Ok, so yesterday I was speculating on whether it would be Basso first and Ullrich second, or maybe the other way round on the podium in Paris. I didn’t really think there could be any other result.
Now it turns out that neither of them is going to be there. Ullrich, Basso, and a host of other top riders have all been suspended because of the Operacion Puerto busts.
It makes you wonder if there are any clean riders left. It also makes you wonder about the heroes of the past, which is the saddest part.
A friend knows an ex-pro cycler who claims that literally everyone is using.
Everyone *is* using, and they have been for some time now. I read Paul Kimmage’s “A Rough Ride” about fifteen years ago, and it was a sad story indeed.
Still, it sucks to see those two out of the Tour. All I can say is Go George!
P.S.
The LeMond/Hinault and the ’86 Tour rivalry thing that OLN is running is pathetic. Hinault and LeMond are both a couple of babies, and it’s really lame that only Greg’s voice gets to be heard in this story.