Unfortunately, Sastre really deserves the win after that climb up Alpe d’Huez - that was magnificent. Sad that Cadel had no answer and had been wrong footed by the Schleck brothers fake attacks. Still, there’s a sliver of hope.

Uh uh girlfriend. In little weeny doses, no fun at all, it helps deal with thin air real good.

However, with Evans campaigning for human rights in Tibet, and I understand being progressive on other issues as well I’ve suddenly developed an enthusiasm which is stuffing up my sleeping patterns. Even if I still don’t understand all the tactics.

Cocaine, sure. If all else fails, you’ll feel like a winner.

U R DOIN IT RONG.

It’s mostly used to keep feeling like a winner after the winning is done and replaced with that empty feeling. The side effects aren’t much chop for endurance sports.

Seems to me that EPO is still successfully getting through.

Not that I have the foggiest, or care.

WTF?

Dulls the pain, sure. Along with all other senses, replacing them with floaty hallucinations. What could be worse?

Cocaine, sure. If all else fails, you’ll feel like a winner.

Furthermore, the Tour has never been “drug-free”. Back in the earliest days they were using alcohol, cocaine, ether, and even strychnine.

It has been reported Ricco believed there was no test for the red-cell booster he was using called CERA (Continuous Erythropietin Receptor Activator).
But WADA president John Fahey says when developing the drug Roche Pharmaceuticals placed a molecule in it to help authorities detect illegal use.

If it is true there is no test for CERA then if it can be sourced from elsewhere (or somehow cleaned of the tracer compound) it can be taken with impunity. This case and history shows that if athletes think they can get away with it some of them will take performance enhancing drugs.

Cows said:

Aiden i dunno how you can say there are ‘definitely riders in this years tour doing performance enhancing substances’ given the testing regime these days. How do you know?

Probabilities. They have already caught some. After one was caught did you think “Phew, they caught the one cheat”? When a second tested positive was it “at last, the only two cheats left are gone, the Tour is clean!”? After the third (and subsequently Saunier Duval quit the race .. draw your own conclusions)? Are you so sure they have got them all? I’m pretty sure they haven’t.

See

http://www.smh.com.au/news/tourdefrance/ricco-busted-with-help-of-planted-molecule/2008/07/23/1216492496759.html

Whilst there have been a few cheats caught this year I think cycling has seriously cleaned up its act. The style of racing now ( ie not going up hill at 35km/h or doing 60 km Time Trials at 55 km’h average) like they did in the 1990s indicates this.

Plus they are the most drug tested athletes in the world. It is very difficult to ride doped now.

The defending champ, Alberto Contador is not riding the Tour de France as his team, Astana, was not invited because they had three riders test positive last year, two of them in the Tour itself (can’t inline this link):

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2008/feb08/feb13news3

Cycling is cleaner than it was 10 years ago, probably as a result of being able to detect EPO doping, but there are definitely riders in this years tour doing performance enhancing substances. I wonder which ones?

Onya Cadel

as a footnote, props are due to AIS as they supported Cadel in his desire to be a great mountain biker at a time when that sport was just beginning and there was no clear indication that it would be as big as it is now. several of my mountain biking friends used to talk about this ‘kid, a kid i tell you, he just went straight past me’ who embaressed a few. i’ve wondered if it was him.

Just a reminder that tonight’s broadcast starts at 9:35.

Allez Cadel!