Ah, l’Alpe d’Huez … books have been written about this mountain.

I cannot think of a more beautiful stage of any Tour de France than those that finish atop l’Alpe.

From Fausto Coppi’s win on the maiden stage in 1952, to Greg LeMond’s battle with Bernard Hinault in 1986, to Andy Hampsten’s solo excursion in 1992, to Pantani’s devastating attacks in 1995 and 1997, to “The Look” Lance Armstrong gave to Jan Ullrich in 2001, before attacking to win the stage and take the yellow jersey.

In all but 5 of the Tours de France during which a stage has concluded on l’Alpe d’Huez, the person who wore the maillot jaune at the end of the stage went on to take the final yellow jersey in Paris as the winner of that year’s race.

It’s no wonder that this mountain has the reputation as the most difficult climb in the Tour.

Sure, there are longer climbs and steeper climbs, but no mountaintop finish carries as much prestige as the Alpe … and there have been no unworthy winners of the stage.

In this year’s Tour, the only active rider to have won atop the Alpe d’Huez is Frank Schleck, who won the stage in 2006, during Floyd Landis’s ill-fated Tour de France win. Frank is wearing the yellow jersey today.

Will he still be wearing it at day’s end? Will he be able to get away, and win the stage again (and the Tour, for the first time)?

Oh, I wish I didn’t have to work today. I can’t wait to watch the DVR coverage this evening when I get home.

VeloNews | Riccardo Ricco tests positive.

The French anti-doping agency (AFLD) confirmed Thursday that Italian climbing sensation Ricardo Ricco (Saunier Duval) has tested positive for new variant of the blood booster erythropoietin (EPO).

Ricco, winner of two mountain stages and ninth in the overall standings, provided a urine sample which contained the banned substance CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator).

Ricco was questioned by gendarmes before the start of Thursday’s 12th stage between Lavlanet and Narbonne. He was then driven away by them in a Saunier Duval team car.

Ricco was one of the riders particularly targeted by the AFLD during the race and had been tested at least four times, including his victories on stages six and nine.

Like synthetic erythropoietin (rEPO), CERA was developed to as a treatment for the anemia that results from chronic kidney disease. Unlike single injections of rEPO, CERA interacts with erythropoietin receptors and has a longer-lasting effect.

The often brash and outspoken Ricco finished second in this year’s Giro d’Italia and has won stages six and nine at this year’s Tour de France. He finished Wednesday’s stage 2:29 behind Australian Cadel Evans in the overall standings, putting him in ninth place.

Ricco becomes the third rider to fail a doping test in this year’s race after Spanish riders Moises Duenas (Barloworld) and Manuel Beltran (Liquigas) both tested positive for rEPO.

Much was made of the fact that Ricardo Ricco worshiped Marco Pantani, and he certain climbed like the now dead Italian. Now it appears that Ricco’s legs were not entirely natural talent …

Now, while I’m not sure about ASO and AFLD’s tactic of testing a rider over and over and over again, as it comes across as a witchhunt … sometimes, when what you’re seeing seems too good to be true, it probably is. If this sport is to survive, we need to get rid of the dopers, but it has to be done in a way that protects the rights of the riders.

More news from around the net:

• BBC
• The (London) Times
• The Guardian

VeloNews | Boonen tests positive for cocaine

Paris-Roubaix winner and former world champion Tom Boonen has tested positive for cocaine, Het Laatste Nieuws reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper said that the 27-year-old Boonen tested positive for the drug three days before the Tour of Belgium on May 25, although anti-doping officials say the rider will not face suspension since use of the drug is not specifically banned except in competition.

Boonen and his Quick Step squad have scheduled a news conference for Wednesday at the team’s headquarters in Wielsbeke, Belgium, promising “an annoucement regarding the current situation.”

More on the Boonen situation on VeloNews here and here, Eurosport, and the Guardian UK.

Will be interesting to see what comes out of this. I can certainly understand the allure of cocaine … when I was younger, I did a fair amount of “experimentation” with various illicit chemical substances, cocaine amongst them … I know firsthand what the effects are, how it makes the user feel, and why someone would want to continue using.

Thankfully, after a really bad night in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco involving glass pipes, getting robbed (twice), and the offer of needles (with other substances, which I turned down), I wised up. I have been clean since August 1991; almost 17 years at this point.

This is not some huge confession that I’m putting out here … I’ve never really hidden this from anyone, and have discussed it fairly freely when the topic has come up. I’m certainly not proud of it, but nor am I ashamed of it.

To me, there is a huge difference between taking drugs to cheat, and taking drugs to escape. What I did, and what Brother Boonen has been doing was seek an escape from the pressures of our lives. Different pressures I’m sure, but not always easy to admit and seek help for.

Hopefully, this will be Boonen’s wake-up call, and he’ll seek the help he needs, rather than continue down the same path that Marco Pantani and Jose Maria Jimenez have traversed, to their unfortunate and tragic deaths.

And lest anyone worry, based on other posts on the blog over the past year or so, as bad as my life sometimes seems to me now, it’s not nearly as bad as it was in the last 1980s and early 1990s … I am in no danger of falling back into old habits.

I’m not even drinking really … a beer here and there, but I can’t remember the last time I’ve had a real cocktail. It certainly wasn’t at home. I still have the same 4 unopened bottles of vodka in the freezer that I’ve had since posting about the The Great Vodka Taste Test last fall.