Tour De France 2006

[Katie Hans]

My dad is big into bike racing, so the Tour De France is always on in our house in July.

I did hear that there was one team (I think it might have been T-Mobile, but I'm not sure) where six out of the ten riders weren't allowed to ride because they were caught for blood doping. Apparently that was the team that had Jan Ullrich on it, too, and he was expected to do extremely well in the Tour.

[RogerR]

Originally Posted by Katie Hans

My dad is big into bike racing, so the Tour De France is always on in our house in July.

I did hear that there was one team (I think it might have been T-Mobile, but I'm not sure) where six out of the ten riders weren't allowed to ride because they were caught for blood doping. Apparently that was the team that had Jan Ullrich on it, too, and he was expected to do extremely well in the Tour.

actually, it was Astaná-Würth that lost 5 of its 9 riders and had to drop. unfortunatly, this means that tour prospect Alexandre Vinokourov (who was clean) couldn't compete. t-mobile lost only ullrich and sevilla.

[Katie Hans]

Oops. Sorry. Like I said . . . I wasn't sure. My dad talks about so many different people and teams that sometimes it's just easier to smile and nod.

[Ben Lauer]

Stage 4:


- In today's stage their are two climbs are three sprints. It is 207km long and goes from Huy, Germany to Saint-Quentin, France.
-
- More doping tests were taken today. The UCI subjected 54 riders from six teams to blood controls. The squads involved were Saunier Duval-Prodir, Credit Agricole, Francaise des Jeux, Discovery Channel, Cofidis and Agritubel. No abnormalities were found and all riders were clear to start the stage.
- The second attack on the day started at the 18.5km mark.
- The lead continues to climb at the 91km mark where it stands at 4:55. The lead group contained:
Egoi Martinez (ESP - DSC) 22nd - at 28" (time behind yellow jersey)
Laurent Lefevre (FRA - BTL) 64th - at 52"
Christophe Mengin (FRA - FDJ) 136th - at 6’33"
Cedric Coutouly (FRA - AGR) 140th - at 7’29"
Bradley Wiggins (GBR - COF) 152nd - at 9’54"
- With 37 km to go the excapees are 2:40 ahead of the peloton. From here the started closing fast and caught up with them over 4 hour after their escape, with less than 2 km to go in the stage.
- There is no change to the top of the general classification after the fourth stage.
- The top five in Saint-Quentin is:
1. Robbie McEwen (AUS - DVL) (10th career stage win)
2. Isaac Galvez (ESP - CEI)
3. Oscar Freire (ESP - RAB)
4. Thor Hushovd (NOR - C.A)
5. Tom Boonen (BEL - QSI)
Tom Boonen Holds the Yellow (leader's) jersey, and Robbie McEwen the Green (sprinter's)