Unbelievable! Vino test positive - Astana pulls out of the tour

Seriously, cycling is considered one of the dirtiest sports on the planet with respect to performance based drug abuse. Despite the recent positive tests of Landis, Basso, etc I was holding out hope that these guys would figure it out and stop.

There’s something about the mindset of the pros that I just don’t get obviously. When Vinokourov crashed and essentially lost his chance at the tour something in him clicked and he decided it was worth it to risk a blood tranfusion. And it worked…for a few days. He destroyed the field in saturday’s Time Trial. It was a super human feat akin to Floyd Landis’ superman run up the mountain in last year’s race. What did those superhuman feats have in common? Desperate riders who were facing losing their tour dream who took a chance on doping. Vino won 2 out of 3 of the last stages before the blood results surfaced. How does Andreas Kloden feel today leaving the tour and his 5th place position with his Astana team mates because of something Vino did?

Today…I am sad.

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