Denmark's Michael Rasmussen rides with his teammates during a training session in Pau. The International Cycling Union announced that Rasmussen and Alberto Contador underwent random blood doping controls during the Tour de France rest day on Tuesday.

PARIS, July 25ÑTour de France director Christian Prudhomme says professional cycling needs a complete overhaul in the wake of the latest drugs scandal to rock the sport.
Kazakh rider Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for blood doping after winning Saturday’s time-trial stage.
And Prudhomme told AFP: “This has to change now. The re-conquering of cycling has to be done with the Tour de France.
“I started this job believing that we could change this system but it’s not enough: there has to be a revolution.“
Team Astana withdrew from the race following Vinokourov’s positive test for a banned blood transfusion.
The 33-year-old, who won Saturday’s time trial in Albi, reportedly had two different kinds of red blood cells, indicating he has taken blood from someone of a compatible group.
Even before Tuesday’s bombshell, Tour leader Michael Rasmussen was battling suspicions for missing pre-tour doping tests, although he still seems likely to claim victory in Paris on Sunday.
And it comes on top of 2006 champion Floyd Landis being prevented from defending his crown for failing a drugs test during last year’s Tour while Giro d’Italia winner Danilo di Luca is also being investigated.
In addition, 2006 Giro winner Ivan Basso was recently handed a two-year ban and 1996 Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis admitted using performance-enhancing drugs, as did former Telekom team-mates Eric Zabel, Udo Boelts, Bert Dietz, Christian Henn and Rolf Aldag.
Prudhomme expressed his disappointment over the latest setback and urged riders to remain clean for the good of the sport.
“The start in London was a formidable occasion to re-conquer,“ he said. “But there has been an absolute failure of the system. The riders have to understand that they are playing a game of Russian roulette if they are doping.
“They have to realize that we will never give up the war against doping in which we are involved. Doping ruins our childhood dreams. Vinokourov has cheated and the only possible answer was--leaving.“
Britain’s Olympic track champion Bradley Wiggins revealed he had suspicions over Vinokourov’s performance in Saturday’s time trial.
“I know that to put two minutes into me what power Vino would need and the effort he would have had to make and it didn’t add up,“ he told the Guardian.
“At the time I was frightened of what I might say. I didn’t want to accuse people because they had beaten me outright. But when you saw him limping the week before you couldn’t help thinking about it. I think everyone has been suspicious of the Astana team.“
Vinokourov was hotly tipped for this year’s title but lost time in a bad crash on stage five and slipped further back in the stages in the Alps. But he looked back to his best in a dominant time-trial on Saturday and, although he dropped out of overall contention with a disastrous display on Sunday, he won another tough mountain stage on Monday.

HANOI, Vietnam, July 25--Perhaps more than any other player on the Japan squad, Yasuhito Endo is determined to steer his team to Sunday’s AFC Asian Cup final.
Despite being a key member of the squad that lifted the trophy in China three years ago, Endo was not on the field in Beijing as the Japanese successfully defended their title against the hosts.
According to Afc.com, a red card in the first half of the semifinal win over Bahrain meant Endo was left watching from the stands as Zico and his team celebrated Japan’s third Asian Cup win in four tournaments.
“I might have been unlucky,“ says Endo of the game, which Japan eventually won in extra-time. “I was sent off even though I didn’t touch the opponent. “We are still in the semifinals and if we can get a good result there I’d like to show what I can do in the game which draws the greatest attention throughout Asia and want to celebrate our Cup win with my team mates.“
The last three years have been a continuous learning curve for the Gamba Osaka midfielder, who has played 26 times for Japan since the last Asian Cup, including during the qualifiers for the World Cup.
He has also featured in the AFC Champions League for Gamba, where he won the J. League title in 2005, but he suffered the disappointment of being left on the bench during Japan’s appearance at last summer’s World Cup in Germany.
But while Zico favored his Europe-based stars at the biggest events, the arrival of new coach Ivica Osim has seen Endo come back into favor and the Bosnian is taking advantage of Endo’s growing experience.
In addition to success at the Asian Cup, the set-piece specialist has his sights set on the FIFA Confederations’ Cup, with the winner of the continental championship earning a place in a competition.

China's Shao Jiayi (c) is challenged by Iran's Rahman Rezaie during the Asian Cup soccer tournament at the Bukit Jalil Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, July 15.

TEHRAN, July 25--After Iran’s loss to South Korea and its elimination from the 2007 Asian Cup, Rahman Rezaie fulfilled his promise and officially announced his departure from the national team, reported ISP.com.
After the match, Rezaie said: “God willing, I have made my decision. It has been a while that I have made this decision and I have thought about this a lot. The match against Korea was my last. I did not want to say goodbye like this, but unfortunately, it didn’t happen for us. I hope that the national team and its players will be successful in upcoming tournaments.“
Regarding the match against Korea, the Iranian national team’s defender stated: “The Koreans were waiting to reach the penalty shootout. We played better but we didn’t take advantage of our advantage. Consequently, we were eliminated in the penalty shootout.“
Rezaie continued: “Tonight was a very difficult night. It is a very sad one for me. I expected us to reach the final, but we were unfortunately not able to make the last four. That’s just football.“
Regarding the future of Iranian football, he stated: If we have better planning and management, our football will progress and we will not go into extra time in our future games. For us, we cannot go back in time. However, I’m hopeful for the future. We have to become stronger to become champions.“
Regarding Amir Qalehnoei, the head coach of the Iranian national team, Rezaie said: “Qalehnoei did his job. All the responsibilities of a coach are related to the changing rooms and off the field matters. I think that we could have won in 90 minutes but our opponents stood up well against us.“
Concerning not being one of the players to take a penalty, he said, “If they wanted me to take a penalty, I would have definitely taken one.“
In conclusion he said: “The national team did not have tactical problems in the Asian Cup. I feel sorry for our fans. They expected happier times.“

Welsh WBO/Ring World Super-Middleweight Champion Joe Calzaghe

NEW YORK, July 25--Joe Calzaghe says Bernard Hopkins will have to “get in line“ after the American issued a challenge.
“I agreed a fight with him a couple of years ago then he doubled the demands, now he must wait,“ said Calzaghe.
According to AP, light heavyweight king Hopkins said after Saturday’s win over Ronald Wright that he wants to face Calzaghe at New York’s Yankee Stadium next spring.
“Hopkins and Wright are supposed to be two of the top pound-for-pound fighters yet their fight didn’t even sell out the Mandalay Bay, it drew something like 9,000 people, he (Calzaghe) said. “I’m focusing on a real fight against Mikkel Kessler, but once that is done I’m willing to go to the States if that is where the best deal is.“
Calzaghe faces Mikkel Kessler at 168lbs in Cardiff on November 3. The eagerly awaited super middleweight unification bout could be in front of a world indoor record crowd of 70,000 at the Millennium Stadium.
Welshman Calzaghe, 35, is undefeated in 43 fights and is the world’s longest-reigning world champion, having made 21 defenses of the WBO crown over 10 years.
But WBC and WBA champion Kessler promises to be one of his stiffest tests, the 28-year-old Dane undefeated in 28 fights.
The bout will be Calzaghe’s biggest since he took Jeff Lacy’s IBF title in March 2006, and Lacy believes that his conqueror could struggle. Calzaghe has said that the bout will be his last at super middleweight.

PARIS, July 25--F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone is reportedly considering keeping the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours for 2008.
Ecclestone has agreed to include the venue for next year, and possibly for 2009, after a meeting with French Prime Minister Francois Fillon.
“The venue will be kept for 2009 if there are no solutions for an alternative,“ said Eccelstone.
As reported by Reuters, he had previously stated that the 2007 race at Magny-Cours would be the last French Grand Prix at the circuit.
“Mr. Ecclestone said he agreed in principle with keeping the French Grand Prix at the Magny-Cours circuit,“ said a statement from Fillon’s office.
Ecclestone is keen to see the event moved away from the remote track, which replaced the Paul Ricard circuit as host for the French Grand Prix in 1991.
He has stated that he would prefer a venue closer to Paris. French Grand Prix organizers have expressed their determination to keep hold of the race until the contract with Eccelstone expires in 2011.
The French Federation (FFSA) said in a statement: “The FFSA Executive Committee has decided to implement a search for sites with a view to durably ensuring the future of the French Grand Prix.“

LONDON, July 25--Carlos Tevez’s representative Kia Joorabchian has begun legal proceedings against West Ham over the striker’s proposed move to Manchester United.
Lawyers acting for Joorabchian’s companies MSI and Just Sports Inc have issued West Ham with a High Court writ, wrote BBC.
The companies and Joorabchian claim they own the economic rights to the 23-year-old Argentine - but that is disputed by West Ham. Tevez’s move to United has stalled over who will be paid the £30 million transfer fee.
“I can confirm the companies have begun High Court proceedings against West Ham,“ said Teacher Stern Selby solicitor Graham Shear, the law firm representing MSI and Just Sports Inc.
The statement continued: “A High Court writ was served on the football club’s solicitors. The Companies seek the court’s intervention to compel West Ham to release the registration of Carlos Tevez in accordance with contracts entered into between the parties.
“We are asking the court to intervene so that Tevez can be registered to play with Manchester United as soon as possible. We will be making no further statement at this time.“
West Ham said they would be consulting their lawyers over the writ. Third-party ownership of football players is common in South America but was almost unheard of in England until Tevez and fellow Argentine Javier Mascherano joined West Ham. Mascherano has since moved to Liverpool.

LONDON, July 25--David Beckham says he thought his England career was over after Steve McClaren told him he would be a “casualty“ of the coach’s new regime, BBC wrote.
McClaren dropped Beckham after the 2006 World Cup, before recently recalling the former England captain. Beckham says McClaren told him over the phone: “In every team there’s going to be casualties, and I’m sorry to say you’re one of the casualties.“
Beckham told ITV show New Beginnings, “It felt as if there was no way back.“
McClaren recalled Beckham for the friendly game against Brazil and the Euro 2008 qualifier against Estonia and the former England captain played well in both games.
The LA Galaxy midfielder set up John Terry’s goal in his comeback match against Brazil, and then set up two more in England’s Euro 2008 qualifier in Estonia.
Beckham said he was close to tears after the phone call to McClaren ended.
“At first it wasn’t a case of proving him wrong, because I had to come to terms with what had been said and be patient,“ added Beckham.
“But after maybe a day or two and speaking to my friends and my family, then it was a case of ’OK, this is the situation, now how do I get myself out of it?“