More doping news from the Tour. Rabobank fired team leader and Tour de France maillot jaune Michael Rasmussen today and then withdrew the entire team from the race. Cofidis also withdrew the entire team after one of their riders tested positive for testosterone and then admitted to doping.
How stupid can you get? These guys are all getting caught–if you dope, you’re gonna get nailed.
I still love bike racing, and I will continue to watch the Tour. However, I’ll be watching as a disinterested observer, watching for the drama of the race rather than as a fan of any particular racer. Last year I got caught up in Floyd’s drama, and we all know where that ended up. This year, I was excited by Vino, since he had a great attacking style (and we ride the same brand of bike), but that has ended badly as well. I am almost afraid to cheer on any particular rider for fear that I’ll look like an idiot when he gets himself in trouble. “Hey! Look at him go–he’s a great rider! What an awesome race!” I will shout at my computer screen. Then, fifteen minutes later, after I check Velonews, I’ll see that the guy was transfusing radioactive mutant blood or shooting himself full of genetically modified Tibetan bee venom. “Oh, well, never mind,” I’ll mumble as I grab my bike and go out for a ride. Alone. With no evil mad scientist doctors following me with syringes.
The Hobgoblin of Little Minds 
What about the fact the new MJ was implicated in OP (and cleared with the rest of the Spanish riders), his last team was Liberty Seguros-Wurth (morphed into team Wurth into Astana-Wurth breifly and then Astana, if I remember correctly). And that he was “discovered” by the famous manolo saiz, who doesn’t have exactly the cleanest record amongst doctors/coaches/whatever he was.
I’m not saying Contador doped. In fact, I hope he didn’t and never will –> He is one of my favorite riders along with Michael Rogers, both of whom are capable of great things….if pro cycling exists in 5 years.
I posted a response to your comment on my blog in my blog’s comment section (confused yet), just so you know…
Maybe they should just have different categories (lots of races break down results by age and gender, right?).
Using 10+ things.
Using 3-9 things.
Using 2 things.
Using 1 things.
Clean.
If you test higher than your entered category, you’re banned from the TdeF for life. If every race starts doing this, it would give incentives for people to “come clean” and clarify for everyone just how big a difference using makes.
For prize money, I’d have the pot divided–3/4 in the clean category, 15% in the using 1, 5% in the using 2, 3% in the using 3-9, and 1% in the using 10+.
Legalize, baby! Kind of.
brace yourself….soler is up next on the chopping block apparently.