Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Shocked and Saddened...


Professsional cycling takes another blow, one that will be talked about for years to come, as the news of Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) testing positive for homologous blood doping following Saturday's Time Trial. His amazing performance during the TT raised speculation the second he crossed the finish line, ahead of the entire field by over 2 minutes. The thought of him doping crosssed my mind but I truly hoped I was just thinking too much.

His performance was mazing to watch. Every checkpoint, he was blasting the competition. But it also made you wonder. Even though Vino was an amazing rider, how could he put that much time between himself and some of the fastest time trial specialists in the world?

Well, now we know.

He cheated.

Just like Tyler Hamilton and Santi Perez in 2004. He used the process of homologous blood doping where a person injects another person's red blood cells into their system to help in the processing of oxygen, which ultimately turns you into a human turbo-charger.

And now the entire Astana team has been asked to withdraw from the Tour, which they did immediately.

Another sad day for cycling.