BREAKING NEWS: ASTANA & HIGH ROAD BANNED FROM GIRO !!!!

Crankyfeet

Good point TDL. And apologies to the OP for inadvertently almost hijacking it with that question on the other teams (which I can't remember making...).

Casa - start your own thread on the other teams.

Andrija

You're right.
But the sponsors are most interested in GTs... I think sponsors want to be sure they'll be present in GTs.
There sure is enough good and attractive races besides GTs, but I don't think sponsors treat them that way (because they know widest cycling audience, also, concentrates on GTs). And that's the problem... UCI has to keep the sponsors ('cause of solvency of sport they represent), so they need to put pressure on GTs.
GTs (and their organizer) are aware of the fact they'll survive and make money even if they're not part of the ProTour and they're playing their game (of independence from ProTour).
Good example is ASO, as I remember, they'll invite just the teams they want for their races, which are those attractive races we're talking about, besides GTs.

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Casa

Darklord, thanks for proving my point for me, this forum is so obsessed with hate that a big story is only allowed to have discussion about the obsession and none other.

I am tempted to quote a post by Thunder, but Lim insists posts like that don't exist.

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bobke

By this logic, that they GTs are excluding teams with very recent doping issues and that brought discredit to the race, which is a legal term that the TdF insists they can exclude whomever they want based on that, then certainly

RABOBANK SHOULD BE EXCLUDED.

hypocrites

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Bro Deal

Talking about hypocrites. Here we have Hombre/bobke, who rails against Rabobank but has never been able to man up about Armstrong and Disco. Come on, dude, you know you want to do it: Show a little intellectual integrity and admit that you were wrong.

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Crankyfeet

Or just integrity... if that's easier...

Frigo's Luggage

Astana and Robabank should be excluded. Mercatone Uno as well.

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Crankyfeet

Heck..why stop there? Cofidis, Caisse, Liquigas, Saunier Duval-Scott, to name just a few more that have been associated with dopers.

Bro Deal

I don't expect integrity from Hombre/bobke. I would like to see some consistency in his arguments. He's spent more than a year and a half bitching about Rabobank and tooting his own horn about it on DP, but he is unwilling to apply the same logic to Armstrong and Disco.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Frigo's Luggage

If I were ASO, I wouldn't invite them either. In fact, this year I wouldn't invite a full field just to send a message. I know it damages relations with sponsors. But ASO should be going to the sponsors and telling them that if they want entry into the Tour they should make sure they know who is running the team and that they follow the rules.

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poulidor

It's not possible to invite only teams with a clean past, that doesn't exist. It's no possible to sanction a team for a fault, there is a difference between a pickpocket and a criminal, so the dirtiest teams and the teams which refuse to change will stay at home.
I think it would be good to put more pressure on Spaniard.

thoughtforfood

The reality is that if you want no doping at all, you would probably have to start the race with riders whose bikes have training wheels. Even then, some asshole dad like me would juice his kid up with a Red Bull or something. Imagine the stages though. I am sure you could find huge parking lot that has hills and flats. The advertising caravan could be RC cars. I'll bet you could generate quite a bit of interest in a race like that.

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Leafer

With re: to Rabo vs Astana,

Rabobank responded by pulling the rider (Rasmussen) that was suspected of doping (Rasmussen) from the Tour - while wearing yellow - and then dropped him from the team, then De Rooy resigned from the team. Did we see the same from Bruyneel with his rider (Contador) suspected of doping? Uh, that would be no.

Rabo management responded to allegations by trying to do the right thing. Bruyneel did not. Why, then, should race organizers feel any obligation to treat their respective teams in the same way?

limerickman

It's called xenophobia.

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morelike hypocrisy.