What the hell!!!

Two weeks of relative calm in the Tour was too good to be true. Sure, there was Sinkewitz' positive from several months back that came to light. But, he had already crashed out of the race so that story didn't cause too much stink.

First came the story that Rasmussen missed several doping controls and was kicked off the Danish national teams. The dark doping cloud could be seen on the horizon.

Then came old accusations about Rasmussen trying to get a MTB'er to unwittingly transport fake hemoglobin into Italy. The cloud grew nearer.

Vinokourov got booted on Tuesday for blood transfusion. The storm cloud firmly settled over the race.

Christian Moreni, of the pious french Cofidis squad, is confirmed positive with exogenous testosterone after todays stage. I wonder if Cofidis team manager Eric Boyer will call his man a "bastard", like he did Vinokourov? Rain begins to fall from the cloud

Then late today, after winning the final mountain stage and virtually securing overall victory, Rabobank pulls Rasmussen from the race for lying about his whereabouts during the missed doping controls. A funnel cloud descends from the dark doping cloud

Like Vinokourov, Moreni you suck.

And to paraphrase Homer Simpson, Rasmussen... you are the suckiest suck that ever sucked.

Then, after dinner I open this weeks Sports Illustrated that arrived in the mail today. The story on Page 48 is entitled "Uphill Climb" and begins with these words

"Despite isolated doping allegations, which hit even race leader Micahel Rasmussen, the Tour de France was buoyed by signs that riders might be cleaning up their acts."

There's nothing better than a timely headline, eh?

Any guess what next week's story might be titled??? "Downhill Descent"?