Le Tour - Boonen's back in

[Alan Zoff]

19/06/2009 - The Tour de France refuses Tom Boonen

03/07/2009 - Tom Boonen is allowed to take part

Mixed feelings on this one. Great racer whose presence will add to the excitement of the race. But even if Boonen's "recreational" drugs do not affect his performance as a cyclist, does this send the right message in a sport supposedly determined to rid itself of its doping image?

I am sure Boonen will be clean for the race - I wish I was as confident about all the others - but his inclusion hardly demonstrates that the organisers are taking the tough line they keep promising us.

But I am still looking forward to a tremendous spectacle and once more witnessing the awesome effort made by these super-humans. I can't attend any stages this year so will be glued to the set. The Armstrong factor is going to have a big effect on the popularity of this year's Tour. And we have Cavendish in with a chance of the Green Jersey.

I can't wait.

[Iceni]

Professional cyclists and their various governing bodies claim that their testing regimes must be working well to find all these druggies, whether performance enhancing or not, thus proving that their business is doing more than most. I find it difficult to believe that team managements do not know what their employees are up to and if they don't, they should.

IMHO the only chance of ever stopping the use of drugs will be to punish the teams. Any rider testing positive for a banned substance or class A drug will be chucked out and the team excluded from all competitions as well for "n" years (as the TdF did last year with Astana). Not just his 8 mates but all contracted riders. Clean riders would then be considered out of contract and up for sale. None of this will happen of course as a large chunk of the current teams would be out.

As for the Isle of Man man, perhaps he will wear the green jersey but not on the day it really matters, after crossing the line in Paris. In a couple of years perhaps. Nowhere close enough for me to have a day out but there is always good old Eurosport.

John

 

[raindog]

The ammount of coke found in his system was absolutely miniscule. I think he has an alcohol problem more than anything and is, apparently, seeking help for that. Although it's difficult to believe that someone with an alcohol problem could ride in a pro-team in one of the hardest physical sports in the world.

Personally I have no problem with him competing as we're not talking peds but recreational, but that doesn't change the fact that he's been a silly boy.