Touroscopy - Stage 12 Just another day on Tour
Thursday, 17 July 2008 21:57
Stage 12 Tour de France. Just another routine day on the Tour. There was a crash, a sprint to the line, the yellow jersey on an Australian and a positive drug test to one of the most influential riders in the bunch. As the news broke that it was in fact Riccardo Ricco who tested positive the rest of the bunch carried on as only they know how. Read on in this article as we go inside the Tour and give out a couple of very interesting insights and a heads up on some interesting TV.
Winners
- Mark Cavendish - The fastest guy in the bunch and now three time stage winner. He is now the best performed Brit in the Tour with his three wins and does not look like he is going to be beaten this Tour. Cavendish is fast becoming the next Robbie McEwen.
- ASO - The organising committee of the Tour have caught another cheat and rumour has it Christian Prudhomme, the director of the race, went back to his entourage after Ricco was caught and lead them in a toast. He no doubt is wiling to endure the negative press in the short term to have a long term gain.
Losers
- Team Barloworld - This team has been decimated by injury and crashes and a positive test. Baden Cooke was the latest to leave the Tour after a crash during Stage 12. He has not had a good Tour at all and may be facing an uncertain future at the highest level. His team must still be shaking it's head and wondering when this nightmare will end with its' two best climbers in Soler and Cardenas leaving the Tour before the Alps. They were also involved in a team car crash while driving one of their VIP's through the stage. Not a great day out for Barloworld.
- Saunier Duval - We have made comment about Riccardo Ricco so we won't run over this topic again however the whole team now looks to be in some trouble. There are a lot of things a sponsor will tolerate but as we have seen in the last few years of professional cycling drugs are not one of them. Discovery Channel and T-Mobile are two of the latest casualties of the sponsorship withdrawal. Big name corporations are not willing to put up the finances if their name is going to be tarnished. Right now it would be a risky proposition for any corporate to front the cash in this Tour. While we are by no means implicating the clean riders the sport as a whole suffers when a positive test occurs.
State of Play
For those of you living in Australia check out the SBS coverage today. We have heard a whisper that they have the footage of two plain clothes policemen making first contact with Riccardo Ricco. Should make for interesting viewing. The fallout will have ramifications for the sport but it is a little early to know exactly what. This is a crucial time for Cadel Evans too as leader of the race he becomes the unofficial spokesperson for the Tour and must also carry the weight of that on his shoulders. In previous Tours when this has occurred it has been the yellow jersey wearer to stand up and tell the world that the sport is doing its' best to stamp out drug cheats. "I hope that the cheats have been caught and the sport has really been cleaned up in a fair and transparent way, which is a lot more than I can say for other professions in the world" was Evans' most recent comment. So far he is making a good fist of his position.
As a footnote to all of this, thanks to cyclingnews.com, this quote coming from David Millar. "It is bull... I think it's unfortunate that when things look too good to be true, generally they are too good to be true - and he did look pretty good,". "It is just amazing that he is that irresponsible and doesn't have any love or care for the sport." An interesting comment from a man who served a two year penalty for a positive test.
