Tour de France leader Rasmussen fired  What a surreal day in the Tour de France. Michael Rasmussen, the current leader of the Tour and the winner of today's stage, was fired today by his team and has left the tour. Discovery Channel rider Alberto Contador is now the leader, with his teammate Levi Leipheimer now in third place. Rasmussen is suspected of using illegal techniques after the recent revelation that he was not training in Mexico earlier this year when he missed a random blood test; he was in Italy.

Phil Liggett reported that “former Italian Champion, Christian Moreni, had tested positive during a spot check on Stage 11 for synthetic testosterone. Moreni finished this afternoon and was then taken away by handcuffs by French police.” It was also reported that Moreni admitted his use of the drug and decided not to ask for a second test. All of this on top of the news yesterday that Vinokourov tested positive for blood doping.

What a sad, sad day.
posted by Bruce Wright at 9:51 PM #