My theory on why Astana voluntarilyaccepted pulling out of the Tour…
There have been many documented teams pulling out of races b/c of “mass food poisoning or stomach virus hitting a team” often the truth is that the team took a bad batch of drugs or they found out that the entire team might be drug tested and they had taken detectable drugs- so it’s best to pull out before they are / or the remaining riders are tested. My guess- if Andreas Kloden was tested or Andrey Kashechkin was tested… my guess they all test positive for blood doping- similar to Vino and similar to Phonak riders- Tyler Hamilton and Perez in 2004. This would probably KILL the tour for this year… and kill many sponsors… it all comes down to the money…
T-mobile… I’m sure their riders are doped- but they weren’t stupid enough to use drugs that are tested for… hence why they are still riding in the tour.
The following books give many examples of the above ruse used by teams…
The Sweat of the Gods: Myths and Legends of Bicycle Racing- definitive book chronicalling the Tour de France from the beginning by Benjo Maso. Available at amazon uk
Breaking the Chain- by Willy Voet- involved in 1998 Festina Affair
Lance to Landis- by Walsh
It’s in German, but still, the part in the below quote following the hyphen says that in the TT on Saturday (where Vino tested positive) that Klöden actually did in fact test negative.
right… exactly… let’s see… Team Astana- booted from starting Tour in 2006 b/c of riders involved in Operation Puerto doping, yanked in 2007… the following riders suspended from the team for doping in the last month:
Vinokourov- tested positive for transfusion
Eddy Mazzoleni - finished 3rd in Tour of Italy- involved in doping probe
Matthias Kessler - just tested positive for testosterone
Kloden- familiar with team doping Ullrich at Telekom/Tmobile…
tests are meaningless for many riders… that are careful and know tricks how to beat the system… just don’t do what this tour leader did…
Only once before in the history of the 104-year-old Tour has the race leader been expelled. In 1978, Belgian rider Michel Pollentier, trying to evade doping controls after winning a stage at the Alpe d’Huez in the Alps, was caught with an intricate tube-and-container system that contained urine that was not his, said Tour historian Jean-Paul Brouchon.
riiight…
uhh… it does look like I was right… Vino- number 1 rider out and now their number 2 tested positive- Kashechkin… And Contador will sadly go down, too…