And now...

And now we have Rassmussen kicked out as well? What in the world is going on in this Tour?

And Moreni...

Sure, still not as bad as Festina in 1998, but still, holy hell Hanna! Shit is going down.

I, of course, am disappointed. Who wouldn't be in this whole fiasco that this has turned into thus far. Now we have Contador taking over the yellow jersey, but, he was once suspected of doping last year as well (Operacion Puerto anyone?). Now, this will hang over the rest of the Tour. Yellow jersey kicked off of his team, and booted from le Tour. Guy in 2nd place was suspected as a doper. Last year's "winner", busted for doping. And so on and so forth we go.

And to think I was enjoying this year's race, a lot. But since Rassmussen won today's stage, I didn't bother to watch it, because it matters not once again. What I do think though is that the system, is slowly, and surely catching up with the dopers and the cheaters. Why do I say this? Well, more guys are getting busted, so the tests must be getting better, and the dumb asses who continue to cheat, are going to keep getting caught. It also makes me feel better that there are now teams taking measures to head off doping on their own without the help of the UCI, or the rider's national testing bodies. T-Mobile, CSC, Slipstream, and a couple of other teams have put into place stringent controls over and above what the UCI or the doping testers are doing on their own. I think that people who are putting these programs into place (Bob Stapleton, Jonathan Vaughters, and Bjarne Riis namely) are trying to save the sport from itself, and are doing the right things for sure. They want to see the sport flourish, and want to see it done cleanly. I applaud their efforts, and applaud the efforts of the UCI in catching more damn cheaters. Sure, it makes it looks like there is a pox on our house, but I'd rather have these guys get busted, and have me disappointed for a few days, or weeks, rather than having those same assholes still riding, and probably winning races.

To sum up. I'm disappointed, but hopeful. I love the sport, and want to see it continue to get better and better, and cleaner and cleaner. Will it ever be squeaky clean? I doubt it. That flies in the face of human nature and competition in general, but it can get a lot better, and it will. It has to, I think, to survive.