2007 Tour

[BACH]

Rasmussen wins eighth stage, takes overall lead from Gerdemann

TIGNES, France -- Michael Rasmussen won the eighth stage of the Tour de France on Sunday to take the overall lead in the race after a second day of grueling climbs in the Alps.


The Danish rider, the Tour's best climber for the past two years, crossed the finish line alone after the 102.5-mile run from Le Grand-Bornand to Tignes, which featured three Category 1 climbs and an uphill finish.

Rasmussen finished in 4 hours, 49 minutes, 40 seconds to win his third Tour stage and don the overall leader's yellow jersey for the first time in his four appearances. Iban Mayo of Spain was second, 2:47 behind, followed by Alejandro Valverde of Spain, 3:12 back.

Rasmussen took the yellow jersey from German rider Linus Gerdemann, who had won the seventh stage Saturday. Rasmussen holds a 43-second lead over Gerdemann and a 2:39 gap over Mayo.

The ride into the Alps had been expected to offer an early shake-out among the favorites, but two time trials and the Pyrenees also lurk down the road in the three-week race that ends July 29 on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

"I'm a climber, and a pure climber," Rasmussen said. "If I have to go all the way, and take the yellow jersey all the way to Paris, I will have to climb faster than I have ever done in my life.


New leader Michael Rasmussen dons the yellow jersey after the stage. (AP)
"There's still two more weeks of racing and I still have 110 kilometers of time-trialing to negotiate," he added. "And I think I've proven in the past that it's not exactly my specialty."

Most of the top riders stayed close to the overall lead, but contender Alexandre Vinokourov lost time as he continues to recover from knee injuries he sustained in a crash Thursday.

"The team was incredible today," Vinokourov said of his Astana teammates, who stayed with the Kazakh rider to keep him from losing too much time. "We tried to limit the damage.

"I'm holding onto hope," added Vinokourov, seen by many as the pre-race favorite.

He was nearly 4½ minutes behind Rasmussen and trails Rasmussen by 5:23 in the overall standings in 22nd place.

Among the favorites, Valverde is fourth overall, 2:51 behind Rasmussen. Vinokourov teammate Andrey Kashechkin is 2:52 back, Cadel Evans of Australia trails by 2:53 and Christophe Moreau of France is 3:06 off the leader's pace.

It was a bad day for Gerdemann's T-Mobile team. The team's Australian leader, Michael Rogers, injured his shoulder in a crash and dropped out, as did British teammate Mark Cavendish, who crashed twice in earlier stages.

Australian rider Stuart O'Grady of Team CSC, who also crashed Sunday, injured his back, quit the race, and was taken to a nearby hospital for tests.

Riders get a rest day Monday before the last Alpine course, a 99.1-mile stage from the Val d'Isere ski station to Briancon, featuring the Iseran and Galibier passes, two ascents that are among the hardest in the three-week race.

Wow, the Tour is great this year.

All the specialist excel at their diffrent strengths. First Cancellara crushes everyone at prolog and shows his skills off again on the 3rd stage. Then Rasmussen killed everyone today. Two riders way ahead of everyone else, but both probably too extreme a specialist to win the entire race.

Does anyone else follow?

 

[Scott MS]

I've been watching the Tour every day. It is a very enjoyable Tour this year with so many contenders.

In fact, many don't think Rasmussen will hold on to his lead. The Pyranees mountains should determine the eventual winner with much steeper grades.

Stage 14 should be interesting with a climb to the Plateu de Beille. Plus there are still over 100km of individual time trials left.

Stage 14

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[slinslin]

Why would you watch these dopers..

 

[Nate]

Why then would you watch Basketball or any other sports?

Or do you think a sport or a league, which relies quite a bit on athleticism like the NBA, in which there is de facto no useful testing taking place is clean or free from doping. Dream on...

And before somebody wants to tell me that the NBA is testing athletes:

Yeah, they are. Once every year every player(after his rookie season) is tested during training camp. Unfortunately, in order to proove steroid use, you usually have to catch the athlete in the first days after application (if you know what you are taking). Though by having just one test per player per year in a previously known time-frame, you invite everybody to drug-abuse for the rest of the year. If this test routine ensures anything, than that you wont get caught if you are not totally dumb.

http://www.law.depaul.edu/students/organizations_journals/student_orgs/lawslj/Volume%203,%20Issue%202%20Current%20Issue/Steroid%20Problem%20by%20Laitner.pdf
Look on page 8 of the pdf for the testing procedures of the NBA

 

[Dback Jon]

Been following the tour as well.

Bach - how big is the tour in Denmark, especially with a Dane in the lead?

 

[Scott MS]

Why would you watch these dopers..

Because the NBA dopers aren't on right now.

 

[BACH]

Been following the tour as well.

Bach - how big is the tour in Denmark, especially with a Dane in the lead?

It's usually huge but even bigger this year becasue of Rasmussen. I believe that about 4.5% of the population watch the entire thing (Every stage, all stage with some percentages subtracted by some standard TV rating calculation). The mountain stages has more viewers. That number has jumped to around 8% because of Rasmussen. That's huge considering that it's about 100 hours of TV over 22 days.

Been huge since the the early 90's, because of three things:

1. The TV station covering the TDF (and I BTW work for) got a famous danish writer/poet/filmmaker as the expert commentator. He's even more exciting/excentric than John Madden and made it very popular. He's now pretty well known in the TDF community and the Danish production has 1st right to interviews etc. after the main French TV-station - just because of him.

2. The Danish riders were very, very good at that time. Denmark only had about 5-6 riders in the race, but cam away with 2-5 stage victories every year over a 4-5 year period.

3. Riis won it in '96. Riis was already one of the most popular sportsmen in Denmark, because of his very humble/shy personality (Portraited as the ultimate good guy). That image and the TDF's popularity in Denmark exploded in the 5 years where he was a contender. '94 - '98

 

[Scott MS]

Rasmussen sacked from race!!!

Contador now the leader. Levi Leipenheimer (USA) is now 3rd.

I watched the race this morning -- 16th stage. Incredible race. Leipenheimer and Contador were trying to break Rasmussen, but the Chicken took at the end and won.

Happy to see Discovery Channel now 1st and 3rd.

 

[slinslin]

Contador should just follow Rasmussen.

By the end of the tour they can have a default winner, the 1 who didnt dope.

 

[Nate]

DSC rider Contador along with Valverde should never have been allowed to even take part since he is a proven client of Dr Fuentes, as were Jan Ullrich, Basso, etc who - along with others - are banned from the sport because of that. Unfortunately, the Spanish administration and media decided that they wont take steps against them as they are their most promising "talents".

DSC, Caisse D'Epargne(Valverde, Perreiro, Karpets) and Astana (the former Liberty Seguros) are the most questionable teams of this years tour, but others are not far behind.

 

[Scott MS]

Contador should just follow Rasmussen.

By the end of the tour they can have a default winner, the 1 who didnt dope.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we get your point.

 

[Scott MS]

DSC rider Contador along with Valverde should never have been allowed to even take part since he is a proven client of Dr Fuentes, as were Jan Ullrich, Basso, etc who - along with others - are banned from the sport because of that. Unfortunately, the Spanish administration and media decided that they wont take steps against them as they are their most promising "talents".

DSC, Caisse D'Epargne(Valverde, Perreiro, Karpets) and Astana (the former Liberty Seguros) are the most questionable teams of this years tour, but others are not far behind.

Excellent analysis, but you're from Germany right? I guess T-Mobile is clean, right? After all, they actually had a rider ejected from the current race for doping, yet their team doesn't quit like all the others.

Discovery Channel has not had a rider that has tested positive. Further, they are an American team so I'm pulling for them and Leipenheimer & Hincapie.

Let's not pretend that these few guys that got caught are the only ones that are doing it. I'm sure every team has been guilty at some point.

.

 

[Nate]

Excellent analysis, but you're from Germany right? I guess T-Mobile is clean, right? After all, they actually had a rider ejected from the current race for doping, yet their team doesn't quit like all the others.

Discovery Channel has not had a rider that has tested positive. Further, they are an American team so I'm pulling for them and Leipenheimer & Hincapie.

Let's not pretend that these few guys that got caught are the only ones that are doing it. I'm sure every team has been guilty at some point.
.

Scott, Patrick Sinkewitz positive result for Testosterone is from a pre-Tour test made in early June and therefore is not on the same level as the Astana- (Vino) and the Cofidis-cases (Moreni), in which there are positive testresults during the Tour itself. Cofidis and Astana were "invited" by the ASO (the Tour-organizers) to leave the race, T-Mobile was not. So why should they leave.

T-Mobile is clean was your following rhetorical question. No, most probably not, but they at least got rid of all their former medical staff from the University of Freiburg in early June and they suspended before the Giro and then fired Honchar (last years TdF time-trial winner) before La Tour because of their own bloodtest of their riders. Along with CSC, they aspend quite a lot of money for these kinds of tests. Since Stapleton runs the team, they didnt resign Kessler and Kloeden and havent signed or allegedly wanted to sign athletes with a questionable past. Astanas team officials are all either connected to the old T-Com/Mobile team or to Sainz or to Lances Phonak. Astanas team physicians are all connected to the ones indicted in the T-Com scandal and to Prof. Keuls institute of sports medicine at the U of Freiburg.

If you compare that to the hirings of Discovery over the last year, you see the difference. When every team had agreed upon to not sign any individuals indicted on the Operacion Puerto papers, DSC caused an outrage by breaching that agreement by signing Basso who just had been released by CSC's Rhiis at the time and has been banned by now by the Italian Confederation. Contador is just another example, although his name mysteriously vanished from later puplished Puerto Papers.

By the way, I respect your favoritism for US-riders and DSC, I just think that DSC and their predecessor US Postal have been one of the worst offenders along with the former T-Com and all Sainz, Lefevre and Ecchavari-led teams. Asked to choose a rider who I would like to see them win the Tour from the top 10 at the moment, I would answer any of Evans, Leipheimer and Kirchen.

Do I think they are clean at the moment? In sense of substances which can be proven, they most probably are. Hooray to designer steroids and newer EPO-forms which cannot be detected at the moment.

 

[Scott MS]

Scott, Patrick Sinkewitz positive result for Testosterone is from a pre-Tour test made in early June and therefore is not on the same level as the Astana- (Vino) and the Cofidis-cases (Moreni), in which there are positive testresults during the Tour itself. Cofidis and Astana were "invited" by the ASO (the Tour-organizers) to leave the race, T-Mobile was not. So why should they leave.

T-Mobile is clean was your following rhetorical question. No, most probably not, but they at least got rid of all their former medical staff from the University of Freiburg in early June and they suspended before the Giro and then fired Honchar (last years TdF time-trial winner) before La Tour because of their own bloodtest of their riders. Along with CSC, they aspend quite a lot of money for these kinds of tests. Since Stapleton runs the team, they didnt resign Kessler and Kloeden and havent signed or allegedly wanted to sign athletes with a questionable past. Astanas team officials are all either connected to the old T-Com/Mobile team or to Sainz or to Lances Phonak. Astanas team physicians are all connected to the ones indicted in the T-Com scandal and to Prof. Keuls institute of sports medicine at the U of Freiburg.

If you compare that to the hirings of Discovery over the last year, you see the difference. When every team had agreed upon to not sign any individuals indicted on the Operacion Puerto papers, DSC caused an outrage by breaching that agreement by signing Basso who just had been released by CSC's Rhiis at the time and has been banned by now by the Italian Confederation. Contador is just another example, although his name mysteriously vanished from later puplished Puerto Papers.

By the way, I respect your favoritism for US-riders and DSC, I just think that DSC and their predecessor US Postal have been one of the worst offenders along with the former T-Com and all Sainz, Lefevre and Ecchavari-led teams. Asked to choose a rider who I would like to see them win the Tour from the top 10 at the moment, I would answer any of Evans, Leipheimer and Kirchen.

Do I think they are clean at the moment? In sense of substances which can be proven, they most probably are. Hooray to designer steroids and newer EPO-forms which cannot be detected at the moment.

Thanks for the response. You are clearly very knowledgeable cycling fan.

I was surprised when DSC signed Basso, but then they quickly terminated him in the Spring when he took the charges in Operacion Puerto.

I really enjoyed watching the USPS/Discovery team over the last several years and continue to cheer for them today. Armstrong, Leipenheimer, Hincapie, and Landis were fun to watch in a sport that has little following in the U.S. Some of those mountain battles -- from "the look" in '01 to the '04 time trial at L'Alpe d'Huez -- were magnificant battles with Armstrong always coming out on top. I still like to think those battles were won based on strategy, teamwork, and determination, rather than dope.

Besides, they were probably all on dope --Armstrong, Basso, Ullrich, Kloden, etc.

 

[Russ Smith]

I actually think this year may have been a crossroads, it's either going to doom the event that they had widespread doping again, or it's going to be the beginning of the end of doping in cycling. The young riders clearly seem to want to change the sport for the better and made a clear statement about how they feel about the past doping history. Hopefully that will start a movement towards clean riders.

If not the TDF is in trouble, last year Landis wins and then we found out he cheated, multiple cheaters this year plus countless guys pulling out before or during the event, if they don't learn from this they never will.

 

[BACH]

I actually think this year may have been a crossroads, it's either going to doom the event that they had widespread doping again, or it's going to be the beginning of the end of doping in cycling. The young riders clearly seem to want to change the sport for the better and made a clear statement about how they feel about the past doping history. Hopefully that will start a movement towards clean riders.

If not the TDF is in trouble, last year Landis wins and then we found out he cheated, multiple cheaters this year plus countless guys pulling out before or during the event, if they don't learn from this they never will.

The biggest problem IMO is the different rules imposed by the different teams.

Rasmussen got sacked, because he missed a doping-test due to bad scheduling (He never tested positive in any of the following tests but clearly made a mistake) and because people find it suspicious that he often trains in Mexico (His wife is mexican and he therefore owns a house there). If these are big enough question marks to get fired from your team, then fine, but then those rules should apply to all riders. Rasmussen got sacked after testing negative 17 times this season....

That would mean that most riders in the top 10 should have be excluded as well.

 

[Russ Smith]

The biggest problem IMO is the different rules imposed by the different teams.

Rasmussen got sacked, because he missed a doping-test due to bad scheduling (He never tested positive in any of the following tests but clearly made a mistake) and because people find it suspicious that he often trains in Mexico (His wife is mexican and he therefore owns a house there). If these are big enough question marks to get fired from your team, then fine, but then those rules should apply to all riders. Rasmussen got sacked after testing negative 17 times this season....

That would mean that most riders in the top 10 should have be excluded as well.

True but you have to remember a lot of well established cheaters never tested positive either. I am not familiar with Rasmussen's case but it may well be his team had reasons that aren't public?

I think it's a good sign the young riders are speaking out, I just hope they're not just paying lip service, I hope they're being honest.

 

[Scott MS]

I actually think this year may have been a crossroads, it's either going to doom the event that they had widespread doping again, or it's going to be the beginning of the end of doping in cycling. The young riders clearly seem to want to change the sport for the better and made a clear statement about how they feel about the past doping history. Hopefully that will start a movement towards clean riders.

If not the TDF is in trouble, last year Landis wins and then we found out he cheated, multiple cheaters this year plus countless guys pulling out before or during the event, if they don't learn from this they never will.

It's a bold move by cycling to go after doping in such an open, public manner. Some people say the UCI is foolish for airing the dirty laundry because football, baseball, etc. has probably as many problems -- maybe more.

Just remember that the good old American sports leagues are all about the $$ and any kind of gambling or drug scandle could bring these leagues down. They caught some people (Tocchet, Rose, Donaghty), but there are probably 10x more people who were never caught. I'll bet that NBA ref wasn't the first ref to bet on games.

Just yesterday, MLB umpires squashed a proposition to do background checks on them. I guess I really don't care if a criminal is behind the plate, but what do they have to hide? Most employers today do background checks.



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