It looks like two of the top 3 finishers in last year's Tour de France will have three weeks of vacation come July. The owners of the Tour de France announced that the Astana pro cycling team cannot compete in that race, or any other that it hosts in 2008.

That means Spain's Alberto Contador can't defend his titles in the 2007 Paris-Nice or Tour de France. No. 3 Tour de France finisher Levi Leipheimer won't be able to compete in the race either

Banning cycling teams from races, in spite of team-management and internal doping-control overhauls, seems to be the fashion this year; the Giro d'Italia already banned Astana and Team High Road (formerly T-Mobile).