Breaking News: Alexander Vinokourov out of Tour de France

In a very sad turn of events at the Tour de France, Alexander Vinokourov and his Astana Cycling team have withdrawn from the grand tour due to a suspected blood doping violation. Sources are reporting that an initial blood sample taken after his stage victory on Saturday in the individual time trial has come back positive for blood doping.

Vinokourov, one of the pre-race favorites, had crashed early in the Tour, suffering serious injuries, but he was able to continue the race. On Saturday, he won the individual time trial and then on Sunday he bonked on the first day of riding in the Pyrenees, losing close to half an hour to his rivals.

In a dramatic comeback Monday, Vinokourov broke away from the field on to win the next mountain stage. Although he did not make up enough time to move back into contention for the race win, he showed that he still had the power to win a tough stage. The course of events is reminiscent of last year’s Tour, when Floyd Landis melted down on a mountain stage in the alps and then came back the next day to break away dramatically and win the stage.

Today the news breaks that Vinokorouv may have been blood doping.

Blood doping involves taking a transfusion of blood from either yourself or someone else, to increase oxygen carrying capacity of the blood. In this case, initial reports suggest that Vinokourov may have used another person’s blood. Additional “B” samples will now be tested, in addition to samples that were taken after his stage win yesterday. For an article on blood doping, click here.

David Millar, one of the UK’s top riders, was quoted by VeloNews as saying: “I wanted to believe it was a really good day [for Vinokourov]. It makes me very sad. Vino is one of my favorite riders. He’s one of the most beautiful riders in the peloton. If a guy of his stature and class has done that, we all might as well pack our bags and go home right now.”

We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out, but this initially appears to be yet another devastating blow for cycling.

For additional details as they become available, visit VeloNews.com by clicking here.

Coach Joe

Running Wild with Coach Joe – a blog focused on marathon, triathlon and ultra-endurance racing, training and motivation. Bookmark us at http://coachjoeenglish.wordpress.com or use your favorite RSS feed reader to get the latest news and articles. Running Wild is also now available on Facebook and My Space.