Clear message sent to blood dopes in long peddling war

PARIS: The Tour de France reached the Champs-Elysees in a hopeful mood on Sunday after once again being shaken by doping scandals.

Organisers were confident they had scored points in the fight against the sport's blight with leading figures Alexander Vinokourov and Michael Rasmussen sent packing over doping affairs.

"It is a war and as in any war, there is collateral damage," Patrice Clerc, president of race organisers Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO) said.

Pre-race favourite Vinokourov tested positive for blood doping following his victory in the Albi time trial and his Astana team were invited by ASO to pull out of the race.

Rasmussen was sacked by Rabobank, who said he had lied about his training whereabouts - an allegation the Dane denies - triggering a war of words between ASO and the International Cycling Union (UCI).

The UCI gave Rasmussen two recorded warnings for failing to provide his personal schedule and under its own rules, the Dane should not have started the Tour.

Team selection

ASO, who have always refused to be part of the UCI Pro-Tour, announced they would select the teams for next year's race not only on performance but also on ethical grounds.

"I don't care if we start the Tour with only 10 teams," said Clerc, who added on Saturday UCI senior officials should resign.

ASO have repeatedly accused the sport's ruling body of trying to harm their premier race, an accusation UCI president Pat McQuaid denies.

The Rasmussen affair was the climax of the Tour's crisis. The day the Dane was sacked by Rabobank, it was revealed Italian Cristian Moreni had tested positive for testosterone, prompting his Cofidis team to leave the race.

Booed and jeered on his way to victory at the Col d'Aubisque, then overall leader Rasmussen was under a cloud of suspicion.

But it was not the Tour that was being booed. The riders from six French and two German teams protested against doping before the start of the stage from Orthez to the Col d'Aubisque and were applauded by the fans.

"Ten years ago, the riders were protesting against the doping tests. Today, they protest against doping," Tour director Christian Prudhomme in a reference to the Festina affair that broke in 1998 said.

Even though doping has been the main topic of this year's race, fans flocked along the roads and sat in front of their television sets.

'Social link'

When German TV channels ARD and ZDF decided to end their race coverage following the announcement of T-Mobile's Patrik Sinkewitz's positive test during a June training camp, counterparts Pro Sieben and Sat 1 promptly stepped in to replace them.

"There is a social link between the Tour and the fans and this link will not be destroyed," Prudhomme, who has the support of the French political authorities, said.

"The Tour de France is the event where you have the most drugs tests and some other sports should take example from them," Health and Sports minister Roselyne Bachelot said.

Only urine tests were conducted during football's World Cup in Germany last year.

"If you don't look for anything, you won't find anything," said Prudhomme. "I want to tell the cheats that they are playing Russian roulette.

"Our sport is going through a major crisis. It will not see the end of the tunnel without the Tour de France. If we stop the fight, cycling could die."

The burden of representing the sport is now on Spaniard Alberto Contador, who won this year's Tour for Discovery Channel, the team with whom seven-time champion Lance Armstrong ended his career.

Agencies

(China Daily 07/31/2007 page24)