Tour de France

Alberto Contador of the Discovery Team won the Tour de France Sunday.

OK, get the doping jokes out of the way. I, too, was disappointed by Rasmussen having to be pulled out for not telling his team where he was during drug testing (Italy? No, Mexico. Really. Party in Tijuana) and Vinokurov (whose name I have butchered here) having a blood transfusion after that great ride when he had stitches in his knee.

As I tell my coworkers, I'm glad these guys were pulled out. It shows some attempt by the authorities to get the cheaters out of the race. I'm sure there will be more controversies for this race since the 2006 yellow jersey still isn't settled.

Anyway, I like watching the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia and the races in Switzerland, the Netherlands and Georgia (U.S., that is) because of two main reasons:

No. 1: These guys are great athletes. Have you ever sat on a bicycle for 100-plus miles? Or how about just 50 miles? And for a week or two in a row? The riders are working all the time, unlike baseball, football, basketball and hockey, there are no breaks, no time outs or "half times" to rest in a day's race. They are pushing for three, four or more hours through rain, snow, 90-plus degree heat, winds and scorching sun (Sometimes in teh same day!). These guys are athletes, not entertainers.

No 2: Strategy and tactics. This type of road cycling takes an overall strategy (do I bank on time trials? The mountain stages? Sprints?) and an eye for seizing the moment (do I break away? Pass my competitor? Lay low and avoid a crash?).

What about the cheating? I call it bad, but ask Barry Bonds about cheating. Ask Sammy Sosa (funny how his home run numbers have dropped after the steroid talk) and Mark Maguire (Congress who?). Ask the football players why they don't submit themselves to random drug screening like all cyclists do? Maybe an NBA referee will lend a hand in all this.

Thought: And Lance Armstrong? If he doped, then he's a genius because he masked it like no other. He's the most tested athlete in world history and he's passed every one of those tests. You go, Lance!