What if they gave an NCAA basketball tournament and didn’t invite
Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, UNC, Syracuse or UCLA? That’s what the Tour de France
could be like this year if the worst happens. T-Mobile has already
kicked Jan Ullrich and teammate Oscar Sevilla from its Tour squad in a doping scandal, and other big names have been implicated.
Spanish station Cadena SER said the Civil Guard
decoded the names from notes taken by Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes. Other
names included Italian rider Ivan Basso, American Tyler Hamilton,
Spaniards Francisco Mancebo, Joseba Beloki, Roberto Heras, Santi Perez,
Jose Enrique Gutierrez and Colombian Santiago Botero, the station
reported. It wasn’t immediately clear what Fuentes’ relationship was
with the cyclists.
Basso, winner of the Giro d’Italia this year, and Ullrich, winner of the Tour de Suisse, were favored to win it all. If those other riders are dropped, the tour will be a race of also-rans this year. It starts tomorrow, by the way.
