Four of the five teams with U.S. ties received invitations to the Tour de France from the Amaury Sports Organization.

 American-based Slipstream-Chipotle and High Road, two teams at the forefront of the anti-doping movement, were invited, along with American-sponsored teams CSC and Quick Step, two of the best teams  in cycling.

However, Astana, which is run by former U.S. Postal and Discovery boss Johan Bruyneel and his staff, again was snubbed by the ASO even though Astana is perhaps the best team in cycling with defending TdF champion Alberto Contador and 2007 third-place finisher Levi Leipheimer. Under Bruyneel, Astana also has instituted strict anti-doping measures on par with Slipstream, High Road and CSC.

ASO is sour about the former management of Astana, which had ties to the Operacion Puerto scandal that left the team unable to compete in 2006 and which also guaranteed a drug free 2007, only to get booted from the Tour after team leader Alexander Vinokourov got busted for blood doping.

And then there’s the suspicion that the French are sour at Bruyneel for dominating the Tour de France with seven titles by Lance Armstrong and last year’s title by Contador. And many in France believe Armstrong won with chemical aid, though he never tested positive for doping, has vociferously denied all allegations of impropriety and won a couple of court cases. So, they may be getting back at Armstrong, by proxy, by snubbing Bruyneel’s team. (On the down side, Andreas Kloden is on Astana and an inquiry in Germany stated there are indications he doped while with T-Mobile.)

Interestingly, French team Cofidis also got booted from the Tour de France last year after Christian Moreni tested positive for doping, yet Cofidis received an invite. Then, there’s the whole Rabobank deal, in which the team allowed Michael Rasmussen to ride even though he had missed some doping control tests before the TdF. The team yanked Rasmussen from last year’s Tour while he was wearing the yellow jersey and poised to ride into Paris as the presumptive race winner. All because he lied about his whereabouts in missing the test. Rabo is back this year, tho.

And under the banner of T-Mobile, the old High Road management seemed to be on the cutting edge of doping, with Bjarne Riis admitting that he won the 1996 Tour de France with the help of EPO and with sprinter Eric Zabel admitting he won six sprinter’s titles with the help of EPO. In total, seven T-Mobile riders have admitted doping en route to Riis’ title in 1996 and Jan Ullrich’s in 1998. Good ol’ Ullrich, by the way, is under suspicion because of Operacion Puerto, tho a German panel ruled Thursday that although there’s indications Ullrich doped, there’s no proof. Oh, and there’s Patrik Sinkewitz, who got booted from the Tour last year because of a failed drug test (which was the final straw for T-Mobile in pulling the use of its name by the team after last season).

So, based on ASO’s logic in banning Astana, Cofidis, Rabobank and even the new-llok High Road would seem to be candidates for un-vitations this year. It is painful to put High Road in that group because owner Bob Stapleton has worked hard to sweep out the riff raff and remake the team as anti-doping crusaders, plus 10 Speed fave and Tour of Missouri winner George Hincapie is on the team. I’m just including High Road to make a point about ASO’s hypocrisy in banning Astana. ASO’s stated reasons for banning Astana just don’t hold water.

It’s a darn shame that the best race in the world won’t have the best team competiting, so whomever wins this year can”t say he beat the best.

Don’t think the ASO cares, though.

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