Neutral Country My !@#!

Blowin' in the Wind: so, the fallout from Tom Boonen's little coke poz continues, with the righteous Tour de Suisse barring him from the race and even considering bagging Quick Step if they don't do the right thing, UCI WADA and the Belgian cycling fed shrugging it off as not their problem, Bouyges-Telecom ditching contract negotiations with the boy, and the Tour de France feeling awfully uncomfortable with the whole thing. Um, not to question the Tour de Suisse's superior morality here, but wasn't Jan "I Love Ecstasy" Ullrich allowed to actually go ahead and win the thing twice after his own little partying indiscretion? Meantime, the tifosi over at gazzetta dello sport are engaged in a spirited argument, one side generally defending the coke, and the other, of course, in a state of total nationalist outrage that Basso only confessed to wanting to dope, Di Luca was nailed for merely knowing some doctor with a record of doping everyone else, Petacchi was busted for drugs even CAS acknowledged he took out-of (since they were after)-competition as well, but some big Belgian is getting off the hook for actually taking a drug within 3 days of a pretty important race. Me, I think maybe Boonen ought to be prosecuted for stupidity, but really, so long as he ain't snarfing it out of his musette at the feed zone, well, how else do we expect these national-hero tabloid-fodder babe-magnet rock-stars-of-the-peloton to behave--and judging how riders of the past are viewed, won't it actually just be considered part of his charmingly misbehaving bad-boy appeal someday? Tip for the future: though apparently the narcs are only targeting "suspected riders" from now on, presumably those they don't like and not those that they do, Tom, please just stick to zipping your Lamborghini along at twice the speed limit on the autobahn after a long night at the club--nobody, it seems, minds that!

The Apology: yep, after meeting with a no-doubt displeased Quick Step management, our Tommeke has humbly apologized, completely voluntarily "taking a break" as he no doubt contemplates whether Quick Step is gonna completely mutually fire his !@# (though notably Patrick "30 YEARS OF DOPING" Lefevere is understandably indicating reluctance to give up his major source of income on such a trifling personal issue) and wisely beginning the St. Millar-like course of sincere repentance and even more sincere likelihood of another valuable ProTour contract or the continuance of this one as he snorts away his regrets on the beach in Monaco. Wishing you a speedy recovery from the recreational coke use you won't cop to, and for heck's sake Tom, *try* at least to keep the illicit hijinks to the off-season!

Local H: finally, right on big George Hincapie for smokin' the field at the Dauphine, and here's hoping you can take one at the Tour de France without being ordered to sit on someone's wheel next time!