French consistency

The cycling world is all abuzz at the decision by the Amaury Sports Organization (ASO), promoter of the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix and some of the other largest races on the European calendar (most of which start, end or traverse in some way Paris) to exclude the team of the reigning champion of the Tour, Astana, from the 2008 edition of the race. Now, given the events of the 2007 tour, this would be understandable. In fact, were the Astana team unchanged from '07, save for the banned racers of course, there would be nothing of note here. But it's not. It's a whole new team with new management, new riders and a new anti-doping program. What rankles me is that Astana are being excluded from the race, but Cofidis, another team kicked out of the '07 Tour for doping, are not. Oh yeah, that's because Cofidis are French. They are the same fricking team as in '07, but they get to come back. Astana change wholesale and they are excluded. No hypocracy there. But then, what do you expect from an organization that takes money from Festina, who were caught smuggling doping products in team cars, to say how bad doping is.

I hate the French.