BREAKING NEWS: ASTANA & HIGH ROAD BANNED FROM GIRO !!!!

Crankyfeet

So what's the story for why Credit Agricole and Bouygues Telecom were left out?

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Crankyfeet

No I think "anti-doping" should be perhaps replaced by "anti-testing positive". Gotta give them some credit.

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Bro Deal

What about Acqua Sapone? Garzelli won stages last year and he is a former winner.

Maybe after dissing Cantadore' team, RCS did not want to upset the Spanish more by not inviting Euskatel; so a French team got the chop. Maybe the French teams told the RCS they did not want to ride the Giro.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Bro Deal

One thing that may have hurt High Road is that Aldag dissed the Giro by saying that if they sent Rogers and Gerdemann then they might not finish. The team's objective is the Tour and the Giro's mountains were too hard.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Crankyfeet

Yeah..It's hard to know what goes on behind the scenes. It makes sense that RCS would find out first if teams were going to accept the invitation before sending them out. But Team High Road wouldn't appreciate speculation that they weren't invited for doping reasons... if it wasn't the case.

Your Aldag-dissing-the-Giro seems the most plausible explanation. These promoters are forced to wield the only power of retaliation and influence that they have really... which is the invite list.

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earth_dweller

From what I've read, CA is extremely disappointed about this. No much out of Bouygues, so they probably are happy not to go.

Still very surprised by Aqua & Sappone - wonder what happened there.

I don't think this had anything to do with doping, come on DiLuca is still going. RCS is just taking care of 'old' hurts now that they have the power back from the UCI.

Frigo's Luggage

World War II.

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Crankyfeet

Well it seems like it was shock news to Credit Agricole.

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cyclingheroes

Correct.

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thunder

but LPR, the new Ceramiche Panaria whatever their name and godawful jersey, Selle Italia new name, all those teams, Barloworld... Tinkoff

Why invite them. Come on, its a big joke. They just wanted to invite the domestic teams.

Someone at Aqua Sapone must have pissed off the Giro organisers. Or Garzelli badmouthed them.

Crankyfeet

Or he tried to bang Zomegnan's daughter who was a podium girl.

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Scotttri

It's a tuff call, I mean these riders should be inocent until proven otherwise, however there is a large cloud over some of these riders and there teams, maybe they should be banned from the larger races. There needs to be a major clean up in the sport otherwise the sport will decline. People say it's unfair for sponsors, well I think some of these sponsors should and have the inside information to choose weather to take this risk. The sport can never be 100% clean as science in medicine and controls is reactive rather than proactive ( how can you create a test for a drug that does not yet exist ). Maybe freeze everyones dna to use in further tests ( I know they do this) should be done at all times. A drug free sport would be great and I do believe some are innocent, but perhaps is never possible. But there is a great room for improvement.

Riders with half a brain would never sign a contract with a team under suspicion, no matter how lucrative a deal ( not if they cared about the sport ). If these teams are banned from the tdf maybe we might see a fairer race. And a more deserved winner!!!!

classic1

I blame the international zionist jewish conspiracy for Astanas exclusion.

thunder

Levi?