The Summit (CO) Daily New (Devon O’Neil) sums up my feelings on the Tour de Farce:

In parting, just to take stock: We’ve got an entire sport (cycling) teetering on collapse yet again, we’ve got a superstar NFL quarterback charged with killing animals for money, we’ve got an NBA referee facing a game-fixing probe, and the greatest record in sports is about to be broken by a steroids user.

Thank heavens for college softball (I would substitute college football).

HT:  Trust but Verify 

Tour de Farce leader Michael Rasmussen was removed from the race by his team after winning Wednesday’s stage, the biggest blow yet in cycling’s doping-tainted premier event. “Michael Rasmussen has been sent home for violating (the team’s) internal rules,” Rabobank team spokesman Jacob Bergsma told The Associated Press by phone.The expulsion, which Bergsma said was ordered by the Dutch team sponsor, was linked to “incorrect” information that Rasmussen gave to the team’s sports director over his whereabouts last month. Rasmussen missed random drug tests May 8 and June 28. The 33-year-old rider, who won Wednesday’s stage, had looked set to win the race, which ends Sunday in Paris. But Tour officials had questioned why he was allowed to take the start on July 7 in London, England.

“We cannot say that Rasmussen cheated, but his flippancy and his lies on his whereabouts had become unbearable,” Tour director Christian Prudhomme told the AP. The leader of cycling’s governing body applauded the decision. “My immediate reaction is, why didn’t they do this at the end of June, when they had the same information,” Pat McQuaid said. “The team decided to pull him out; that’s their prerogative. I can only applaud that. It’s a zero-tolerance policy, and it’s a lesson for the future.”

With Rasmussen out, Spanish rider Alberto Contador of the Discovery Channel team moved into the race lead. “It’s in no way a celebration on our end. It’s the third piece of bad news,” said Discovery Channel spokesman P.J. Rabice. “It reflects badly on our sport.” After the Tour’s upbeat start in London, when millions of spectators lined the streets, bad news – nearly all of it related to doping – quickly claimed the spotlight.

On Tuesday, star cyclist Alexandre Vinokourov was sent home after testing positive for a banned blood transfusion, and his team pulled out of the race. Wednesday, it happened again when the Cofidis squad confirmed its rider Cristian Moreni of Italy had failed a doping test, prompted the withdrawal of the entire squad. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the 104-year-old Tour ever had lost its leader in such fashion so close to the finish. “In the very old history of the Tour de France, I don’t know, but the recent past – never,” said Tour spokesman Philippe Sudres.

Wow! Does Robbie McEwen have a gear that no one else has? Robbie produced a stunning come-from-the-back-of-the-peleton finish to win yesterday’s first stage of the Tour de France. McEwen once again produced his trademark burst of power to finish a bike length ahead of Norwegian Thor Hushovd at the end of a dramatic 203km of racing from London.

McEwen, 35, looked to be out of contention when he had to stop for repairs after a crash as the race approached Canterbury towards the end of the 203km stage from London. With 12 miles to go, McEwen was forced to brake because of riders ahead. He was hit from behind by a cyclist and sent sprawling to the road. “The fall itself was on a small road,” the Australian continued. “They [the other riders] were braking in font of me and almost stopping. I also went hard on my brakes. I had almost stopped but whoever was behind me wasn’t paying attention and just ran straight into the back of me. It flipped me over the handlebars. I tried to keep flipping over to land on my feet or maybe my back but my hand was the first thing to hit the ground and then my knee. Straight off, he feared that he might have to stop. “I initially thought that I had broken my wrist, as I couldn’t move it and it was very sore. I will have to go and get it looked at by the doctor.” Pressing on despite a sore right wrist and cuts on his right knee, McEwen was at the back of the peleton with 7 km to go but was escorted by his Predictor Lotto teammates back up into the leaders group for the final all-out sprint.

Will He Continue?
However the crash has left the 34-year-old Predictor-Lotto star nursing a sore wrist – and with major doubts for the coming days. “When it happens you’re not really thinking too much about it, you get back on your bike you don’t feel anything,” said McEwen, whose team-mates battled to bring him back into the race for the finale. “But now I’m starting to feel the pain, in my hand, my wrist and my knee. “It was a great day for me, but now I’m starting to get a bit worried for the rest of the Tour.”

As the 2007 TdF starts, let’s not forget about our friend, Floyd Landis, who will be here in Chicago at Borders at 830 N Michigan Ave on Tueday evening at 7pm to sign his book. As always, stay up with all the Floyd Landis progress at the Trust But Verify blog — they have the best info anywhere on the matter.