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2006 Tour de France

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Bean:
Talk about the sh.. hitting the fan!!!  On the eve of the start of the 2006 Tour, a doping probe in Spain has knocked out a bunch of favorites. A total of nine riders who signed up for the Tour were implicated in the Spanish probe. Included were favorites Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso, Francisco Mancebo, Oscar Sevilla, and Joseba Beloki.
The UCI(cycling's governing body) noted that while the probe implicated the riders, it had not yet established that they had cheated. Nevertheless, Tour organizers pushed for their exclusion and teams agreed, in keeping with their ethical charter that allows riders to be barred from racing while they are under investigation for doping.
I thought that this was going to be the year for Ivan Basso, but not now. I really hope George Hincapie or Floyd Landis(born in Ephrata, PA) can make a strong run for it. 
Even before this implication it was going to be wide open, but now even more so.  It should be a wild 2006 tour. It all starts tomorrow.

Scott, are you planning anything this year like you did last year?

jjf:
Talk about a scandel.... :nono: I do think that Basso or Vinokorov would have been the front runners. Now I am pulling for Floyd Landis or Hincappie. They both have a ligit shot for the yellow jersey :flag:

Dr. IceGeek:
I think Valverde will have a great tour, and Denis Menchov is definately a threat as well for the overall.  I think Leipheimer will be top 3 as gerolsteiner has built their tour team around him. Cadel Evans could have a great tour as well, but Davitamon-Lotto also has McEwen and fast Freddy and those guys will offer little support once the race hits the mountains.  We'll see how George handles the pressure of being a protected rider. Tough day for Hushovd today...looked like he ripped an artery open.... BTW every time Phil Ligget talks about the Liqui-Gas team he pronounces it "leaky gas" and that cracks me up.

Dr. IceGeek:
Scratch Valverde off the list........he's done

Bean:

--- Quote from: Dr. IceGeek on Jul 04, 2006, 11:42 AM ---Scratch Valverde off the list........he's done

--- End quote ---

I was surprised to see him go down. He was another favorite that had a chance. It looked like a CSC guy cut him off and made him crash. I think 3 riders  broke collarbones today.

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