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GOURETTE, France — One French newspaper ran a mock obituary for the scandal-tainted Tour de France. Another said the race had become a joke and should be cancelled.
France reeled Thursday from the news that race leader Michael Rasmussen had been ousted by his team for lying about his whereabouts during pre-race training, the third blow this week to the venerable 104-year-old Tour. In recent days, two riders — including star Alexandre Vinokourov — were thrown out because of positive drug tests.
France Soir newspaper ran a mock death notice for the Tour de France on its cover. It said the tour died Thursday "at age 104, after a long illness."
Liberation newspaper's editorial read: "The Tour must be stopped."
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"This procession of cyclists has been transformed into a caravan of ridicule," Liberation wrote. "If the organizers really want to save cycling, they should stop the competition and declare a pause of a few years, enough time to treat these athletes-turned-druggies."
L'Equipe sports daily, by contrast, was more positive, saying the blow was an opportunity for organizers to clean up the Tour de France — "but the Tour must seize it quickly."
Rasmussen was sent home Wednesday by his team, Rabobank, which also suspended him. The expulsion, ordered by the Dutch team's sponsor, was linked to "incorrect" information that Rasmussen gave to the team's sports director about his whereabouts last month.
The Danish cyclist missed random drug tests May 8 and June 28, saying he was in Mexico. But a former rider, Davide Cassani, told Denmark's Danmarks Radio on Wednesday that he had seen Rasmussen in Italy in mid-June.
On Tuesday, Vinokourov and his team withdrew when the star cyclist tested positive for a banned blood transfusion. On Wednesday, the Cofidis squad confirmed its Italian rider Cristian Moreni failed a doping test, prompting the withdrawal of the entire squad.
With France reeling from the multiple scandals, even the French prime minister weighed in.
"Obviously this gives a disastrous image of the Tour de France, but at the same time, if we encourage the organizers, we can clean up French sports and in particular cycling," Francois Fillon told RTL radio.
Christian Prudhomme, the Tour's director, told Le Parisien newspaper: "You can't mock the Tour de France with impunity."
Jean-Francois Lamour, vice-president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, suggested Wednesday that the sport should be withdrawn from the Olympics. German public broadcasters have stopped airing the race, and one of Switzerland's biggest newspapers stopped writing about it. The daily Tages Anzeiger said on its website Wednesday it will limit its coverage to results and doping stories.
