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Tuesday, July 24, 2007
LE TOUR DE FRANCE OBTAINS THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE ASTANA TEAM
Another sad chapter in the Tour De France history.
The organisers of the Tour de France have been informed by Marc Biver, the manager of the Astana team, about the positive test of Alexandre Vinokourov on the day of the time trial stage in Albi. At the request of Patrice Clerc, President of A.S.O., the Astana team has agreed to leave the 2007 Tour de France:
Christian Prudhomme, the Director of the Tour de France, and Patrice Clerc, wanted to reaffirm in Pau their stance in the fight against doping and to assure the public of their determination to insist with the battle. “The start in London was a formidable occasion to re-conquer. It has failed. The riders have to understand that they are playing a game of Russian roulette if they are doping. They have to realize that we will never give up the war against doping in which we are involved. Doping ruins our childhood dreams. Vinokourov has cheated and the only possible answer was: leave! It’s an absolute failure of the system. It has to change now. The re-conquering of cycling has to be done with the Tour de France. I started this job believing that we could change this system but it’s not enough: there has to be a revolution!”
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