T-Mobile - after the tour of Ca, I saw Ulrich and another rider in T-Mobile gear riding down Hollywood Blvd., right around the Kodak Theater. Those boys look a helluva a lot bigger in person than on TV.
France - sure, France's cycling community would like to save some face. LeMond took care of Frenchman Bernard Hinault on this very day in 1987, then took care of another Frenchman, Laurent Fignon with the smallest margin of victory in the race's history - 8 seconds. Then comes Lance - for seven years straight. Now Landis.
Personally, I think all sides are guilty. I watched Landis' Stage 17 victory in the bar of the Hyatt in downtown San Diego during the San Diego Comic Book Convention - and even the fatest most disgusting rendition of any self-absorbed comic book geeks turned their attention to the TV when Landis destroyed the field, particularly when it was announced he bonked on the last climb of Stage 16. "Dope" wasn't said, but it was on everyone's raised brow.
On NPR's "Left, Right and Center" today, one of the commentators said, "Well, if they want to lose their testicles, let them." (sic)
In the end, yes, it's major league baseball on wheels, but that shouldn't surprise anyone, really. I don't think any normal human could race this race, for three weeks straight and under such stringent conditions and rules, and at the speeds they're going, w/o some enhancement.
And is the testing all that credible?
France as a country - where do you think Lance lived when training in Europe? The French, at large,
aren't the problem, for *****'s sake! The French, at large, probably don't even care one way or the other...
