Landis Appeal Fails

In an article a friend of mine sent me, I found out this morning that Floyd Landis' bid to reclaim/retain his 2006 TDF victory has failed.

It was Floyd's last gasp at being recognized as the winner of the Tour, so he's done.

On the upside, the process helped to tarnish the current doping punishment process and cast serious doubt on some of the organizations that have helped ruin some lives and dent this great sport.

Here's the link to that Sports Illustrated story.

More to come...

Cycling tragedy

Car and drunk driver killed a cyclist during a race near the Mexican border.



Here's a screenshot of the story and the link below the photo. Totally blows.

Here's the whole story.

Hotels near the Tour de France

Hus left this comment on my TDF07 blog...

New already: for the Tour de France 2008 I developed a Google Map in terrain view with all the stages of the Tour de France 2008. See:
http://www.hotels-in-france.nl/index.php/Le-Tour-2008.html

It gives hotel locations in towns that lie along the 2008 Tour de France route.

Thanks Hus!

Giro complete...here comes the TDF!

With Alberto Contador the 2008 winner of the Giro D'Italia, the next major race on the docket is the Dauphiné Libéré beginning next week in Avignon, France.

And, because we've just cracked the first day of June, we've got a mere month before we find out if Astana will be allowed in the Tour de France in July.

According to reports - READ THE ENTIRE STORY...

Organisers of the Tour de France, run by the Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO) said earlier this year that the doping scandals which plagued Astana at last year's French race had left them with little choice despite the team undergoing a mass clear-out.

The team's former leader, Alexandre Vinokourov, was fired after testing positive for a blood transfusion during last year's Tour de France.

Weeks after the Vinokourov controversy his fellow Kazakh Andrey Kashechkin also tested positive for blood doping. Other teams riders, including Matthias Kessler and Eddy Mazzoleni, were also involved in doping affairs.

Unlike the French, the Italians relented and finally allowed Astana in.

But I'm worried that this year's Tour will still start with one less team than in previous years and will lack the excitement that Contador, Levi Leipheimer and other Astana riders might have offered.

Stay tuned here while I ramp up the recaps and start to provide my predictions for the 2008 Tour de France.

Keep riding!