Rant con't

No Astana? Not suprising. Look at last year's Tour. I think there is a conspiracy amongst the French to try to get one of their own to win La Tour Da France. Maybe its because the sport is run by folks who have a horse in the race and not by someone that can trump them. I'm not saying that we have it all figured out in the NFL or MLB by any stretch, but with a commissioner for each league there is a person in charge to make tough decisions and their goal is to promote and protect the sport. I wonder if the organizers of the grand tours are more into protecting their own than protecting the sport in general. It seems more like a scenario where its a kids game and he keeps losing so he decides he's going to change the rules and not let the ones whio keep beating him play anymore so he can finally win. I wonder how much the organizers of the Tour figure they lose each year that a French rider or team doesn't win the race. I can't imagine that doesn't factor in. I also bet the champagne was flowing when Discovery folded up shop. I also think its a crock that a rider is ineligible if there is suspicion that they may have doped. That should be reason alone for the riders to get together and organize to protect their jobs. One nice thing about rants it their lack of flow. I am definately not a big union supporter, but it seems pretty clear that the riders that get screwed by the lack of any process would want to raly their mates to say "guys, this can happen to you too, we need to protect ourselves." That is unless they are all a bunch of cheating dopers. Regardless, I think the appeal of the sport is suffereing, not from the doping scandals so much as the fact that the stars of the sport are being excluded from the biggest stages. When a race can just not invite a team that has a load of world class riders including the most recent winner as well as another person that was on the podium, when all that remains from the team the year before is the corporate name seems ludicrious. More of the "I'm taking my ball and going home" mentality on display. Not by the UCI, but the ASO. Why is the ASO in charge of anything? Why dont the riders & teams say we're doing our own thing and tell the ASO to go run your race without us. It would seem that with some good leadership that the respective teams could get together and organize a race series that is run by a group with the goal of promoting the sport and its riders and allowing everyone to make a good return on their investment.

JJ