The Guys Behind Armstrong

A couple days ago, the United States Anti-Doping Agency officially declared that Lance Armstrong would be stripped of his seven Tour de France titles upon Armstrong dropping his legal fight.  With all the attention that has been focused on Armstrong, I felt it was worth mentioning the names who finished second each year from 1999-2005 since they probably should have finished first.

1999:  Alex Zulle (Switzerland)
2000:  Jan Ullrich (Germany)
2001:  Jan Ullrich (Germany)
2002:  Joseba Beloki (Spain)
2003:  Jan Ullrich (Germany)
2004:  Andreas Kloden (Germany)
2005:  Ivan Basso (Italy)

Removing Armstrong from the equation would mean Jacques Anquetil (France), Bernard Hinault (France), and Miguel Indurain (Spain) lead the all time list for Tour de France title wins with five apiece.

Before giving out too much credit to the riders above, it is worth mentioning that in 2005, Jan Ullrich finished third behind Armstrong and Ivan Basso.  However, doping charges have since removed his result from the race.  While he did finish second behind Armstrong numerous times previously, the only result that has been eliminated is that of 2005.  I have no opinion on his three "wins" as I really no little about him and the sport.  The one thing I do know is that it seems to make Major League Baseball look clean.