What a 24 hours. I am completely gobsmacked. Nutso.
At first I was completely bummed, because Vino came out with a positive result. I was completely depressed because he’s long been a favorite and I’m sad that he’s going to go out like that. I was also sad that he put a black mark on this Tour, which was working out to be potentially the start of a new era with the emergence of Spanish phenom Alberto Contador.
Then I watched a gripping stage and cheered on Levi and Contador as they took it to the big Dane Rasmussen in the final mountain stage of the Tour. That, of course, ended up being a bummer, as Rasmussen held them off to win the stage and potentially seal the Tour. Which was a two pronged disappointment, as (a) I want Contador to win and (b) I would be crazy nervous to have Rasmussen win and then be investigated and potentially suspended for lying to doping controls and his team about his whereabouts a few times over the past couple of years.
Then I finally caught up with my cycling feeds and found out that Rasmussen has been pulled out of the Tour and fired by Rabobank.
While it doesn’t look good, I would MUCH rather have him kicked out now than have him actually win the freakin’ race and then be suspended or whatever. If, as I hope, this is the beginning of the end of this awful year+ of controversy then I would hate to have it spoiled by yet another doping case hanging over the winner of the Tour. So, while it’s not the sort of thing I want to see (I really just want to focus on the racing even days like today when the guys I’m invested in fall short), I’m cool with the move.
Madness.
On a positive note, we’ve decided to head out for the Amgen Tour of California next year. There’s a stage that goes through Monterey and we’re all over it. Seeing the peloton thunder through some of the most beautiful coastline in all of America sounds like a plan.
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