Allegations: Sinkewitz denies Bettini involvement despite reports

What is it about Germany and doping? Jan has never been caught, possibly because he's innocent. T-Mobile apparently had a few problems keeping EPO away from their riders for a while. And German TV keeps on threatening pullouts from major events if anyone else gets caught. (But isn't getting caught a good thing?) Worse still for cycling fans who just want to see some racing, the World Champs are on in Germany this year. So let the fun begin.

Firstly, let's ban a few people from attending and even looking on. Via CN: The organizers of the Worlds in Stuttgart had already asked previous ambassadors Rudi Altig and Erik Zabel not to attend, later adding the names of Gianni Bugno and Eddy Merckx. Cyclingnews confirmed Bugno to be in Stuttgart, where he won his first Worlds' title 16 years ago.

Now let's ban some more people who may actually win the road race. From CN: Paolo Bettini and Patrick Lefevere have both denied alleged statements by Patrik Sinkewitz that Bettini supplied the Italian with testosterone products while they were both on Lefevere's Mapei/Quick.Step team. The charges were made public yesterday by the German TV sender ZDF, which claimed to have notes from an interrogation of the German rider. Sinkewitz' attorney has also denied that his client said that.

So Sinkewitz (who was a doper and got caught) is quoted as having said something that he now denies saying, apparently. On that basis let's exclude Bettini from the race, despite his denials, and Di Luca too as he has had abnormal hormone readings this year. Again from CN: Italian ProTour leader Danilo Di Luca withdrew from the World Road Race Championships on Thursday, calling his treatment "a scandal". The Italian bowed to pressure from the Stuttgart organisers who objected to the participation of the Giro d'Italia Champion who has been the subject of two separate doping investigations this year.

And on with the racing.