Just listening to Daniel Lloyd talking on Eurosport,­ and he was saying how Cervelo pick riders to support­ Sastre and get him to as many stage wins as possible,­ however they also have a sprinter who is supported for­ the sprint finishes. Seems like it's just the way­ it is these days. I do believe everyone should finish a­ tour but it seems each jersey and each stage has­ it's specialists, so it's not just about the­ yellow. Cav did say he really wants to finish the tour­ this year so perhaps he is working on his overall­ fitness & stamina.

Re Liz: that was me replying below, my girlfriend­ forgot to sign out.

Re Liz: Farrar finished 77 +1'42", Hushovd­ finished 120 +2'02", Freire finished 158­ +2'27" Cavendish finished 3'14"­ behind and it was just a 15 km stage. I know I­ highlight Cavendish but he is the best known sprinter.­ I just don't like the way these guys have already­ decided that they are not going to compete and probably­ will not even finish the TDF before it even starts.

Yeah At least Cippolini finished races winning the­ points jersey on many occaisions. But how many TTs did­ he win? Il Bello dressed to kill in his TT suits, but­ never actually contested them, especially if there was­ a flat stage the next day.

Just out of interest, markear1 (and I am just asking),­ where did the other sprinters come like Feire, Benati­ etc?

I see Mr Cavendish once again highlighted my reasons­ for disliking his kind. He did not even try yesterday,­ he finished 177 out of 180. He probably will win a few­ stages but I will not applaud him. The only people who­ will be happy are the marketing men.

Long post: scroll up or down if you don't like it.­ Re (16) Tennis? tennis has one of the toughest testing­ regulations. Players rightly complain of the­ "localisation law" whereby, in a sport where­ you can be in Auckland one day and Madrid the next, and­ so on week after week for the whole year, but what day­ you travel or where to (home for a couple of days to­ see Mummy, Andy?)depends on whether you win or lose 1st­ round or make it through to the weekend, where jet-lag­ is just another condition "the same for­ everyone" and sleep schedules are one of the major­ problems, the Vampires, if they didn't find you­ last week where you said you would be (but who can­ know?), knock on your hotel door at 6 in the morning to­ get their samples, possibley asuring you go out on­ court feeling like a cold sausage. Many players have­ taken 2-year bans, the latest high-profile test fail­ belonging to French star Richard Gasquet. Why don't­ fans stop watching Roland Garros? Well, for one thing­ tennis is skill-based so physical prowess counts for­ less. Doping can't give you a divine dipping­ backhand, no matter what you do or take, so it has less­ incidence on the final result than in cycling or­ athletics, where it is determinant. Then, most people­ think most players are clean. Nobody seriously thinks­ Federer, Agassi, Sampras etc. dope. It's another­ story when talking about Nadal. Because his game is so­ physical, a lot of "fans" can't believe­ you can play tennis the way he does without help. In­ all the blogs you'll find veiled accusations:­ veiled because he's been tested regularly and of­ course never the shadow of a doubt. Yes, in cycling­ dope like EPO can be the difference between riches,­ fame and glory and the desperate anonimity of the­ middle of the pack. In tennis it can only keep you on­ your feet in the fifth set. But it's your tennis­ skills, self-belief and attitude that have the final­ say. Since the benefits are marginal, dop

@CarlitoTevez... if all it took was to put a needle in­ your arm we would have 100 000 000 people lining up to­ win... takes a lot more then drugs to put you at the­ top of the best of the world... tranning, training, and­ more trainning... a buck is a buck, in every pro sport,­ cycling is just doing something about it....who are­ you?? never heard of you... i am sure there is a reason­ for that...try another forum!!

Re: answer 13 from keir_williams - absolutely right!­ Can you imagine what would happen if they started­ testing in tennis?!? And look what has happened in­ American baseball since they started taking testing­ seriously. But it is also the fault of the fans and the­ TV networks - they want guys to be able to do 200 km­ over mountains today and then do it again tomorrow and­ then turn in blistering TT speeds the day after. TV­ doesn't want to see guys pushing their bikes up­ l'Alpe like Octave Lapize over the Tourmalet in­ 1910.

I remember Fabian with his cousin Marco Impelliteri­ they used ride together to school one had a Bianchi the­ other had a Legnano they both lived near Locarno!!

Regarding my Question #9

Thanks for your answers guys.­ As I've said it is a simple question and answers­ will be interesting. Cheers.

I also find it­ interesting how one gets so many­ "thumbs-down" for asking a valid question­ right? I wasn't being nasty.. simply asking for a­ different point of view.

Thanks anyway. All points­ well taken

@CarlitoTevez - Unfortunately the sport with the­ strickest, hardest drugs tests catches the most cheats.­ If other sports put similar programmes in place they­ would catch their own cheats and have similar negative­ headlines. But why would they want to do that?

One­ day, maybe, the governing bodies of football, baseball,­ athletics etc will be forced to catch up and implement­ similar testing programmes and technology as used by­ the UCI.

Until then, I hope you enjoy watching your­ favourite sports stars and wonder at all their amazing­ achievements.

YEAHHHHHHHHHH........Bravo Cancellara !!!!!!!!!!!!!Come­ on Team Saxo Bank!!!!!!!!

Here is your answer CarlitoTevez. First cycling is­ considered to be one of the toughest sports. In the­ past cycling was all doping like athletics for example.­ In this 2 sports doping gives a massive advantage to­ the sportsman. In recent years the UCI spent a lot of­ money to try to make the sport clean - tousends of­ dopping test in dividual passports etc. Many were­ caught which ruined the image of cycling. However the­ efforts UCI has made could make the sport cleaner so­ there is no risk 4 the cycler's health and we could­ have a clean and fair race

Rememer the 80's and 90's? How many times did­ we hear "if only he could time trial" about­ the great climbers?

A decade on, and it's no­ coincidence that the only out-and-out climber ever to­ learn to time trial was caught up in OP, and comes from­ a bldingingly, crashingly, obviously­ doped-to-the-eyeballs team really, is it.

That's­ not to say the 80's and 90's were clean,­ obviously, just that the drugs are better now than­ then.

@CarlitoTevez - there were plenty of­ footballers in the OP docs too. The reason they­ don't get banned is nobody in their sport cares. ­ So yeah, lets cut back on drug testing, like every­ other sport.

I wonder if Lance Armstrong was assisted by­ 'mother's little helpers'?

If Wiggins would be racing for Columbia he would have­ won with their Aura.

This should settle the question of who is top dog at­ Chez Astana. But will it?