Tour de France 2006 – A Total Crapshoot
I’m not sure if things got more or less interesting today in the Tour de France. For those not following – today was “Black Friday” – a day that will be remembered as the day the biggest doping scandal in competitive cycling blew wide open. Here is a quick synopsis:
- May: Spanish police raid a house, find 200 units of blood labeled with nicknames
- Early June: Arrests reveal a list of nicknames and schedules for doping
- Mid-June: Investigations reveal the nicknames are the dogs of famous athletes, mostly cyclists
- Today: The list comes out, thirty riders are given the boot – including 4 of the top 5
As the dust settled, the carnage included Tour favorites Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich, Mancebo and many more. Others, like Vinokourov, got caught in the crossfire when most of their team got booted. See, even though Vino is clean – you can’t start the tour without a 9-person team.
Here’s what happened. The busted doctor would remove blood, then administer drugs (usually EPO) to help endurance. Shortly before (or during) the race, their own blood would be transfused back in.
No, I’m not making that up.
Anyway, Heather is a huge fan of the Tour – and I’m not far behind. I’m now curious to see if it’ll be exciting and unpredictable or if it’ll be like the “Scrub Year” in the NFL where a bunch of nobodies played out the season to miniscule interest.
Like ErikM said.. “Somebody has to win!”