WHOA: I see from VeloNews that Michael Rasmussen has been fired from the Rabobank Tour de France team. 'Huge' is the word here; they're now down two teams and the guy who was in the lead. This is bigger than 1998; bigger than the Operacion Puerto scandal last year that knocked out a number of well-regarded riders from the late 90s-early 00s. I like Alberto Contador as much as the next person (who's heard of him), and it would've been good to see him win this year entirely of his own merits (since cycling is desperately in need of an Albert Pujols-equivalent: a guy who can excel even though it's clear he hasn't used any PEDs), but this is just really awful. If next year's race is much, much smaller, I wouldn't be surprised.
UPDATE: Chris reminds me in the comments that Contador was caught up in Operacion Puerto, but was cleared. That makes him a somewhat more complicated figure, but I don't know if that's necessarily a bad thing (David Millar appears to have redeemed himself after his two year suspension for doping, so second chances and all that).
"Thou shalt not extinguish thine anger, but shall master it,
that thy conscience may not be blunted by adjustment
to wrong causes."
-The Dutch Ten Commandments to Foil the Nazis
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