Fralic as a quoted expert.  When you read the two stories, you'd think they were written at the same time.  As a story, it had little traction.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DEEDC173CF936A35752C1A960948260&sec=health&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1136686/1/index.htm 

Considering how many stories Sports Illustrated has run glorifying college football teams that bulk up, it's hard not to see them turning a blind eye in many situations.

But all of journalism might have helped advance doping as a means to success.  There are too many "win or else," "failure is not an option" titles and stories.  I guess getting busted for doping is the "or else," or is somehow not failing.

SI learns that CSC has nice guys on the team

The following Sports Illustrated report starts with a story of how the CSC team spoke at an event held in conjunction with the Tour of California.  Actually, the most interesting thing about this story is that even though it is a short, blog-style entry, they have "story highlights" at hte top for those who don't like to read.

INSIDE THE TOUR DE FRANCE
SI.com - USA
Davis Phinney, the ex-Tour de France stage winner with whom I happened to
be watching today's stage, recalled being stiffed on the eve of the Tour of

...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/austin_murphy/07/23/tour.de.france/

NPR's Morning Edition gives their standard treatment to Embrun

This is the classic NPR "small story."  The intimate look at something that goes alongside the big story, but deserves investigation.  It is worthy because it's illustrative of the phenomenon as a whole.  Listen in, it's only three and a half minutes long.

Tour De France Shines Spotlight On Tiny Village
NPR - USA
by Anita Elash Morning Edition, July 23, 2008 · For cycling fans, the Tour
de France is both a magnificent challenge and a chance to get to know some

new ...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92809603

Oneonta Daily Star gives praise to American Teams at Tour

The idea of "American exceptionalism" lives on in "The Newspaper for the Heartland of New York."  Here, it's not foreign policy but team policy.  Pity that team CSC had an anti-doping program first (but it's an American sponsor! yippee!). 

US teams doing their part to clean up Tour de France
Oneonta Daily Star - Oneonta,NY,USA
It is the month of the Tour de France, a three-week cycling event held for
almost a century. The Tour has become more popular over the years because

of ...

http://www.thedailystar.com/localsports/local_story_205040012.html

Doping positives being classified as negatives

The guy behind CSC and Astana's drug testing programs thinks many drug positives are being classed as negatives, letting many cheats compete--and this is across all sport.

Legalities 'lag behind doping work'

BBC News

by Rasmus Damsgaard, MD, PhD

I am aware of a handful of athletes with urine samples that contain artificial EPO (erythropoietin).  Nevertheless, these samples have been declared "negative" - the athletes have not even been accused and maybe never will...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7517332.stm

Tour viewership up thanks to close race

Maybe clean races are more exciting.  An extra 200,000 Frenchmen are tuning into the Tour every day.

Tour de France: Vintage race of delicate power shifts leaves fans ...
Independent - London,England,UK
By Alasdair Fotheringham At 95 years old and counting, you would have
thought a venerable sporting institution like the Tour de France would have

seen it ...

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/others/tour-de-france-vintage-race-of-delicate-power-shifts-leaves-fans-enthralled-874804.html

"Clean" teams get ink from Christian Science Monitor

Guess others are starting to notice, too...

'Clean' squads in the hunt at Tour de France
Christian Science Monitor - Boston,MA,USA
New York - Whatever hope the storied Tour de France had of avoiding doping
scandals this year has evaporated, with positive drug tests precipitating

the ...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0723/p03s07-woeu.html

AP says that acting guilty cost Ricco

According to AFLD, the French anti-doping agency, Riccardo Ricco tried to flee from testing officials after being notified he'd be tested on stage four.  That caused the AFLD to decide to test him every day.  Not that they needed to, as stage four was the test that counted.

Riccò tried to duck anti-doping officials during Tour de France
International Herald Tribune - France
AP JAUSIERS, France: Riccardo Riccò, a two-stage winner of the Tour de
France before being expelled for testing positive for the blood-booster

EPO, ...

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/22/sports/22ricco.php

FindingDulcinea gives reference material on doping

Never seen this site before.  They say their mission "is to bring users the best information on the Web for any topic, employing human insight and methodical review."  findingDulcinea apsires to be the "librarian of the internet age."

Tour de France Again Marred by Doping
findingDulcinea - New York,New York,USA
by Denis Cummings With Riccardo Ricco becoming the third rider to test
positive for a banned drug, the Tour de France has once again become

overshadowed by ...

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/sports/July-08/Tour-de-France-Again-Marred-by-Doping.html

A Free Demo of Pro Cycling Manager

Imagine yourself as the DS of the Euskatel team.  Download the demo and you can live the dream.

Pro Cycling Manager - Tour de France 2008 Demo
Gamers Hell - London,England,UK
Focus Home Interactive has released a playable demo for Pro Cycling Manager
- Tour de France 2008, allowing you to try out the PC version of this game

...

http://www.gamershell.com/news_55904.html