Double stage winner in this year’s Tour de France, Alexandre Vinokourov has tested positive for blood doping. At the same time there is a cloud over tour leader Michael Rasmussen for having missed tests prior to the tour.
The Vinokourov betrayal has been a blow to many people. He has betrayed the other riders, paricularly Evans and Kirchen who came second in his two stage wins, and all of the clean riders who suffer from the knock to the already damaged reputation of the tour. His team Astana has withdrawn from the tour and have been the subject of police investigation. They were already the subject of controversy last year but at this stage there are no accusations against the other Astana riders, so it is fair to say that they have been let down hugely by Vinokourov. They miss the chance to finish the race, and in particular it is a betrayal of Andreas Kloden, who has tested negative, and who damaged his own chances at a top position by dropping back to assist Vinokourov, even though Kloden was well ahead in the overall classification. I also remember another Astana rider (I thin it was Ivanov) on the big climb in Vinokourov’s second stage win who dropped back from the breakaway and gave everything to get Vinokourov up there, before struggling, exhausted, just to make it to the end. Furthermore the Astana team represents Kazakhstan so Vinokourov has betrayed his country.
Finally, it is a massive betrayal of the tour fans who watched what appeared to be a courageous comeback by Vinokourov after his accident. I have watched every stage of the tour from the beginning, and now with a few days to go I am almost ready to switch off. What is the point when every time you see a good performance you suspect cheating? Of course, given all the past controversy I’m not so naive as to have not considered the possibility of doping. To commit to watching this event you need to put aside doubts and watch with a (admittedly unreasonable) assumption that the riders are clean and that the testing regime will ensure that. When a big rider is caught out it weakens your suspension of disbelief, and there has to be a point where you just give it up. This time I’m going to hang in there this just to see Cadel Evans through to the finish. I’ll be watching the outcome of this latest scandal closely to decide whether I’ll watch the tour next time though.
More from Phil at Le Tour de Lounge.
UPDATE : Team Rabobank have withdrawn Rasmussen from the tour (and fired him from the team) for lying about his whereabouts when he missed a doping test. On top of that the whole Cofidis team has withdrawn after their rider Moreni tested positive. While the whole saga is terribly disappointing, at least it shows that they are prepared to turn the whole event on its head to rid the sport of drug cheats. Hopefully the mess that this year’s tour has become will give the event a future.