More angst from the Tour

This morning's Jackass Award: So Iban Mayo's great comeback to the Tour was explained yesterday afternoon... by using a substance for which there has been a reliable test since 1999.

But it seems that Meat has been stirring things up continuously. Aided and abetted by Werner Franke, Germany's anti-doping expert, they are re-hashing whether Alberto Contador is the 'A.C.' named in the Operacion Puerto documents. It seems that Jörg Jacksche is now trying to reap as much as he can, or wreak as much as he can, from his own complicity in said fiasco: "His motive is partly to soothe his conscience but also to strike a deal with Pound, and it is this revelation which may cause problems for Contador."

Trust but Verify has a nice little reminder about Werner Franke (who seems to look eerily like Brian Cox's evil double-agent from the Bourne Supremacy).

The UCI cleared Contador to race the Tour after it concurred with Dr. Fuentes's statements that Contador (and Vicente Ballester) were riders who had been spuriously named, and for whom there was no proof of contact with the good gynecologist.

Again, my stake in this is simply to say that one can't whine -- "It may be called the Tour de France, but until the credibility of the race can be restored, it's not the Tour de France." -- and then make a career out of undermining that same glorious race in its 11th, 12th, and 13th hours.

From the Archives: wait till Meat reads the Regal Vizsla and discovers this piece of conclusive evidence from June 2006 that this year's race is even more doomed.

"German press agency dpa has reported that Gerolsteiner team manager Hans-Michael Holczer had confirmed information according to which his Tour de France leader, American Levi Leipheimer, had possible contacts with controversial preparatore Michele Ferrari. At the start of stage five in Beauvais, Holczer admitted that Leipheimer had stayed in the same hotel during a training camp on Spanish island Tenerife last year. "But he assured me once again that he isn't working with the Italian," said Holczer.""

Breaking News: Oscar Pereiro and Manolo Saiz may have ordered pizza from the same restaurant in the same year. Perhaps the media should be informed.