ALEXANDRE VINOKOUROV ACCUSED OF DOPING
Miracle man Vinokourov tested positive for blood doping and was kicked out of the Tour de France Tuesday. Police raided the hotel of his team, Astana. The team has quit the race.
"Vino," the 33-year-old Kazakhstan rider's nickname, seemed to make a miraculous recovery after a hard crashing fall earlier in the race. It left him with cuts so bad that his knees had to be stitched up. Most experts expected him to drop out. Instead, Vino came back to win two stages and the time trial. He was starting to be called "miracle man."
But after his stage win Saturday, July 21, a routine blood sample was drawn. Two different types of red blood cells were found in Vino's blood; his own and cells from an as-of-yet unnamed donor.
When news of the positive test was released, the uproar was stunning. A squad of more than two dozen French police quickly went to the hotel where the Astana team was staying and began searching rider's rooms, preventing them from leaving before the search was finished. The team resigned as a group from the race. The team manager sent Vino back home to Kazakhstan.
Vinokourov claimed his positive came from changes in his blood because of his serious crash earlier in the tour. He denied having used donor blood. Such transfusions, called 'blood doping,' give an athlete extra power from the increased oxygen of the added red blood cells.
Vino's B sample, a second sample of blood, will be tested later this week. The Tour de France ends Sunday when riders reach Paris.
One can only yearn for a cheater who comes right out and says, "Yeah, I did it and I'm sorry."