They Tried to Make ‘Em Go to Rehab…
Friday, July 18th, 2008 by Andrew Braithwaite | Comment »
PARIS—It’s not fair. I followed the rules. So why am I the one who feels cheated?
Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme, at the outset of this year’s race, was doing and saying all the right things to convince the casual sports fan that this was the year that the Tour would break free of the doping scandals that have diminished its reputation over the past ten years.
And then, the Italian star-in-the-making Riccardo Ricco, winner of two stages, holder of the Tour’s polka dot jersey (top-ranked climber) and white jersey (top-ranked rider under 25), a popular rider with a decent chance of finding himself on the podium next weekend in Paris, flunked a drug test. He was later charged by the French gendarmerie with possession of a controlled substance.
And so here we go again. Guess we know why Ricco was so fast in the Pyrenees. (more…)
