Work comes this morning that, while Alexandre Vinokourov’s Astana-Würth team will be allowed to compete in the Tour de France (which starts tomorrow), Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso will not be allowed to race due to their names coming up in a major doping probe in Spain. Other riders are implicated, as well, including Oscar Sevilla and Joseba Beloki, as well as T-Mobile’s director, Rudy Pevange. It’s ugly, especially coming so close to the race start.

And in the “coin always has another side” area, the UK’s David Millar, who has served a two-year suspension for doping, returns to pro racing when the Tour kicks off tomorrow. It’s a topsy-turvy world.

Ugh. Cycling politics are getting uglier by the day. Right now, I’m glad I don’t race.