Germans Keep Overreacting To Doping Rumors

The organizers of the Pro-Tour Cyclassics in Hamburg don't even care if Alberto Contador, the Tour de France winner, is racing or not, but have pre-emptively listed the guys they don't even want in their city because of doping implications. Doping implication, not doping violations. Because Contador was initially identified as the person referred to as "AC" in some stolen Operacion Puerto documents, even after being cleared by Spanish authorities, that's enough for Hamburg to say "nein" to his participation. The Hamburg organizers have also warned Michael Rasmussen and Alessandro Petacchi to stay away, although Petacchi has been cleared of doping for taking his asthma medicine, and Rasmussen has only the black cloud of missing surprise doping tests and lying to his team about his whereabouts. Of course, Rasmussen's case is much worse than Contador's and Petacchi's because he was fired over those lies, and dismissed from the Tour after it was clear he was going to win. German broadcasts of the Tour were abandoned after Patrik Sinkewitz of T-Mobile tested positive for exogenous testosterone, leaving it to a cable channel to pick up the program a day later. Sinkewitz later admitted to applying a testosterone patch for recovery during a training ride, and is taking his punishment, likely a suspension of two years.

I'm not sure what the German mood is concerning cycling, but the media is apparently sick of covering doping scandals. However, race organizers are handicapping their events by disinviting riders before they even commit to their participation. Fans want to see the big names and winners, and if the event does not have that extra celebrity appeal, attendance and interest will fade. Even with the doping coverage, ratings for Versus were up over last year, and French organizers said that road side attendance was up as well. People want to see the spectacle of it all. Being a whiny pouter because Jan Ullrich broke your heart, even though he has not been convicted of anything yet, will not make your race better.