Paris: While the sports world comes to terms with the Lance Armstrong doping scandal, Tour de France organisers unveiled a mountainous, prestigious route for the 100th edition of the world's greatest cycling race on Wednesday. The 2013 Tour, which will start from Corsica, will take l'Alpe d'Huez's 21 hairpins twice in the same stage, go up the gruelling Mont Ventoux and end at dusk on the Champs Elysees.
But with nine of the last 14 title wins wiped out due to doping, it remains to be seen whether this year's race will have any credibility. Seven of those titles belonged to Armstrong, who was stripped of his 1999-2005 victories when the International Cycling Union (UCI) ratified the USADA's decision to nullify the American's results from August 1998 onward. According to Tour director Christian Prudhomme, however, cycling is changing. "A movement has started a few years ago and it must go on. Everybody must work on it," Prudhomme told reporters before Wednesday's ceremony.
"You cannot say that (anti-doping) tests don't work. I remind you that we lost two winners in five years recently (over doping)," he added, referring to Floyd Landis and Alberto Contador being stripped of their 2006 and 2010 victories after failing dope tests during the race. Prudhomme said the day belonged to the magic of the Tour. "Today is the Tour de France presentation ceremony," he said.
Next year's route is expected to suit top climbers with Spain's Contador and Briton Chris Froome the likely
04:22 PM, Oct 24, 2012
August 25, 2012, was a black day in cycling history when the legendary Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and handed a life ban from the game. The cycling world was mortified the moment the inspirational motivator and iconic Armstrong was tagged as a dope taint. The record seven-time Tour de France winner was banned from the sport for life after refusing to defend drug...
11:47 PM, Aug 27, 2012
New Delhi: Zaheer Khan an iffy starter, Praveen Kumar out, Munaf Patel nowhere in sight and Ishant Sharma yet to hit the straps in his comeback. Reading that, the hard task of beating Australia in Australia seems even harder. The 'blunt chest' of Praveen Kumar turned into a fractured rib, which also dampened India's aspirations of winning a Test series in Australia. What that also means is that their suitcase...
03:15 AM, Mar 26, 2008
Port Elizabeth: Disappointed after losing to Victoria Bushrangers via the Super Over, Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Saturday said that a good opening partnership played crucial role for the Australian side in the Champions League Twenty20 match here. The opening in batting went perfect for Victoria. They played well, but at the end of the day it is disappointing to lose such a close match, Dhoni said...
08:48 PM, Oct 16, 2007
