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Cofidis Cycling

New Doping Scandal Hits Tour De France

The credibility of the most important cycling event in the world has been hit once more by a doping scandal. This time the Astana rider Vinokourov who started the 2007 Tour as one of the favorites to keep the yellow jersey tested positive in a doping control for a banned blood transfusion wish caused his entire team to withdraw from the competition.

The Grand Boucle disgrace doesn’t end with the retirement of the Astana team, just a day after “Vino” positive revelation; Cofidis rider Christian Moreni was also suspended for failing a doping test this time for testosterone. The 34 years old rider admitted his guilt and did not ask for a B-sample.

Paris is around the corner and the show has to keep going. The lider is not claiming the victory yet but he already confirmed his potential to do so by winning the final stage in the Pyrenees and increasing his lead to more than three minutes. Unfortunately, Rasmussen is also on the eye of the controversy after being dropped from the Danish National team for missing three drugs tests in a rolling 18-month period. Moreover, the Danish won’t be able to compete in the 2008 Cycling World Championships or the Olympic Games.

After a year of controversy with Landis as protagonist, this year’s organizers were clear about the “zero tolerance” politic. They declared the war to the cycling cheaters excluding from the 2007 Tour most cyclist who may be related with the polemic “Operación Puerto” but nothing seems to work in this battle against doping.

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Julie Smith is one of the most recognized copy writers on Sports Betting
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2 teams out of the tour de france in 2 days?

at this rate the winner will be whoever actually survives till the end. Yesterday the Astana team pulled out after Vinoukourov failed a drugs test and today the Cofidis team is out after that italian bloke failed a drugs test.

Can cycling recover from all this bad press?, last years events were bad enough and adding the latest drug failings is cycling beyond help? what is all this negative press going to do for the future of the sport?

agree its pretty bad right now, especially since every rider signed a document before the tour started stating that they ride drug free.

it will become a cleaner sport, I think that what is unsettling is just that the current approach seems a bit drastic. The dramatics certainly feed into the press urgency since we are in the middle of the biggest tour, so the stores become bigger, and depending on where you get the source of the story, a bit more colored.

can you imagine the MLB banning bonds before he breaks the home run record? or the NBA finals DQ'ing a team on the eve of the last game? cycling may be mid-tour right now and tossing out the users, but its all for a cleaner sport.
Also, it is noted that they are actively testing and banning the violators. that isn't happening too quick in any other sporting league on the planet.

2007 Sydney World Cup Team Sprint - Toshiba v's Cofidis