Race director Christian Prudhomme called Mr. Rasmussen's departure "probably the best thing that has happened in the last eight days," which is putting a remarkably brave face on things. So who's wearing the yellow jersey? At the moment, no one -- it will be awarded at the end of the latest stage.

In the Sydney Morning Herald, Rupert Guinness notes that Mr. Rasmussen was jeered by spectators on the way to the close of Wednesday's final mountain stage in the Pyrenees. That's the beginning of an exploration of the Tour's depressing history of doping controversies.

It's a long history, but one that seems to be crossing a Rubicon with this year's farcical race.

"When does the revolution begin?" asks George Vecsey in the New York Times. "When do the fans lining the highways in France take it personally that the magnificent men on their cycling machines have been systematically cheating for decades? When do sports fans everywhere start waving their wooden pitchforks and picking up paving stones and blocking the roads to these fakes? When do we hear the rolling of the tumbrels and the clatter of the symbolic guillotine?"

Soon and in all sports, I hope.

Race director Christian Prudhomme called Mr. Rasmussen's departure "probably the best thing that has happened in the last eight days," which is putting a remarkably brave face on things. So who's wearing the yellow jersey? At the moment, no one -- it will be awarded at the end of the latest stage.

In the Sydney Morning Herald, Rupert Guinness notes that Mr. Rasmussen was jeered by spectators on the way to the close of Wednesday's final mountain stage in the Pyrenees. That's the beginning of an exploration of the Tour's depressing history of doping controversies.

It's a long history, but one that seems to be crossing a Rubicon with this year's farcical race.

"When does the revolution begin?" asks George Vecsey in the New York Times. "When do the fans lining the highways in France take it personally that the magnificent men on their cycling machines have been systematically cheating for decades? When do sports fans everywhere start waving their wooden pitchforks and picking up paving stones and blocking the roads to these fakes? When do we hear the rolling of the tumbrels and the clatter of the symbolic guillotine?"

I have an answer for you, Vecsey. The same date when Americans stop attending football, baseball, basketball, and hockey games.

Figures all the pseudo-journalists hop on the anti-cycling bandwagon at the same time when an utter disgrace is about to break one of the most hallowed records in US sports history, Hank Aaron's HR record.

But yeah, let's blame cycling.

What a joke. At least cycling is trying to clean itself, not perjuring itself in front of Congress.

to someone (a non cyclist) who asked me (a cyclist) why there was so much drug scandal in cycling

my reply

"Because they test and test alot"

if the NBA, NHL, NFL and MLB tested like cycling we'd have no leagues

Here is a good quote from ESPN (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/070726&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos2):

"And before this Tour began, I wrote that despite cycling's many scandals in the past year, I still was excited for and eagerly awaiting the event. Just this Monday I wrote a couple paragraphs praising Vinokourov for the way he had fought on through injury.

I don't feel embarrassed about that any more than do people who eagerly anticipate a football season when they know that sport is dirty as well (one reason cyclists get caught so often is because they are tested so often).

Mostly, I feel depressed and saddened by the latest scandals. And worried that the Tour's very future is in jeopardy."

I think it says a lot in that his emotions were genuine when he was rooting for Vino and hoping for a good Tour.

I work with a guy (huge sports freak) who is absolutely convinced that doping is nowhere near as common in the popular American pro sports because, as he might put it 'they don't help you connect the bat with the baseball or catch a football' and 'cycling is all about strength and endurance where doping helps you the most.'

Personally, I think he needs to pull his head out of the sand. At the same time, I wonder how common that opinion is?

'cuz folks like to criticize that which they don't understand.

I have an answer for you, Vecsey. The same date when Americans stop attending football, baseball, basketball, and hockey games.

Figures all the pseudo-journalists hop on the anti-cycling bandwagon at the same time when an utter disgrace is about to break one of the most hallowed records in US sports history, Hank Aaron's HR record.

But yeah, let's blame cycling.

What a joke. At least cycling is trying to clean itself, not perjuring itself in front of Congress.

AMEN! sports in the USofA are a complete joke. testing is a joke. drugs and "athletes" are a joke. idk how 90% of baseball fans respect Bonds and think he should be a hall of famer. i thinnk hes a farse and that he has no place in any record books. hopefully cycling can dig its way out of this mess. we'll just have to wait and see.

Hey at least cycling is taking very drastic measures to clear itself up and strive to be more dope free in the future.

Cycling only gets stick because the athletes are the most tested amongst practically any sport, and comparable to maybe only soccer (European soccer. they test after each league match or something like that. that's a urine sample though and not a blood sample).

Blood testing - cycling wins hands down.

I have an answer for you, Vecsey. The same date when Americans stop attending football, baseball, basketball, and hockey games.Actually, the Times has been giving the Bonds scandal and the Vick scandal a lot of play. Here's what Vecsey wrote two weeks ago (http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F70B11F6385A0C7B8CDDAE0894DF404482):Bo nds and Armstrong have a lot in common: Both have admirably maintained their edge late into athletic old age; both have former associates who cannot stand them; both are the subject of books suggesting they used performance-enhancing drugs, which both deny.

But I react differently to them: Armstrong's seven Tours seemed compelling, while Bonds's approach to Aaron's record has seemed mostly sour, even though I regard him as a Hall of Fame athlete. Bonds was obnoxious as a slender young player and he's even more obnoxious as a hulk.

Armstrong is interesting, not just because of his iconic role as a cancer activist but because he is complicated, presenting himself as the most-tested athlete in the world. The difference between them springs from the culture and structure of their sports, setting up Armstrong's role as control-freak leader of the pack versus Bonds's role as solipsistic slugger.
See also, "For Bonds, Swings of Mood and Bats" (http://select.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/sports/baseball/29roberts.html) in today's Times His pendulum mood swings can be hypnotic. Back and forth Barry Bonds went Friday night after he moved to one home run behind Hank Aaron, swaying from edgy to indifferent, from introspective to terse, from clarity to confusion.

You feel yourself getting sleepy, very sleepy.

This is what Bonds does to people, even those close to him. He wears them down, leaves them spent. There is an attrition factor to Bonds’s inner circle of supporters that apparently includes the Giants’ owner, Peter Magowan. He remains devoted to his most lucrative ballpark draw but appeared almost fatigued when describing the drain Bonds’s record pursuit has put on the rest of the Giants.

“I think we’ll start winning more consistently once this is behind us,” Magowan said.

You put fender benders and bad dates behind you, but historic journeys?

Magowan longs for the end. The Giants crave closure. Neither occurred last night as Bonds finished 0 for 3 against the Marlins, refusing to even jog out two pop-ups.

The one Bonds confidant who could have expedited or terminated what has been a slow-drip plod toward the inevitable statistical sham is behind razor wire. Greg Anderson has been cut off from his A-list client, imprisoned across the San Francisco Bay in Dublin, Calif., since November for refusing to divulge for the feds the secret recipe behind Bonds’s body.
His loyalty is baseball’s loss. If Anderson had chosen to dish dirt instead of peeling prison potatoes, a grand jury would most likely have handed up an indictment against Bonds, allowing Commissioner Bud Selig at least an opportunity to keep Aaron’s record safe.
Also, the Times was all over the way the NFL wouldn't even allow the Falcons to suspend Vick for four games after his felony indictment. Today's times featured a piece in the Week in Review (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/weekinreview/29longman.html) comparing Vick, Bonds, and cycling and looking at the bigger problem of doping, whether in cycling or football, with history of doping in cycling, football, and other sports. Accusing the Times's sports writers of ignoring the scandals in other sports suggests that you haven't been paying attention to what they've been writing.