Mario Cipollini Should Be Invited to the Tour de France

To: Jean-Marie Leblanc and Le Societe du Tour de France:
We the undersigned respectfully request that the Domina Vacanze-Elitron team of Italy be invited to join this year's edition of the Tour de France. Their inclusion is of grave importance to the public's regard of both the fairness of the sport of cycling and the perception that the Tour de France presents the ultimate competition of champions. The exclusion of the reigning World Champion, the record holder for most stage wins of the Giro D'Italia, and twelve time TDF stage winner (2nd among active riders), as well as his team from the centennial anniversary of the Tour de France damages the prestige of this event and creates and impression of behind the scenes manipulation of the results as the sporting world experienced at the last Winter Olympics. The great sport of cycling is just recovering from the damage of the effects of the doping scandals and cannot afford to make a significant misstep at this time.