Tour de farce

~ A year after champion Floyd Landis tested positive for doping, the race was as flawed as ever.

Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan pedals in the last meters of the 13th stage of the 94th Tour de France cycling race, a 54-kilometer (33,55-mile) individual time trial loop from Albi to Albi, southern France, in this July 21, 2007 file photo. Vinokourov was fired by his team Monday, July 30, 2007 after he tested positive at the Tour de France. The Kazakh rider was forced out of the Tour along with his Astana teammates last week when he tested positive for a banned blood transfusion after winning the 13th stage. Vinokourov was fired because the backup "B" sample confirmed the initial positive finding, Astana media chief Corinne Druey said. (AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski, file)

Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan won two stages in this year's race before he tested positive for a banned blood transfusion. (Associated Press file)

PARIS -- Cyclists who have admitted using banned drugs say the Tour de France may need years to recover from the stigma of cheating, denial and lying that devastated the 2007 race.

Last year's Tour was bad enough, with Floyd Landis' positive test coming days after the race. This time, doping rocked the 104-year-old institution to its core.

"I thought this year would have been better," former rider Frankie Andreu said. "Obviously it wasn't. So I'm not confident that even next year will be better."

A reporter reads French sports daily l'Equipe (The Team), with a font page reading "Banned !" and a photo of Michael Rasmussen as he was leaving his hotel Wednesday evening, outside the hotel of the Rabobank team in Pau, southwestern France, Thursday, July 27, 2007. Tour de France leader Michael Rasmussen was removed from the race by his Rabobank team after winning Wednesday's stage, the biggest blow yet in cycling's doping-tainted premier event. "Michael Rasmussen has been sent home for violating (the team's) internal rules," Rabobank spokesman Jacob Bergsma told The Associated Press by phone. The team also suspended him. ( AP Photo/Bob Edme)

French Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot promised Monday that the 2008 Tour will be "clean and renovated," likely with tougher doping sanctions, unannounced hotel room searches and other measures.

Patrice Clerc, head of Amaury Sport Organization that organizes the Tour, said next year's race will be the first step in rebuilding high-level cycling.

"The 2008 Tour will not be like the 2007 Tour," Clerc said. "I commit myself to that."

This time, fan favorite Alexandre Vinokourov, race leader Michael Rasmussen and Italian rider Cristian Moreni were all cited for doping or, in Rasmussen's case, for lying about his whereabouts while skipping tests.

German rider tests positive

German rider Patrik Sinkewitz also tested positive, except his test was from before the race and revealed during it.

"It's going to take five and 10 years until we have faith in the riders," Britain's David Millar said. "That's such a shame for the younger guys who are coming through and deserve it now because they're getting put in the same bracket."

Cynicism among some fans was clear.

"Tour of Transfusion," read one roadside banner.

Many now look to the new guard of young riders to stand up against doping. But will 24-year-olds like Tour winner Alberto Contador, Linus Gerdemann and Markus Fothen speak their minds?

Gerdemann, who won an Alpine stage on July 14, already has.

"We have to go that way, otherwise cycling is dead," Gerdemann said. "Everyone has to understand that this is the new way, and there are no other possibilities."

Michael Rasmussen of Denmark, who wore the yellow jersey during much of the 2007 Tour de France, was one of several cyclists who was pulled from the race. Rasmussen was leading the race when he was ousted by his team for lying about his whereabouts during pre-race training. Rasmussen missed random drug tests on May 8 and June 28. (ANTONIO CALANNI ~ Associated Press)

That won the approval of Millar, who like Andreu, used the performance enhancer EPO.

"It's going to take awhile to earn the trust," Andreu told The Associated Press.

After Sinkewitz's positive test for testosterone, two German television stations ended their coverage.

"It's important that riders have an opinion and say it," Fothen said. "So much silence. ... In the past was a generation that did things that were not good. Now we are a new generation. I can speak loud."

Andreu, a former teammate of seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong, wants Fothen to keep talking.

"It could be a generational thing because the guys grew up racing in the '90s fell into maybe taking stuff in order to perform," said Andreu, who admitted taking EPO in 1999.

Credit Agricole sporting director Roger Legeay says it will take more than youth.

"In 1998 they said we'd see a new generation," Legeay said. "In 2004 we'd see a new generation ... so history repeats itself. Today we really have all the means at our disposal. Urine tests, medical records, DNA, random tests."

After clinching his Tour title at Saturday's time trial, Contador said he would take a DNA test, but only if asked.

"I'm innocent and I don't have to prove anything to anyone," Contador said. "Who should I have give my blood to? You?"

Champ appears clean

Contador never tested positive and there is no evidence tying him to blood-doping. Yet the fact he had to face questions reflects the current climate of suspicion.

One rider at this race, Germany's Erik Zabel, previously admitted taking EPO in 1996. Unlike Millar and Andreu, he has said hardly anything about doping.

"I said to him that we talk about it, that we should do an interview together," Millar said. "He's got to talk more about it. We can't just admit it and bury it."

The old guard like Zabel will soon be gone. Vinokourov and Landis may yet never ride the Tour again.

Millar accepts that fans may not start believing any time soon.

"They have every right not to," Millar said. "We expect a lot of our grand champions, and even when they do make mistakes, they don't face up to them. It's unfortunate, it's kind of a tragic twist."

Andreu remembers clearly the pressures to use banned drugs.

"You always wondered what the next guy was doing," Andreu said. "If you're trying to win the Tour de France and you think everybody else is doing stuff, it becomes an arms race. And it might be a mysterious arms race because you never know, but you don't want to be caught out. So it becomes a game."