Operation Puerto

Calling all cyclists! Now is your chance!

This is the story as I have come to understand it. Everyone was working with the same cycling doctor / trainer that helped them dope. Now, the director for the Spanish team Communidad Valenciana was caught and arrested by Spanish Police for picking up blood for his riders. Entire team withdraws from tour, all are under investigation. This leads the Spanish police all to this one doctor, who has been helping all these riders and other riders who were already caught for doping. We're talking they got everything, they got paper saying "So and so owes this many euros for this blood treatment." Busted.

Hardcore busted.

Rather than wait for Tour organizers of the UCI or WADA to rule, the coaches voted to kick anyone off their teams that were implicated in the scandal. This takes out Liberty Seguros even though not all of them were involved...they lose too many riders, and the coaches decided not to replace riders kicked off. So that team goes home. T-Mobil is down to 8. CSC is down to 8. Biggest riders in the tour are down. Isn't it ironic that it's turning out that everyone except Lance Armstrong was doping?

This is huge. Kind of the cycling social equivalent of manager Sam Perlozzo announcing he had kicked Rafael Palmero off his team and the Orioles are forefeiting the rest of the season for being associated with a player on steroids.

Fun day to hang around with the media at any rate.

So yeah. Grab your bike and come on down. They're running out of riders. Its a free-for-all now.