No Tour for Boonen

This years Tour is hardly worth watching.
Lacking the defending Champ, best team, best sprinter, best young rider one can hardly argue against that….
We can now at least say for sure that the best riders are not in the biggest race… What a shame.

Thanks gavia!

For life is quite absurd
And death’s the final word
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin – give the audience a grin
Enjoy it – it’s your last chance anyhow.

I for one welcome our Francommunist overlords.

Vuelta has a lot of flat stages for Boonen (as usual…)

he was already planning to take part in the Spanish Grand Tour but this way he can concentrate on the worlds and the Vuelta even more… and Vuelta could have the best Grand Tour rooster of the whole year. Only if the mountain stages weren’t so ridiculous…

First I agree with Drew and gavia- I hope Tom gets his life in order. With the cocaine rumors from the turn of the year I feel fairly confident in saying that he’s been tooting for sometime.

Now ASO is in a hard place. They would have looked like hypocrites if they had allowed him to race. But here’s the thing. In the US sports leagues- many of whom don;t have the doping sanctions that cycling has- they do have the ability to get players into rehab/relapse prevention programs and cycling to its detriment IMO does not have that at all. Cycling is so focused on punishment that now that this cocaine thing has come along there are no helpful steps to take. That’s a shame.

Wonder about what his response to this will be.

Especially after last year. It’s better to make the decision now and deal with all the crap that is sure to come than wait until right before the Tour. I think they made the correct choice especially after banning Astana this year.

In today’s climate… guy must be a full-on junkie… and/or wanted/needed to get caught.

Once the start lists are becoming final for TdF be curious to see how many prior Grand Tour winners, prior jersey winners, etc. Probably not many riders left standing from prior year TdF top 5 or even top 10 TdF finishers. Who knows what could happen. Good luck to VS and other commentators finding some old favorites to cover and talk about, and predict the racing for that matter.

Watched a bit of the NBA finals last night. Even those guys make for a more interesting interview than most of the cyclists. We need more Robbie McQ and David Millars out there.

... if… and I mean ONLY if… Boonen takes this to heart. I don’t think a team shunning by QS would have been in the best interests of anyone involved and I agree 100% with ASO’s cutting him from the race. From what I’ve read so far, it doesn’t look like he tried to weasel out of it in anyway.

Forget the GC, they don’t really have a GC squad for the GTs, but they can win all kinds of stages. I say let Barredo and Devolder just ride for stage wins. Look what happens when Barredo is left to his own devices, he goes and wins a stage in PN. This guy is a stud, start bringing him along for wins and not just as a helper. Devolder is already there, just needs to be a little smarter.

I don’t think the coke is worth kicking him out of the Tour. Seems recreational to me. The high is not conducive to training. There’s no residual benefit. One positive test does not necessarily mean that Boonen’s life is out of order. I bet he’ll either stop completely, or go completely crazy on the stuff. Not that I’d know…

I’m glad I got my kicks during the Giro. The Tour seems less and less interesting.

for having a different opinion – that’s what the site’s all about. There may be spirited disagreement with your view, but we’ll do our best to make sure it’s done with respect :-)

Boonen does in fact have a rider’s union, but I can’t remember the last time they actually did anything of significance. As for his getting high on his own time, indeed. I don’t know if ASO has the legal right to dis-invite him (Lefevre has grumbled about going to CAS to force Boonen’s way in, much like Virenque did back in the day), but from a moral high ground I think they have the majority of sentiment on their side. Feeling seems to be “it’s their party, they can invite who they want” in this instance. When there’s this much money on the line, the organizer is always going to choose the path that costs them the least amount of monetary and public relations damage.

And to his credit, Boonen has accepted that decision and will not pursue a court case to into the race.

I honestly believe the only way for the sport to survive is to have a period of relative calm where the news is actually dominated by sporting events. So despite a lot of grumbling about the Tour being less interesting and even unwatchable this year because of the absence of the really big names, I believe the ASO’s actions is doing fans a favour in the long run. We may argue the fine points on recreational/performance-enhancing use but all we were going to see in the mainstream media in July was “DRUGSCANDAL IN THE TOUR DE FRANCE!!!!!” . Now at least there’s a chance we might get coverage of the actual race taking place. Good on the ASO for protecting their interests (along with mine in the process).

QS, the sponsor, wants Tom in the Tour, so Lefevere is now trying to talk him back into it. He is using Schumi and the Puerto riders as an example (Schumi also drove drunk, with amphetamin in his blood, but that story was quickly brushed under the carpet), if they are allowed to ride, so should Tom. He is realistic though and says that he doesn’t expect ASO to change it’s mind.

http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza.be/wielrennen/080612_lefevere_boonen_tour

Quick Step CEO pushing for Boonen in Tour de France

Team sponsor Quick Step has explained why it is so anxious for Tom Boonen to ride the Tour de France: it has already prepared a big publicity campaign for its laminate flooring products to run in France during the Tour with Boonen in the lead role. The company has already purchased the advertising time on French television.

Quick Step CEO Frans De Cock told the Belga press agency that he had asked Boonen privately after Wednesday’s press conference whether he still wanted to ride the Tour. “He said explicitly, ‘yes, I want to’. So I will do everything I can to make that happen.” De Cock will meet with Tour organisers this week to discuss the matter.

“For a cycling sponsor, the Tour means half of the return for the year’s investment. I need Tom Boonen. I think that Quick Step has contributed a lot to the sport.”

source: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2008/jun08/jun16news