By Paul Andrews, BI editor on October 16, 2009
Contador and Team Astana say they have nothing to hide. Quote: “This year’s Tour de France was remarkable for the fact that no riders tested positive during the race.” Still haven’t heard from Lance on this, but then, he’s no longer with Astana…
Posted in Racing, This Day in Doping | Tagged alberto contador, cycling doping, lance armstrong, Team Astana, tour de france 2009
By Paul Andrews, BI editor on October 13, 2009
Confessed doper and former King of the Mountains winner Bernhard Kohl continues to name names. The latest: physician Marc Schmidt, team doctor, who “oversaw the doping practices.” Schmidt vehemently denied the charges. And the beat goes on… Unconvinced that the 2009 Tour de France was as squeaky clean as it seemed, French prosecutors are opening [...]
Posted in Lance's Chances, This Day in Doping | Tagged bernhard kohl, cycling doping, lance armstrong, mark schmidt, rolling stone, sam brown, Team Astana
By Paul Andrews, BI editor on October 8, 2009
Team Astana, including stars Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador, got preferential treatment when it came to drug testing, two leading French newspapers have reported (linked by Bicycle.net). This is part of an ongoing snit between the UCI, the international cycling governing body, and French anti-doping authorities over the rigorousness of dope testing during the Tour [...]
Posted in Racing, This Day in Doping | Tagged AFLD, alberto contador, bicycle doping, bikesnobnyc, doping, lance armstrong, Team Astana, Tour de France, uci
By Paul Andrews, BI editor on July 26, 2009
The Tour de France 2009 could have been a bell-ringer. It had as much if not more raw talent than most tours, especially in recent years, and the big gun of Lance Armstrong to draw international attention back to cycling. It was a killer course, laid out to maximize drama and intrigue as well as [...]
Posted in Racing | Tagged alberto contador, Andy Schleck, Frank Schleck, lance armstrong, Team Astana, Tour de France
By Paul Andrews, BI editor on July 18, 2009
How does that saying go? A friend of my friend is my friend unless my friend is Lance Armstrong? As much as I beat up on Lance for grandstanding and truth-avoidance, I can’t point the finger at him for cheating Hincapie out of the yellow jersey today. If anything, it was Lance’s “friends” — Team [...]
Posted in Racing | Tagged George Hincapie, lance armstrong, Team Astana, Tour de France, yellow jersey
By Paul Andrews, BI editor on July 17, 2009
Funny to read now: Bicycle.net’s pre-stage analysis, where Stage 13 “may reveal just how far some riders are willing to go to fight for the Tour de France yellow jersey.” Um…let’s just say, not very far at all. Cyclelicio.us: “Nocentini’s last day wearing yellow.” And I agreed when you posted, Richard. Based on everything we [...]
Posted in Racing | Tagged Bernard HInault, Cadel Evans, Eddy Merckx, lance armstrong, Team Astana, Tour de France
By Paul Andrews, BI editor on July 12, 2009
With Lance out of the picture after 2005, I’d almost forgotten how boring the Tour de France can be. Year after year in his historic run-up of wins, Lance assembled the strongest team and then “controlled” the race, to yawningly predictable outcomes. The past few Lanceless Tours got back to real racing, with no single [...]
Posted in Racing | Tagged Cadel Evans, lance armstrong, Team Astana, Tour de France
By Paul Andrews, BI editor on July 6, 2009
Twitter is all a-tweet with carping about Lance’s move today in the Tour. Lance rode off with a breakaway that opened a nearly 40-second gap on the peloton, which included most of the favorites. Good old Lance, you can always count on him to do the right thing in the clutch! Lance of course is [...]
Posted in Racing | Tagged alberto contador, lance armstrong, Team Astana, Tour de France
