Kick me in the chamois

it's cliche, but i'm going to say it: it was too good to last. we've been having a pretty good tour this year, without doping allegations and now, just on the heels of an incredibly ballsy stage 15 finish, velo news reports "Double stage victor Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana)" found out today that a doping test after his saturday time trial victory came back positive for blood doping. "vino," along with his Astana team has withdrawn. bloood doping consists of injecting additional red blood cells into the rider's blood stream. more power, more endurance, better results. also known as cheating.

i'll let smarter people than i react on a cycling/science level, but this is the second year in a damn row that someone i was yelling into the TV for has been accused of doping - more importantly, after a huge stage win. last year it was floyd. just last night, i watched vinokourov win an insanely exciting stage 15 win and told the person i was with how he came back after a horrible stage 5 crash (with bandages still on his knees) and a horrible stage 14 slump to speed through stage 15. i was stoked. she was stoked just learning the background to the victory! it was sport at its best. and, as is starting to become the scary truth in cycling, it was sport at its worst.