Well, they are off in France and hopefully the race will go off without any further off course drama. I have a two sided view of the happenings of the last day or so.
1. After the initial shock and the total change in perspective on the field of riders remaining, I have to say that this Tour now is even more unpredictable than ever. The racing should prove to be spectacular, with no one really knowing whom to mark on any given stage concerning the overall classification. I like that part. Having this action taken by the Teams and Tour officials sends a serious message about doping and even suspected doping, going as far as having relationships with suspected dopers! This message should be quite clear now, and quite frankly, should scare the chamois off the Tour riders. Which leads me to the flip side of my view on this..........
2. The actions and motivations of the past few days, while seemingly "pure" in terms of wiping out doping in the Pro peleton, are very alarming to me. What if someone doesn't like you as a racer? Link that person to a "known" doping doctor, team, or teamate and poof! You are gone! It's kind of like what the French Press corps have been trying to do for years to Lance and are still doing to teams like CSC. (New Doping Charges For CSC?) It's like the old saying about absolute power that you've probably heard before. The authorities, promoters, and governing bodies want to have this absolute power to eliminate doping, and I'm afraid that they are very close to demonstrating that they have it indeed. Let's hope that they restrain themselves from ruining a riders career(s) with impure motives.
That said, I'm glad to see that the prologue went off and the race is on. Let's hope Floyd can get to the start line on time tomorrow!
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