ASO, the organizer of the Tour de France, released its roster of invited professional teams. Left off the roster, Team Astana, which just happens to have last year's winner, Alberto Contador, and third place finisher, Levi Leipheimer. Astana abandoned the tour when its leader, Alexandre Vinokourov, was caught blood doping. Meanwhile, Cofidis, which also had to quit mid-race because of a doping violation by a single team member, has been asked back. Rabobank, which had to fire its team captain mid-race while wearing the yellow jersey, Michael Rasmussen, but was allowed to continue as a team, has been asked back. The consistency in not allowing Astana back to the Tour, even though it has new management and new team members, is just not there. There is still a wild card slot open, so the door is not totally closed, but not allowing the Tour champion to defend his title, while allowing these other teams caught up in doping scandals, smacks of political retribution against Johan Bruyneel, the current director of Astana, who has coached his teams to winning 8 of the last 9 Tours.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please don't comment on posts more than 4 years old. They will be deleted.