THE LEVI LEIPHEIMER ISSUE
It's always been the riders in the Tour de France who were considered likely to show bad sportsmanship. Riders were caught cheating with drugs, knocking other riders down, cheating by adding extra red blood cells via blood doping. No one seems to have thought that race organizers could also show bad sportsmanship.
But the growing roar in---and outside---the cycling world is directed against the organizers of the Tour de France and the director of the famed race; Christian Prudhomme. Prudhomme is, if not instigating, at least compliant in a petty power struggle between one top cycling team and ASO, which owns the Tour. ASO is Amaury Sport Organization, France's athletic monolith corporation that owns 33 major European races.
On Feb. 13, ASO announced that the Astana team would be banned from the Tour de France and all other ASO-owned races. That essentially ends the careers of last year's Tour winner, Alberto Contador, and this year's favorite, American rider Levi Leipheimer.
ASO's stated reason for the ban is that the Astana team "damaged" the Tour with its doping problems. Astana had to withdraw from the Tour last year because the lead rider tested positive for blood doping, plus Astana could not start in 2006 because five of its riders were banned after being linked to an international blood doping scandal.
But Astana is a different team this year. It has all new riders, a new manager, even a new sponsor. The only thing that hasn't changed is the team name. In addition, other established cycling teams that have also had major doping problems, have not been banned.
With Contador, last year's Tour winner, and Leipheimer, who was third, both removed from European competition, ASO is showing that it has an absolute hold on the sport of cycling; and total control over every athlete, even if that athlete has never tested positive for drugs or committed any other illegal act. It's a stunning demonstration of power; and if ASO gets away with it, the company, which has 4,000 employees, is in a position to challenge even the International Olympic Committee. It would become the most powerful sports organization in the world, without the diplomacy and non-profit base from which the Olympics operates.
Many think that the ban is less about doping than about a power stuggle between ASO and Union Cycliste Internationale, Europe's professional cycling union which acts like a governing body for the sport. Others believe ASO is taking out its personal pique on Astana's new manager, Johan Bruyneel, who was Lance Armstrong's coach during his seven wins of the Tour.
Whatever the real reason for banning Astana, one rider is starting to fight back. Levi Leipheimer just won the Tour of California, and the mild-mannered Utahn has now started a web site called "letleviride.com." It is a petition site, asking people to sign with their email address to allow Leipheimer to ride in this year's Tour and other ASO races. The introductory paragraph says:
"Why should Astana be singled out? It is completely unjust. It is a collective punishment on riders who have absolutely no involvement in the Astana team of 2006 and the problems of 2006 and 2007. These riders are new to the team, there is a new management, and they have done everything in their power to put the right systems in place to ensure that the team is 100% correct.”
In the two days since the site was launched, though it has had little publicity, nearly 42,000 people have signed. If you want to have your voice heard, go to letleviride.com.
The signatures will be given to Prudhomme. It's the people's opportunity to have some input into a frequently disgraced race, and to show ASO that the world is now watching the owners as much as the riders.