Indeed.

I still think CSC are going to shred this up bigstyle, though. Sastre's the best remaining high-mountain climber, so he'll make a load of time if let go. If not, Evans will end up giving Frank Schleck an armchair ride to the line. And since Popovych looks out of sorts, his team won't be able to do much for him. Compare CSC, who have just about the toughest-ass domestiques around, in any terrain.

*Cough*

SECOND toughest-ass domestiques, Toro.

After me and Logan Mountstuart in Team OTF, who will be mixing elbows and head-butts with anyone who tries to cut up rough with you and the rest of the OTF stars. (And eating all the best snacks before delivering the musettes - or I will, anyway).

Interesting that Saunier Duval left en masse today, unlike the teams of the others who've been caught. Because when Piepoli and Cobo Acebo crossed the line on Hautacam I turned to Mrs Bafflin and voiced my suspicions in what I believe is known as "no uncertain terms".

Interesting post on today's Guardian blogs:

QUOTE:
I race as a clean amateur in the Benelux elite road race scene. In this context "amateur" doesn't mean middle aged guys doing cyclo sportives, but well organised sponsored teams of young riders competing in races of almost equal distance and speed of the professional events. The riders just don't receive an official salary.

In Holland there are never any doping controls at the amateur classics, stage races and criteriums. In Belgium there are more controls, but it's normally known in advance, and even then, only a small random selection of riders are pulled for a test. Therefore a doping rider can either pull out of the race beforehand, or take a gamble.

At a Dutch elite / espoir classic, out of the 160 riders at the start, probably somewhere between 20 and 50 are doping. Amateurs can't afford EPO, but anabolics and amphetamines are within the budget, and easily available through gyms and the internet.

Riders in the know are aware of who is doing it, and when they are "charged" or not, but the culture is one of silence. I know of a Dutch rider in the tour right now who was runoured to be full of pharmaceuticals as an amateur, and it's unlikely that he quit his habits when he went pro.

This whole problem starts with the amateurs, and even probably the juniors, and until each country stops pretending its own riders are clean and actually pays for proper testing at amateur level this is going to continue.

Never underestimate the obsession with becoming a pro that many young amateurs have....the kind of ambition that drives young men to train 20 hours + a week is the kind of ambition that in some, will lead to experimentation with doping to keep the dream alive. Then, even when you make it as a pro, you go from being an exceptionally good amateur to one of the weakest riders in the pro peloton, and it's only a matter of time before you learn about better doping products.

Erm, blimey. Already his country's best?

Since we're past the spoiling time, that's Cavendish. Three stage wins in his second tour, already a record for a Brit.

This is pretty informative on the Ricco sitch.

More; Roche Pharmaceuticals (heh!) who make Micera assisted in developing a test very quickly, so that dopers could be caught unawares. Micera has a half-life of 130 days, orders of magnitude more than "normal" EPO, meaning that a cheat doesn't have to top up as often, and so will show less variation in his test - it looks like an elegant response to the biological passport/longitudinal testing approach, except that the authorities have double-bluffed them nicely here.

Also, Mauro Gianetti, Saunier Duval's DS, was very close to bringing in a T-Mobile/CSC-style comprehensive testing programme for this season, but concluded that it couldn't be done economically, particularly with the teams paying for the biological passport system too. Bet he wishes he'd decided differently now...

Anyway, the team has withdrawn in large part because of his own reaction to then situation, it seems.

Any "Manxman gets third leg" headlines?

Dunno, but there was this truly sublime opening paragraph in the daily Telegraph:

QUOTE:
On a day when the Tour de France's latest doping crisis produced another villain, Britain's Mark Cavendish restored cheer and a degree of credibility by becoming the first Briton to win three stages in a single edition of cycling's showcase event

Because clearly the event had no credibility at all while it was being won by foreigners. Still, everyone's cheered up now that the Brits are winning. Hurrah!

I don't want to spoil today's stage results, but I will say that there was an incident that wasn't the greatest advert for Specialized bikes.

It certainly persuaded me not to even glance in their direction when I go bike shopping tomorrow.
Great crash though.

Piepoli sacked as well then. I suppose his win on the Hautacam is tainted now. Schleck could have won that stage, assuming that Cobo is suspect as well.
I am very impressed by Preud Hommme's outspoken stance. I was impressed with him last year but I loved his straight forward line last year when he said that Saunier Duval's DS was basically a man of limited morals.

They were talking about the prize money last night. You get 8,000 euros for a stage win, 2,000 for the most combative rider award... and 350 euros for every day you wear the yellow jersey*. Which seems a bit pathetic.



(*At least I think that's what they said. I was in the middle of something at the time and only half listening.)

I never knew there was prize money for those sort of things. Hmmmm.

And while we're here, I'd like to send a big fuck you to DirecTV for bumping Versus up a package level in the middle of the Tour meaning I don't get to watch it anymore.

Purves - thing is, Cavendish is known as an outspokenly clean rider, to the point where a good few of the others resent his "teacher's pet" sort of manner. I know you're picking up on a fairly different undercurrent from the Torygraph, but in that respect at least, it's probably fair enough.

Fausto - I agree, Preudhomme's been a breath of fresh air both ethically and in terms of setting the course. Do you have details of what he said about Gianetti, though? David Millar seems convinced that he (Gianetti) is one of the good guys...

It's not even an undercurrent, though. He didn't restore cheer and credibility by being an ostentatiously clean rider. He did it by

QUOTE:
by becoming the first Briton to win three stages

.

There probably is a case to be made for a successful clean rider being just what this tour needs to restore its cheer and credibility. That piece, though, was pure "Fog On Channel; Continent Cut Off".

Who has won the most stage in a single Tour?

Is it Eddy?