A very frank and open Chris Horner just tells it like it is at Astana. This was on the mountain stage where Contador attacked and dropped Kloden. Horner pull sno punches in talking about the situation at Astana and the reasons he was left behind. Horner also gives insight into the turmoil surrounding the team, not just between Contador and others, but with the sponsors. Seems like the Astana team may change radically after the Tour de France is over. Will we see some Radio Shack jerseys sooner than anticipated?
Lance Armstrong just missed his chance to cap off his 2009 comeback Tour with a Maillot Jaune presented by Ben Stiller. Instead, Fabian Cancellara had to accept Greg Focker’s kisses on the podium. Maybe it was a calculated move to not have the guy who cost him an $85 fine for lingering at a French coffee shop put a yellow jersey on his back. Plus, you don’t want to tire out your Astana team too soon with the job of defending the Jersey for more time than necessary. One cyclist “in the know” noted that Lance was the fifth person across the line and let up every so slightly to maybe cause the close micro-second difference.
But who has that much presence of mind after rocketing through 39km on a twisty TTT course that caused some top riders and half the Bbox Bouyges Team to crash?
The prospect of donning the Yellow and stamping his authority on the team as they head into the tougher stages would be tempting. But the true GC leaders don’t worry about wearing the Yellow in the fourth stage of the Tour, they would rather wait until the last day.
For Bjarne Riis, keeping the Yellow after another battle in the TTT with Johan Bruyneel and Lance Armstrong must be sweet. In 2005 Team CSC was defending the Yellow Jersey vs. the Discovery Channel team when David Zabriske mysteriously crashed in the last kilometer. Zabriske lost the jersey to Lance Armstrong and probably left the CSC squad stinging from the bad luck. Today Saxo Bank pulled back one second in the last section to keep Cancellara in Yellow. Cancellara could be seen at the front for most of the final sector pulling his team along to a respectable finish. This is no small task since the Andy and Franck Schleck are not very good Time Trialers, while Astana is stacked with TT experts.
Levi Leipheimer used his Giro Training camp form to get the top spot for the Dauphine Libere prologue. The American was riding some good form, while others such as Alejandro Valverde and Cadel Evans were using this race as the tune up for the Tour de France. The Dauphine is a good race for Leipheimer especially since he has some very good form to use and no real prospect for riding the Tour at this moment. The Astana team at least has some preparation for the race, so they can be ready to defend a lead if needed. The Dauphine is more interesting for the jockeying and staring down of Tour de France rivals. Cadel Evans and Alejandro Valverde will be using the chance to see how each other is doing in their run-up to the Tour.
It’s born. The new site letalbertoride.com is live today after reading a couple of blog posts from Bike Snob NYC, Interbike Times and Cyclelicio.us. Levi gets a nice site and a whole campaign to get him to ride the Tour de France, but Alberto Contador is the defending champ, and he gets a poorly designed site from some Spainish guys with bad english translations. This isn’t right. So I registered the domain which was surprisingly available and setup the site this afternoon. Go sign the petition and we’ll see what happens.
The banning of the Astana Cycling Team became official today as the A.S.O (Amaury Sports Organization) officially rebuked the team from participating in all A.S.O sponsored events. This comes after the Giro D’Italia snubbed the Kazak-sponsored team from participating in Italy in May. The snub comes despite a complete overhaul of the team structure from the scandal-ridden squad of 2007. The 2007 Astana team had a similar promise last year as Alexandre Vinokourov took over the team and overhauled the management structure from the previous incarnation as Liberty Seguros. The shakeup only brought more scandals as Mattais Kessler, Eddie Mazzoleni, Vinokourov and Kashekin tested positive or were involved in some scandal last year.
The same promise of a shakeup was not enough for the A.S.0. as they are very weary of more scandals in cycling biggest event. The Giro and Tour organizers taking a harder line and choosing which teams they wish to invite. This rift with the U.C.I. and the ProTour allows the Grand Tour organizers a chance to wrestle back control of who is invited.
The Giro suffered from too many Pro Tour teams using the event as a training race for their young racers or Tour de France hopefuls. Therefore they invited more Continental based Italian teams while snubbing Astana, High Road and a few French teams. Now the A.S.O. which is scandal weary has taken a similar hard line and barred Astana.
This may seem like a drastic move, but I would have to applaud the move as a serious hard line against doping. Contador was already coming under suspicion for his involvement in Operation Puerto. The investigation seems to be getting legs again just as the cycling season starts up. Andreas Kloden is still in the Astana team from 2007 and was in the T-Mobile teams that were suspected of doping. His involvement with the current Astana team does not show a serious break enough break from the past. Astana has not had any time to really prove itself on the road and in the headlines.
Part of the restructuring of the Astana team involved using a rigorous anti-doping testing program. The new structure with medical tests employed by Astana are similar to teams such as CSC and A.S.O. favorite Slipstream. These tests would check racers in a regular basis to help check against doping. Despite this positive aspect the A.S.O. still looked unfavorably on the team being present in France in July.
With this drastic move the fate of Astana may rely on the sponsor’s willingness to stick out a year without the main publicity generated by racing in France. Alberto Contador and Levi Leipheimer will have to think of a Plan B now that their season has a large chunk of free time in July.
Levi is rumored to be switching to Astana along with Johan Bruyneel and defending Tour champion Alberto Contador. Meanwhile he is living it up by eating “blue cheese crusted tenderloin of beef and chocolate mousse cake” in Utah.
Levi is asked about doping particularly the Landis case:
“Yep, that’s pretty much all we talk about,” he said, only half sarcastically over dinner. “I hope now that Floyd’s deal is kind of over, that we can move on. Everyone acts like we’re the dirtiest athletes in the world, when I think the reality is we are the cleanest. We get tested all the time. They show up at your door unannounced and test you. We’re tested before races and after races. We’re tested all the time.
“When someone gets caught it gets all the attention,” Leipheimer said. “But do you really think we’re dirtier than football players who hardly even get tested?”
Amen to that, it is a tough break that when doping in cycling is in the spotlight while many other sports either don’t testing or have very lax testing rules. Just because there is no testing does not mean that the sport is clean. Meanwhile NFL players get cortisone injections (which are banned in cycling and other Olympics sports) like they drink water.
Andriy Kashechkin tested positive for homologous blood doping in an out of competition test while training in Turkey. The Kazak racer’s positive test is the latest in a series of devastating blows to the Astana team that comes after doping related issues with Mattaus Kessler, Eddie Mazzoleni and Vonkourov. The double positive for blood doping surely shows that there was a mix up of blood bags. Most doping tests cannot detect when a racer re-injects his own blood, but can easily spot if there is a presence of another person’s blood.
The same situation happened with Tyler Hamilton and Santiago Perez of the Phonak squad. Both tested positive which signaled a mix up of blood bags. Hamilton tried his best to find an excuse for the positive doping test, going so far as to say he had a vanishing twin which caused the abnormal test result.
Christophe Moraeu can be added to the list of contenders that are not in a place to contend. Team Astana struck like a cobra in the crosswinds of the transitional stage to help put Moreau out of contention in the Tour de France. Maybe Astana was exacting a bit of revenge or just happened to take advantage of an opportunity to gain back time for Vino. Whichever, any GC contender has to be on alert at all times. Resting can only be done when you get back to the hotel.
Michael Rasmussen took the initiative in what is seen as an annual break to gain the Polka Dot climbers jersey. The difference this year is that he was also able to snatch the Yellow Jersey. The wiry Dane dominated an early breakaway with Michael Rogers. It looked like Rogers would take over the Yellow Jersey from his young teammate Linus Gerdemann. Rogers at that point was the team leader for T-Mobile and he took an early opportunity to flex his muscles and make a claim for the Yellow. But cycling is a ver unforgiving sport. Going down the Col de Roseland descent Rogers crashed with breakaway companion David Arroyo of Caisse D’Epargne. Arroyo went over the guard rail and into the trees while Rogers crashed on the road. Arroyo looked OK, but Rogers never recovered and had to retire from the race.
AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski
On a similar descent Stuart O’Grady crashed hard and had to be taken to hospital where it was determined that he had cracked ribs but no spinal damage. Robbie McEwen came in outside the time limit and was eliminated. Any remaining Aussies in the race should count their lucky stars. The elimination happened in threes so other Aussies should theoretically be OK to keep riding.
For Bjarne Riis, keeping the Yellow after another battle in the TTT with Johan Bruyneel and Lance Armstrong must be sweet. In 2005 Team CSC was defending the Yellow Jersey vs. the Discovery Channel team when David Zabriske mysteriously crashed in the last kilometer. 
