This is fucking huge! Operacion Puerto has dropped like a bomb and rocked the Tour. This makes the Festina scandal of 1998 look minor by comparison. Apparently, this is no longer just circumstantial evidence. These guys were the heavy, heavy favourites. It's like Gretzky and Lemieux being suspended from the NHL in the early 90s. Also gone is Francisco Mancebo who finished 4th last year. Vinokourov's whole team looks to be gone, despite the fact that he's not been implicated. Floyd looks to be clean. But so many Phonak riders have gotten in trouble in the last few years that it makes me just a little nervous. Apparently more suspensions will be announced throughout the day. We all knew the Tour would have a different look this year with Lance's absence. But this isn't just a changed landscape so much as a whole new world. Read the stories here and here and here.
If things stay as they are, the new favourites are Floyd, Levi Leipheimer, and maybe even George Hincapie. Or possibly some really young blood like Valverde. But Spanish riders are almost by definition under suspicion these days.
Friday, June 30, 2006
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