I was really disappointed when I found out that the Astana Pro Cycling team was barred from entering this year’s Tour De France for two reasons. 1. Two of my favorite riders who are both former Discovery Channel team members, last year’s tour winner Alberto Contador and final time trial winner Levi Leipheimer, will not be riding. 2. Trek Bicycle Company, the leading American bicycle technology innovator and a dominant presence in the tour for the last decade, will also be missing.
For those of you who are not in the know about cycling history, this current Astana team has deep roots running as far back as Team Motorola and the mighty U.S. Postal lead by Lance Armstrong with Johan Bruyneel directing. When Discovery Channel lost its key sponsor in 2007, the heartbreaking news that the team would be disbanding was softened by Johan’s decision to assume the reins of control for Astana. His decision brought to the floundering Astana the mechanism that formed the foundation of the string of yellow success for U.S. Postal as well as the technological know how of Trek. Not to mention the willing discipleship of Johan’s school of racing in Levi and Alberto.
However the excitement all this movement instigated could not hide Astana’s chalky past with the memory of former rider Alexander Vinokourov’s failure of anti-doping testing in last years tumultuous tour. The 2008 tour’s governing body appears to be holding up their ruling that Astana not be allowed to attend even though other teams that have had similar problems are riding. This has been interpreted by many to be outright snobbery of the American managed team, and the loophole the tour organizers have been waiting to use to exclude what they consider to be an annoyance in the sport.
However the excitement all this movement instigated could not hide Astana’s chalky past with the memory of former rider Alexander Vinokourov’s failure of anti-doping testing in last years tumultuous tour. The 2008 tour’s governing body appears to be holding up their ruling that Astana not be allowed to attend even though other teams that have had similar problems are riding. This has been interpreted by many to be outright snobbery of the American managed team, and the loophole the tour organizers have been waiting to use to exclude what they consider to be an annoyance in the sport.
Astana seems to be handling the news well with a possible good reason. Being excluded from the tour gives the team one full year to train and master cohesion. The team has already demonstrated its ability to win races such as Levi’ s victory in the Tour of California. Inadvertantly the tour’s organizers may have given the team motivation to comeback with authority in 2009.
Pictures provided by Trek and Team Astana.
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