Tom Boonen Cocaine, Cont.

So this just in - Tom Boonen has been banned from the Tour de France. WTF.

I mean, I guess I understand, but it seems that the UCI, as I said previously, loves to ban, throw out of competition, and strip riders of Yellow Jerseys for doing very litte - Floyd Landis is a completely different subject.

Now - what are we really talking about here? In a world where everyone judges cycling by dopers and cheaters - this guy just has some traces of cocaine in his pee. How bad is that?

There's two ways of looking at this - the first:
Tom Boonen is Belgium's favorite son, and a hero to many budding cyclists the world over. He's a great looking guy with everything to live for - but this is pretty bad. He seems to have fallen into the typical young "celebrity" (if you live in Europe) behavior that isn't so foreign to us in America experiencing "Young Hollywood"... Watch E! if you're not sure. This accusation/reality is an embarrassment to Boonen's team (I'm sure), mostly because I would've bet a ton of money on him taking the Green Jersey again this year. Poor form, favorite cyclist.

The second way: It's only a little blow, at least it's not EPO or steroids. Could be worse.

Tom Boonen Cocaine Bust

I promise there will be more of these in the future, especially when the Tour is closer to happening.

Major news for today - yesterday I read that my favorite cyclist Tom Boonen tested positive for cocaine in an out of competition drug test. He only admitted that he was "not perfect" (according to Eurosport). This is pretty disappointing to say the least. The guy is only 27, he's a fantastic athlete, and now everything could be wrecked for him. Apparently he may face jail time if convicted (Belgium's star athlete - I don't think so), but he will not face any repercussions from the UCI. Seems to me like the nature of the UCI is to go after anyone for merely taking a Tylenol during a race - so it's odd that they wouldn't try.

Also - someone on a reply post to an article about this and compared it to performance enhancing drugs - HA! This is ridiculous.

Giro - Contador Crazy

So... Alberto Contador is in the Pink Jersey, or maglia rosa. I find this odd, especially concerning his questionable victory at the Tour de France last year. I only say "questionable" because there were so many questionable things that happened at last year's tour.

Now I realize that not many people follow the Tour as much as I do, so let me give you a wrap up... I was cheering for Kazak Alexander Vinokourov, who was doing great - he had some wrecks but then he seemed to be doing better. Then he was thrown out for a positive dope test. Lets not discuss Floyd Landis from the previous year... that's another post. Anyway, Michael Rasmussen was doing pretty well... this is a crazy guy. First of all they don't call him "Chicken" for nothing... he is super skinny, and I've read that he even peels the stickers off his bike to save weight for the mountains - he's nuts. So he's doing pretty well, and Alberto Contador is competing with him pretty well, but he isn't really doing better than Rasmussen. Then *SNAP* Rasmussen is kicked out of the Tour for skipping a drug test (and later tested positive for doping)... So then Contador basically steps up, right into the Yellow Jersey on the Champs-Elysees - without doing what I would consider actual work... And then he joined Vinokourov's disgraced (and under new management) team, and was let into the Giro at the very last minute.

So - needless to say, I'm not a huge fan of Alberto Contador, and it is odd to me to find him in the lead of the first Grand Tour of the year. Maybe he's trying to do what Ivan Basso was incapable of (due to doping, of course) - and that is to win the Giro and the Tour in the same year, back to back. That is if the ASO let in Astana (which they shouldn't - Johan Bruyneel should've known better - yet another post).