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February 19, 2008
AMGEN Tour of California finishes in Pasadena on Sunday
The AMGEN Tour of California has returned and it started a couple days ago with a time trial in Palo Alto. The tour makes its way to Sacramento today and then starts heading south towards Los Angeles. The race concludes on Sunday, February 24th with Stage 7 which starts in Santa Clarita and finishes in Pasadena.
You can watch the Tour nightly on VERSUS at their 8:00pm slot. The professional commentators that bring you the Grand Tours (Italy, France, Spain) are on board: Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwin, and Bob (the Bobke) Roll. Visit VERSUS online for video clips and reports from the course. Also online is Tour sponsor, CSC's, amazing Location Object Field Technology (LOFT) Tracker which shows the location of the race on a Google Earth type of map. Go to the link to learn more and scroll down to LOFT Tracker to get to the live map.
If you are interested in seeing the race conclusion in Santa Clarita on Saturday or Pasadena on Sunday, start planning now by checking out the course map for Stage 7 to pick your place on the route and reading up on Spectator Tips in order to watch safely.
On a related note, if you are outraged at the surreptitious and circumspect exclusion of contender Levi Leipheimer's team Astana from the 2008 Tour de France, let your voice be heard at Let Levi Ride.
Photo of CSC's Juan Jose Haedo winning in Santa Rosa yesterday from AMGEN Tour of California Website
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Who doesn't love a bike race put on by the company which manufactures EPO, the #1 most abused performance enhancing drug in cycling?
Oh, that's right, ME! I don't love it.
Amgen = blatant supporter of drug abuse. A drug which has led to heart failure in some athletes.
EPO at Wikipedia
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EPO was never meant for abuse by athletes. Removing EPO from the market would result in the deaths of many people recovering from treatments for cancer. Athletes and their teams should be punished for abusing any drug, including EPO. If you're suggesting that AMGEN encourages abuse of EPO you'd have a hard time proving it.
If you don't like seeing a cycling event sponsored by AMGEN or any other company you happen to dislike, you're more than welcome to be a bit more useful and help find other sponsors.
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Gin Blossoms playing at the Santa Clarita finish line Saturday
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Tom,
I realize that EPO is primarily used to treat kidney disease, and in cancer treatment. I'm not suggesting that it be removed from the market = it's an essential drug. I am suggesting Amgen should shove off and sponsor something else.
Amgen's old jerseys were a white with red polka dots in the style of Le Tour de Frances King of the Mountains jerseys. On closer inspection the polka dots are red blood cells. WTF? Are you kidding me? I can't think
The fact that is current doping procedures don't prevent EPO abuse, they simply limit it to a safe level. Amgen touts their new doping protocols as evidence that they want a clean race, but they know better than anyone this is a white wash. Amgen should sponsor something else besides a tour in a sport plagued by abuse of their drug. Riders have died using the damn stuff.
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Sorry - that should read "Are you kidding me? I can't think of a more explicit reference to EPO in cycling short of handing out booster shots to athletes."
I can't think!!
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oh Fathead.
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But Alex, I don't see how AMGEN is responsible for riders abusing their drug simply because they are sponsoring the event. Death is a possible side effect of illegally using the drug - it's a risk that riders are taking upon themselves. Also, AMGEN isn't the one making the drug undetectable, the inability to detect the drug is part of its functionality. AMGEN isn't covering anything up.
I'm sure everyone would be happier with a different sponsor but with cycling desperate for sponsorship they stepped up to the plate when no one else would. Without AMGEN there would be no Tour of California. It's unfortunate that riders have felt themselves to be so under pressure that they illegally abused EPO and killed themselves. It's also unfortunate that climbing star, Marco Pantani overdosed on illegal "recreational" drugs and killed himself as well. In neither case do I find a corporate criminal masterminding their deaths.
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Hi Carrie.
Tom,
Where did I say Amgen masterminded riders deaths? Where did I blame Amgen for the drugs undetectability? That's a somewhat liberal interpretation of my comments. Please save the hyperbole and rhetoric for someone else. Address the issue I raised = the nod to EPO in their jerseys, the issue of sponsoring a race where their drugs are used to cheat, and their white wash of the race.
Though I never assigned blame to Amgen for the undetectability of EPO, it raises an interesting question. Could some kind of chemical marker be added to the drug to make it distinguishable from natural EPO? If so then endurance sports might make some progress on the issue, rather than just letting everyone run a 49.9 hemocrit. I'm sure this has been considered by someone . . .
If Amgen pulled their sponsorship I'm sure that the Tour of California wouldn't cease to exist, it might simply lose the ability to pull the same quality teams. I'd prefer a low budget race that sacrificed glitz for reputation.
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AlexT,
there's lots of things we'd all _rather_ have. I'd rather have less haters and more doers. There is no nod to EPO by having Amgen sponsor the tour and no whitewashing going on. The only one spinning hyperbole is you. What the public is becoming aware of is that there are drugs being used in all sports. Cycling is one of the few sports that is doing something about it - the success of that effort is debatable. We don't see drugs as an issue in the multi-billion dollar sport of American football, but one doesn't get up to 400lbs. by drinking protein shakes. Your outrage is impotent and perhaps more tellingly, boring.
More awareness of cycling via higher profile events is only a good thing. Cleaning up the sport stands a better chance if the sport is strongly represented.
=tom