What Don’t I Know? May 9, 2007
Posted by Steve in : Tour De France , add a comment
Another day — another suspension of some guys whose cycling teams less than 10 days ago denied reports in the Italian press that the team had sidelined it key riders. Is there something I don’t know?
Have the team’s managers been worn down by the authorities’ juggernaut or do they really know something about Operacion Puerto that nobody is talking about?
In a press release today, their Tinkoff Credit Systems team announced that Tyler Hamilton and Jörg Jaksche will not race the 2007 Giro d’Italia and have been suspended indefinitely “until the competent authorities … have finally sorted out all the implication of the riders in Operación Puerto“. Team management said the decision was aimed “at relieving pressure created around the Giro … and on the team itself” after statements made by other squads that decided to deny Giro starts to riders thought to have been implicated in the Spanish blood-doping inquiry. In addition, German sprinter Danilo Hondo has also been suspended, although Tinkoff vows to “fully support” the fight against doping pressed by UCI president Pat McQuaid and race organizers.
This was a HUGE u-turn for Tinkoff, which on April 30 denied reports in the Italian press that the team had sidelined Hamilton and Jaksche, when the GM told Velo News “For me, Tyler and Jörg can start the Giro. Stories that they are suspended are not true.” “Tinkoff has a list of 12 riders that can go to the Giro. Tyler is on that list and we expect him to race.”
Hamilton also held out great hope, saying “Everything is for the Giro. I want to be on the podium in Milan,” at the Tour de Georgia.
What is happening here…Is the dam about to break? What do you think?
Landis Bankruptcy? April 27, 2007
Posted by Steve in : Tour De France , 1 comment so far
AP — Yikes! Say it ain’t so Floyd.
Floyd Landis said he’s lost almost $10 million in potential earnings and might need to declare bankruptcy since being accused of using drugs to help win the Tour de France last year. He faces a two-year racing ban and would be the first cyclist in the Tour’s 104-year history to lose his title for doping after testing positive for inappropriate levels of testosterone. (more…)
