What's left but to cancel the show?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../BNStory/Front

What's left but to cancel the show?

By ALLAN MAKI

Globe and Mail

July 25, 2007 at 9:25 PM EDT

With two more riders banished from the world's premier cycling event, there
is only one course of action for those in charge of the Tour de France: make
a statement and cancel the show.

Send them all home - the riders, their technicians, the cheats and liars.
There may never be a clean race through the countryside and mountains of
France, but one thing's for certain: This year's event has lowered the
Tour's reputation into the mud. Right next to professional wrestling.

Less than 24 hours after Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan was tossed from
the race for having two different types of blood in his system, Italian
Cristiano Moreni was bounced for a positive test for testosterone. The
entire Cofidis team then withdrew from the Tour de France.

That was the left jab.

Then came the overhand right.

Michael Rasmussen, Denmark's yellow-jacketed race leader, was kicked off his
Rabobank team after lying about why he had missed a scheduled drug test in
June. Rasmussen had said he was in Mexico. Turned out he was in Italy.

It was the fourth time in 18 months that Rasmussen has missed an
out-of-competition dope test and that drew harsh words from Tour director
Christian Prudhomme.

"We cannot say that Rasmussen cheated, but his flippancy and his lies on his
whereabouts had become unbearable," Prudhomme said.

Equally unbearable is the relentless flow of wretched news from a race that
once encapsulated a great many virtues (strength, determination, power,
savvy and endurance).

A year ago, American Floyd Landis supplanted countryman Lance Armstrong as
the feel-good winner who overcame many a hill climb and a sore hip to
fulfill his dream. But when the test results came in, Landis had an abnormal
ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone.

Officially, he is still the winner of the 2006 Tour de France, but that
could change pending a decision from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso also ran afoul of the doping police and paid the
price for helping turn their sport into a pharmaceutical farce, one that
needs a complete flushing out, no matter the cost.

The Associated Press wrote that yesterday's developments "dealt a
potentially fatal blow" to the Tour de France. Added to that, a Swiss
newspaper has stopped reporting on the Tour because of the doping scandals,
while Jean-François Lamour, the vice-president of the World Anti-Doping
Agency, was quoted as saying cycling could be dropped from the Summer
Olympics.

But the finishing blow could come from the corporations whose names and
funding keep the Tour rolling.

According to The Wall Street Journal, German companies adidas and Audi are
considering ending their sponsorship agreements with cycling. You can add
their names to a list of unhappy Tour clients such as T-Mobile and car maker
Skoda, a unit of Volkswagen AG.

So how to appease the aggrieved companies and the heckling fans who say the
real cycling in the Tour de France has to do with getting on and off the
drugs?

Simple. You cancel the 2007 edition.

Scrubbing a world-class race to deal with the issue of performance-enhancing
drugs would be a first, an attention grabber. We've lost a World Series to a
labour dispute and a Stanley Cup to a lockout. We've lost entire leagues in
the time it takes to lose interest in them. (See the USFL, XFL, NFL Europa
et cetera.)

If punishing the athletes through fines or suspensions doesn't work, then
why not cancel their big event? Take away their stage. Remind them of how
the sport is bigger than any one of them, or even all of them.

It's the best and only recourse left for the Tour de France. Left as it is,
this year's race will never get rid of the stain of Vinokourov, Moreni and
Rasmussen. And what about the guy who ends up winning?

Our new leader is Spanish rider Alberto Contador of the Discovery Channel
team. If he hangs on through the final stage on the Champs Élysées, people
will applaud politely, then ask how he beat the drug testers.

Being the '07 Tour champ will come with precious little reverence and a lot
more suspicion.

That's why the best way to soothe the situation is to let the air out of
everyone's tires. Prudhomme needs to sit down with the International Cycling
Union and the World Anti-Doping Agency and ensure that drug tests are not
missed and that every competitor at least enters with a clean slate.

Granted, it may never be a foolproof exercise, but the effort has to be
made. Otherwise, the show is ruined not just for this year but forever.

"One cannot mock the Tour de France like those riders," Prudhomme said.

One can't let it continue, either.

"Breaking News" writes:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../BNStory/Front

What's left but to cancel the show?


Well let's wait until the Prince of Andorra gets back from playing
Kissy-Kissy with Gadaffi in Libya and see what he has to say about the
situation

--
Davey Crockett - No 4Q to Reply

well, it's not like i'm excusing doping. But there have been a few
articles, broadcasts, etc on this theme. "Why bother having this race?"
if we use that logic, then we have to look at other sports, ie pro
football.Players involved in drugs, dope, gun charges, dog fighting,
domestic abuse, hiring hitmen to kill their girlfriends, gambling,
stalking, etc. Baseball is under the microscope for drugs; the NBA has
players fathering dozens of kids, being accused of rape and crooked
officials; hockey had strikes, gambling, violence...so why bother with
any of them? I should point out that i love baseball and hockey, and
find the scandals to be depressing, but if we take the lne that this guy
does, then we should just cancel everything and watch WWF, which we know
is totally fake.


Breaking News wrote:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../BNStory/Front

What's left but to cancel the show?

By ALLAN MAKI

Globe and Mail

July 25, 2007 at 9:25 PM EDT

With two more riders banished from the world's premier cycling event, there
is only one course of action for those in charge of the Tour de France: make
a statement and cancel the show.

Send them all home - the riders, their technicians, the cheats and liars.
There may never be a clean race through the countryside and mountains of
France, but one thing's for certain: This year's event has lowered the
Tour's reputation into the mud. Right next to professional wrestling.

Less than 24 hours after Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan was tossed from
the race for having two different types of blood in his system, Italian
Cristiano Moreni was bounced for a positive test for testosterone. The
entire Cofidis team then withdrew from the Tour de France.

That was the left jab.

Then came the overhand right.

Michael Rasmussen, Denmark's yellow-jacketed race leader, was kicked off his
Rabobank team after lying about why he had missed a scheduled drug test in
June. Rasmussen had said he was in Mexico. Turned out he was in Italy.

It was the fourth time in 18 months that Rasmussen has missed an
out-of-competition dope test and that drew harsh words from Tour director
Christian Prudhomme.

"We cannot say that Rasmussen cheated, but his flippancy and his lies on his
whereabouts had become unbearable," Prudhomme said.

Equally unbearable is the relentless flow of wretched news from a race that
once encapsulated a great many virtues (strength, determination, power,
savvy and endurance).

A year ago, American Floyd Landis supplanted countryman Lance Armstrong as
the feel-good winner who overcame many a hill climb and a sore hip to
fulfill his dream. But when the test results came in, Landis had an abnormal
ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone.

Officially, he is still the winner of the 2006 Tour de France, but that
could change pending a decision from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso also ran afoul of the doping police and paid the
price for helping turn their sport into a pharmaceutical farce, one that
needs a complete flushing out, no matter the cost.

The Associated Press wrote that yesterday's developments "dealt a
potentially fatal blow" to the Tour de France. Added to that, a Swiss
newspaper has stopped reporting on the Tour because of the doping scandals,
while Jean-François Lamour, the vice-president of the World Anti-Doping
Agency, was quoted as saying cycling could be dropped from the Summer
Olympics.

But the finishing blow could come from the corporations whose names and
funding keep the Tour rolling.

According to The Wall Street Journal, German companies adidas and Audi are
considering ending their sponsorship agreements with cycling. You can add
their names to a list of unhappy Tour clients such as T-Mobile and car maker
Skoda, a unit of Volkswagen AG.

So how to appease the aggrieved companies and the heckling fans who say the
real cycling in the Tour de France has to do with getting on and off the
drugs?

Simple. You cancel the 2007 edition.

Scrubbing a world-class race to deal with the issue of performance-enhancing
drugs would be a first, an attention grabber. We've lost a World Series to a
labour dispute and a Stanley Cup to a lockout. We've lost entire leagues in
the time it takes to lose interest in them. (See the USFL, XFL, NFL Europa
et cetera.)

If punishing the athletes through fines or suspensions doesn't work, then
why not cancel their big event? Take away their stage. Remind them of how
the sport is bigger than any one of them, or even all of them.

It's the best and only recourse left for the Tour de France. Left as it is,
this year's race will never get rid of the stain of Vinokourov, Moreni and
Rasmussen. And what about the guy who ends up winning?

Our new leader is Spanish rider Alberto Contador of the Discovery Channel
team. If he hangs on through the final stage on the Champs Élysées, people
will applaud politely, then ask how he beat the drug testers.

Being the '07 Tour champ will come with precious little reverence and a lot
more suspicion.

That's why the best way to soothe the situation is to let the air out of
everyone's tires. Prudhomme needs to sit down with the International Cycling
Union and the World Anti-Doping Agency and ensure that drug tests are not
missed and that every competitor at least enters with a clean slate.

Granted, it may never be a foolproof exercise, but the effort has to be
made. Otherwise, the show is ruined not just for this year but forever.

"One cannot mock the Tour de France like those riders," Prudhomme said.

One can't let it continue, either.