Sastre, Cancellara and O'Grady speculation ends

With the testing complete, the speculation stops. Kohl was the big catch, no more to come. Even F. Schleck must be considered in the clear. For now, at least.

The French anti-doping agency AFLD has concluded its re-testing of the 2008 Tour de France samples. Bernhard Kohl was the last to be caught and no other cases have been found, L'Equipe reported.

Sastre, Scleck, Cancellara and O'Grady speculation

No positives, nothing but guesswork and rumour. So it's just idle gossip, isn't it? But here we go: It was reported originally in Le Soir, and now German and Danish media are reporting that Tour podium finisher Carlos Sastre is a doping suspect. Sastre and three other CSC riders are suspected of doping in this year's Tour de France. CSC has not heard anything officially, according to their press officer. The Danish news site TV2 Sporten is reporting that the other CSC riders under suspicion are Frank Schleck, Fabian Cancellara and Stuart O'Grady.

Schleck is already under suspicion over the funds transferred to Dr Fuentes, and Cancellara (like Sastre) falls into the "didn't ride the World's" theory. Cancellara has been consistently great, although at times he has done some amazing things (like climb with the climbers or attack and bridge impossible gaps). Not sure why O'Grady's there but you never know.

Perhaps you aren't a good rider if there's no idle speculation, after all.

Who's next? Schleck, now Sastre speculation?

The suspense is killing me. There are more tests underway on those 2008 Tour samples and the only thing we know for sure is that they have already caught Ricco (twice more), Schumacher and Piepoli. What we are guessing is that there are more positives to come, and that they are likely to be riders who were in the results. We can also speculate that their behaviours will betray them. They will have become nervous and will limit their exposure by actions such as avoiding the World Championships. We can also guess that they are riders who display uncanny ability, perhaps an ability that comes and goes and is inconsistent. They will also be smart, with a lot to lose.

High on that list must be Sastre, winner of Le Tour. Now he seems a decent guy, and he was on the best team, so it didn't seem impossible that he should win. He's been consistently "up there" on GC. But never so close before. He was also supported by Frank Schleck, now tainted by a transfer of funds to Dr Fuentes. If Sastre is caught it'll be a major blow to Le Tour, but good news (in a sense) for Cadel Evans, Bernhard Kohl and Denis Menchov. It may also may help explain why CSC stopped funding Riis's team. But that's just idle gossip.

It may be that Frank Schleck is the one, given the as yet unexplained transfer of funds. Smoke and fire, y'know.

Alas, we only have this statement so far: Tour de France director, Christian Prudhomme, expects more positives to come from the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) blood testing. The Frenchman thinks there will be one or two more riders, according to Reuters.

We shall see.