Dear Readers,
Welcome to the latest edition of The Prologue, the weekly summary of news from the world of competitive cycling from your friends at VeloNews.com.

It's been a big week in cycling and, if you haven't already heard, the news just has to lead off with the decision by the Amaury Sport Organization The immediate effect of the decision, means the team's top two riders - Spain's Alberto Contador and American Levi Leipheimer - will not be able to defend their 2007 podium positions at this year's Tour de France.

Despite a major shake-up in the team since Alexander Vinokourov's positive doping test in last year's Tour, ASO declined to invite the team to its events this year.

"The Astana team in effect last year betrayed the confidence of organizers who even then invited them on trust of an overhaul presented by their leaders," ASO said.

To say the least, the decision is a controversial one, with Contador expressing outrage after receiving the news while racing in Mallorca. Other riders at the Mallorca Challenge expressed support for the excluded riders. Our own John Wilcockson suggests that Tour organizers are "playing with fire" by issuing the decision to exclude Astana.

Contador and up to 60 other professional riders got another piece of bad news when Spanish prosecutors reopened the Operacion Puerto The decision may finally allow the UCI and WADA to pursue several stalled cases against riders. While both organizations possess a great number of documents in the case, but have been barred by using that evidence by a lower court ruling last year.

While we're not entirely certain, it appears that the decision may result in the often-controversial Rock Racing squad arriving at the Amgen Tour of California with a significantly different roster than it had initially planned to bring. Absent from Rock's ToC team are three riders often mentioned in connection with the Puerto case, Tyler Hamilton, Oscar Sevilla and Santiago Botero, each of whom was recently signed by the team.

All of the controversies of the week aside, we do have some actual racing to look forward to in coming days. The Tour of California begins with a prologue time trial in Palo Alto on Sunday. Be sure to check in with VeloNews.com throughout the race. I'll be doing live up-to-the-minute reports and Neal Rogers and the rest of the VeloNews crew will be supplying daily stage reports, features and tech reports throughout the week.

As the weather gradually begins to improve, let's all hope that it stays clear and sunny at the Tour of California and that you get a chance to put in some miles yourself.

Have a good week!

Charles Pelkey
Editor, VeloNews.com
CPelkey@insideinc.com