By Julien Pretot
PARIS, July 29 - The Tour de France reached the
Champs-Elysees in a hopeful mood on Sunday after once again
being shaken by doping scandals.
Organisers were confident they had scored points in the
fight against the sport's blight with leading figures Alexander
Vinokourov and Michael Rasmussen sent packing over doping
affairs.
"It is a war and as in any war, there is collateral damage,"
said Patrice Clerc, president of race organisers Amaury Sports
Organisation (ASO).
Pre-race favourite Vinokourov tested positive for blood
doping following his victory in the Albi time trial and his
Astana team were invited by ASO to pull out of the race.
Rasmussen was sacked by Rabobank, who said he had lied about
his training whereabouts -- an allegation the Dane denies --
triggering a war of words between ASO and the International
Cycling Union (UCI).
The UCI gave Rasmussen two recorded warnings for failing to
provide his personal schedule and under its own rules, the Dane
should not have started the Tour.
SELECT TEAMS
ASO, who have always refused to be part of the UCI Pro-Tour,
announced they would select the teams for next year's race not
only on performance but also on ethical grounds.
"I don't care if we start the Tour with only 10 teams," said
Clerc, who added on Saturday UCI senior officials should resign.
ASO have repeatedly accused the sport's ruling body of
trying to harm their premier race, an accusation UCI president
Pat McQuaid denies.
The Rasmussen affair was the climax of the Tour's crisis.
The day the Dane was sacked by Rabobank, it was revealed Italian
Cristian Moreni had tested positive for testosterone, prompting
his Cofidis team to leave the race.
Booed and jeered on his way to victory at the Col
d'Aubisque, then overall leader Rasmussen was under a cloud of
suspicion.
But it was not the Tour that was being booed. The riders
from six French and two German teams protested against doping
before the start of the stage from Orthez to the Col d'Aubisque
and were applauded the fans.
"Ten years ago, the riders were protesting against the
doping tests. Today, they protest against doping," said Tour
director Christian Prudhomme in a reference to the Festina
affair that broke in 1998.
Even though doping has been the main topic of this year's
race, fans flocked along the roads and sat in front of their
television sets.
'SOCIAL LINK'
When German TV channels ARD and ZDF decided to end their
race coverage following the announcement of T-Mobile's Patrik
Sinkewitz's positive test during a June training camp, Pro
Sieben and Sat 1 promptly stepped in to replace them.
"There is a social link between the Tour and the fans and
this link will not be destroyed," said Prudhomme, who has the
support of the French political authorities.
"The Tour de France is the event where you have the most
drugs tests and some other sports should take example from
them," Health and Sports minister Roselyne Bachelot said.
Only urine tests were conducted during football's World Cup
in Germany last year.
"If you don't look for anything, you won't find anything,"
said Prudhomme. "I want to tell the cheats that they are playing
Russian roulette.
"Our sport is going through a major crisis. It will not see
the end of the tunnel without the Tour de France. If we stop the
fight, cycling could die."
The burden of representing the sport is now on Spaniard
Alberto Contador, who won this year's Tour for the Discovery
Channel team, the team with whom seven-times champion Lance
Armstrong ended his career.