ARE YOU SHITTING ME...JONO JUST INFORMED ME THAT ASTANA HAS GOTTEN THE BOOT FROM THE TOUR?

Team manager Johan Bruyneel wondered out loud if Astaná had a “too strong team.”
“We have done everything to change the dynamics of the team. New management, new riders, new philosophy. Only the name of the sponsor remained. … We are spending 460,000 euros on internal anti-doping efforts for 2008. What more can we do?” Bruyneel said in a team communiqué. “What's strange is, ASO does not invite us because of the past of a team that had the same name. Many other teams, with a similar suspicious past, that did not change management or structure, can participate without problems. Where is the consistency? Is Tour the France not losing all credibility now?”

WTF? I SAY WE DE-BALL THE FREENCHIES FOR THIS LAME MOVE..

And when Alberto Contador heard the news today, he unleashed a viscious attack to prove a point. Does this sound like the heart of a cheat?

From the Velonews..

Pouring his frustration into his pedals was about all Contador could do in the face of ASO’s controversial decision to exclude Astaná from all of its events, including Paris-Nice and the Tour de France, two races he won in his breakout 2007 season.
“I was attacking today to claim back what is mine,” Contador explained when asked by VeloNews about the stage. “We deserve to be in the Tour de France. It’s a hard blow because I believe I could have won again.”

Here is what I think if it means a rats ass...Astana now has the door open to come and participate in the Vail UCI omnium this summer...how sweet would that be?