Amgen Tour

[Sunny]

Here in California we have a professional bicycle race that starts today in Palo Alto (Northern California) and ends in Riverside somewhere (Southern California) called The Amgen Tour.
It used to be sponsored by another Company but now is sponsored by Amgen, the EPO makers. The big joke around here is the fact a drug company making EPO
is sponsoring an event like this considering professional cyclists are known for abusing the use of EPO to enhance performance. It seems absurd to allow Amgen
to sponsor  this event. It practically promotes EPO usage in the sport. Why then the big surprise when athletes turn up positive for testing of performance enhancing drugs?
There are plenty of people who need EPO to survive day to day. It's despicable to see Amgen promoting their product this way.

[willieandwinnie]

  Who in their right mind would let them sponsor a sporting event of any type. Goes to show ya', money talks.

[okarol]

Bizarre - that's all I can say.



Race organizers try to stay ahead of performance enhancers

Steve Drumwright, The Examiner
2008-02-12 11:00:00.0

SAN FRANCISCO -

Already with a clean slate in its first two years of existence, the Amgen Tour of California increased its drug-testing standards in a sport that has been smeared with controversy.

There is nothing more prestigious — especially these days in cycling — than protecting your reputation.

“We’ve not had a rider fail our test in any of the first two years,” said Michael Roth, president of AEG Sports, which puts on the Tour. “Based on our new protocol, which every team has signed, that should remain intact. We are not accepting contracts from teams with open investigations or suspensions.”

Even with the spotless record, that doesn’t mean there haven’t been links to performance-enhancing drug use. Floyd Landis, the winner of the inaugural Tour of California, was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title due to a doping scandal. Also, Michael Rasmussen, a participant in the first two California races, was leading last year’s Tour de France when his team pulled him out of that event due to drug accusations.

Less than two weeks ago, high-profile teams Astana and High Road were barred from participating in the Giro d’Italia for their previous connections to doping. Astana features defending Tour of California champ Levi Leipheimer and High Road has George Hincapie, another top American.

“Anything that makes the sport look bad, we’re disturbed by,” Roth said.

Among the new testing developments for this year’s Tour, all riders will have to submit pre-race blood samples and daily winners and the overall leader will be tested after each stage for banned substances including EPO, steroids and masking agents.

“I think it’s a great system and for me it’s not even a question of being willing — I’m more than happy to do it,” Jelly Belly rider Bernard van Ulden said. “I would love to see this level of testing at every race.”

sdrumwright@examiner.com

Examiner Staff Writer Matt Elliser contributed to this report.

[Stacy Without An E]

One of the stops on the Amgen Tour is Santa Rosa where I live.  People lost their frickin' minds for this race.  We sent our radio station promotion staff downtown where the race was starting and ending and hundreds of people came by the booth.  Great visibility and brings people from all over the world to our tiny little haven.