2008 Tour de France : Stage 3 Saint-Malo - Nantes 195 km Monday, July 7

Crankyfeet

ASO/French Federation feeding the French teams inside dope control info or protection... to give them confidence... instead of the UCI feeding Disco?...

Probably not... but the coincidence of a change in control of the doping tests is there.

Cranky's probability of serious doping positive/scandal in this race = zero.

"Let's take back the Tour".... a good marketing campaign when you know that it's going to be a "clean" race.

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Powerful Pete

Come on, you have to take into account that this is the prime race, French riders racing for French teams need to get in the breaks for the advertising time. That is at least part of it... let us not go searching for conspiracy theories everywhere.

We have, after all, enough trouble in pro cycling as it is...

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Crankyfeet

Theories are only theories. People can scoff at them or think about them.

I don't think French riders are getting any preferential treatment. And I don't think there is any corruption going on in the labs.

But I do think that the ASO would rather just inform a team that they won't be invited next year if a rider tests positive... rather than have a scandal all over the front pages of the newspaper. Especially after the last two years. I don't know if this is possible though given the procedural set-up if a rider tests positive.

In any case. I predict that there will be little to no dope positives this race. I could be way off. But it would surprise me.

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thoughtforfood

Maybe they finally "believe in miracles." If it werent for Lance, their tiny little race wouldn't be getting any airtime anyway.......Or maybe it is a cleaner race. Frischkorn rides for a team with a serious commitment to testing...hmm, AND a break stays away on a stage that would have ended in a bunch sprint in the past few years. I think, like the Giro, we are seeing some simblance of clean riding.

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Crankyfeet

What does that prove? The peloton are on less dope than the guys in the break? Or that now that there is less doping... the peloton will need to keep the break gaps closer?

I think it might have something to do with the sprinting teams. Without Boonen, QS seem to be less confident busting their gut for Steegmans (probably has something to do with him leaving for another team and the fact that they have a GC contender for the first time in Devolder), the Columbia team have three guys racing against each other, CA have never in the past done much peloton leading on behalf of Thor (correct me if I'm wrong), McEwen is a lone wolf, can't remember Barloworld giving Hunter heaps of support, okay Milram and Zabel, Pozzato's not really a pure sprinter, and Rabo are distracted by Menchov.

Also the sprint teams were probably a little tired after two hard days thrashing around with crosswinds and rain.

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TheDarkLord

Today, the teams just sat on their butts a bit too long before waking up and starting a serious chase. If you let the gap expand to almost 15 min, then it is gonna make things difficult, especially considering that the crosswind was almost a tailwind near the end stages.

thoughtforfood

I agree with you and Cranky both, but I also think the days of having a team capable of bringing a gap like that are drawing to a close. I am just hoping I guess. However, look back at the Giro, we saw the same kind of thing. I think there is something to the idea that doping allowed teams to do what they now cannot, and they have yet to adjust. Just a theory though.

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thebluetrain

Ummm.... I seem to remember Voeckler and Chavanel having their moments of glory the last couple of years but where did they end up at end of the race. Its way to early to start licking their nuts now.

Grater

I think it's got to do with no teams wanting to chase down and doping. The riders in the peloton looked knackered and they let the break go too long. If we want to see bunch finishes, breakaways now can't get past 8 minutes or it's going to be too hard to peg back - particularly if there is no team concentrating on the sprint.

Crankyfeet

McEwen must have read my post and then plagiarised it in a CN interview...

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/200...jul08/jul08news

You can sense his frustration. He is feeling strong... but he's totally at the mercy of other teams doing the work for him. He had obviously been building up for that stage since weeks ago... and if he'd had just 5 guys working for him... he may have been able to kick the peloton in the arse much earlier.

McEwen will want to get a stage win before the mountains begin.

Also... if Hushovd (CA) and/or Columbia thought that McEwen was targetting that stage and had the legs for it comparitively after Thor had busted himself the day before... it might have been in their interest... green jersey wise... to limit McEwen to 5th place max... instead of him possibly picking up 35 points.



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poulidor

My two cents...
Probably the peloton is cleaner than precedent years, and the refuelling would be risky in France, so teams can not be chasing so hard.
Probably "pro cycling" is consciensous that a french victory is good for them: that would say that cyling is better, ... and avoid some questions, so they could have leaft that battle
We are at the begining of the tour and the french have still strengths but what will be their states in the second or last week? Are they challenging GC, or a jerzey ? I doubt.
After that ITT we will know more and we can draw a better conclusion.

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Rolfrae

Did you read Dumoulin's comment on this at the press conference? He said: "We're no longer less good than the others, but now we know why that is." And he doesn't mean to say it's becuase the French have started training again.

classic1

Sammie is wrong. They are still crap, just not as crap as before.

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Rolfrae

It's not a yellow jersey he's going to wear to Paris and it was a break, not a stage win head to head against the likes of Valv Piti, but it's a start.