Stage 12: Montpellier - Castres

Today was another transition stage but the big news was Michael Rasmussen. The director of the Tour de France called a press conference this morning to discuss the situation. Apparently in 2006 Rasmussen "neglected" to send his itinerary of his whereabouts for the following 4 months to the doping control people. Cyclists now have to do that even during out-of-competition time so the doping controllers can drop in on them any time, anywhere. He was given a warning about that. Then once in May or early June and again near the end of June the doping police dropped in on Rasmussen and he wasn't where he was said to be and they couldn't test him. He was given another warning. The Tour de France just learned about the second "infractions" from the Danish federation, I think yesterday. So if Rasmussen screws up once more he'll be out of the race. They let him continue only because he hasn't yet tested positive but apparently they don't believe he's innocent.

Outside of that, it was a day of tight, windy roads so it was possible to either shoot along the course and skip the finish or vice versa, so I came to the finish. Tom Boonen of the QuickStep-Innergetic Team won the Stage

Tomorrow is a time trial and after that the Pyrenees. So everything will change in the standings pretty soon.

I guess cycling is kind of getting to be a bit like hockey. If a fight doesn't break out during the game people feel like they didn't get their money's worth. I guess with cycling it's a doping scandal!