Does The Racing In The Tour Matter Now?

[Keith Oates]

I am also saddened and disappointed but frankly find this situation encouraging, we may have been hoodwinked by some of the riders and teams in the past but looking ahead the future looks as if can be exciting and clean. I think those riders and teams that are putting up a good fight against the doping need our support now more than ever before. I for one will continue to give that support where possible!!

 

[yello]

Right now, after Rasmussen's sacking, I don't really care who wins. Or about the tour. I just feel sick of it. Headlines for the wrong reasons.

 

[rustychisel]

Go Contador!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, I for one will cheer for you wholeheartedly once you explain precisely your links to the Puerto Affair and exactly what deals were done with investigating authorities to allow you to continue racing, unnamed as a suspect.

There's a level of hypocrisy about racing and doping, none the less on this forum. I too have pretty much given up on all pro cycling, they're probably all filthy doping scum… I let my subs to 'Cycle News' and 'Pro Cycling' and 'Australian Bicycling' lapse 2 years ago, and only reluctantly keep getting 'Ride'. None of the results seem to matter too much, though the spectavle remains. Nowhere do I feel this more keenly than when my heroes (some Australian) remain quiet, or silent, on the matter when I feel it's time the stood proud and told their stories.

Of course, the spectacle remains, nowhere more so the the Tour de France, which truly transcends the ordinary cycle race. Don't kid yourself*, doping or no doping, you'll still be drawn to the immensity and the drama of it, and the spirit of struggle. You'll just now know whether or not to believe the victor and the vanquished, but you'll still watch.

Don't kid yourself, you still watch for the dramatic highpoints; try telling yourself (and believing it for a second) you wouldn't be held in thrall by the posibility of a combatant actually dying for their sport. After all, that's the height of professionalism, isn't it? To persevere against, and beyond, the odds. Forty years ago one of your own became a heroic figure despite the pathetic manner of his passing. Did anything change? Does anything change? Do we still want to see suffering on such an intimate scale? You bet.

* of course, when I write 'yourself' I'm including myself in this assessment.

PS: Matt Rendell was interviewed by Mike Tomalaris for SBS (Australian TV network) last night at the stages conclusion and gave one of the frankest and most damning assessments of the state of pro cycling I've ever heard. It was shockingly open and honest, and if you get the chance to see it (or did) it lays out the case without ducking the issues.

 

[yello]

Matt Rendell was interviewed by Mike Tomalaris for SBS (Australian TV network) last night at the stages conclusion and gave one of the frankest and most damning assessments of the state of pro cycling I've ever heard

I do hope someone YouTubes it. I'd like to see that.

 

[bobbyp]

I'm afriad this is probably the last straw for me. I spent yesterday taking a barracking at work for following cycling because "they all cheat" (this coming from somebody who follows football, with all its morals and sprtsman like behaviour). Now I know I'm going to get the same today and I'm just going to have to agree.

Quite annoying t'other half has been really enjoying it and suggested we go and watch next year.

T*ssers the lot of them.

 

[Two sheds]

I despair. Presumably some of you would prefer things to go back to how they were a few years ago - plenty of rumours but no action.

Now action is being taken, and some cheats are being caught - probably not all by any means, but the pressure is now on, especially with teams being kicked off the tour as well as the dopers. This has got to be good news for cycling.

 

[chris42]

I despair. Presumably some of you would prefer things to go back to how they were a few years ago - plenty of rumours but no action.

Now action is being taken, and some cheats are being caught - probably not all by any means, but the pressure is now on, especially with teams being kicked off the tour as well as the dopers. This has got to be good news for cycling.

I think you have the wrong end of the stick.
The expulsions and the ongoing detection of the cheats IS a good thing and helps clean up the sport.
It's the fact that our hero's still think:
a) it is ok to dope to win
they have to do it to stay with the peleton
c) they could get away with it!

they must think we/the UCI/ASO/national federations/olympic committy/their team mates/team employees are FUC**ng STUPID!

 

[monnet]

I have to ask if it's feasible to have 3 week tours anymore. The amount of money and prestige involved make it far too tempting to cheat. One Tour stage win (nevermind a jersey) and you're set for life in the sport, which means everyone will be attacking from the off and stages will be run off at ludicrous speeds that can't be maintained and so people need to cheat.

Anyone who has ridden a long distance event knows the effort you have to put in. I'm a shade under 30, pretty fit and did the British Cyclosportive in 6hrs 50 which was better than I expected. I know with more specific training and more confidence in my ability I could've gone faster but what struck me when doing 100mile rides in training was 'this is not sustainable, I can't do this tomorrow and then go over the Pyrenees the next day.'

Maybe we're to blame in part for loving such a demanding sport. The comments of Vinokourov's manager (before the transfusion stuff) hit me. Something along the lines of, 'Vino's tough, he'll die on the bike if that's what it takes.' With the possible exception of boxing, I can think of no other sport where people really will die from pushing themselves and their bodies to the limit - be it as Simpson or as Casartelli.

 

[Two sheds]

Of course it's feasible - plenty of riders do. And that's not the problem, cheats will dope for any length race.

 

[chris42]

the 100 metres is in the olympics only takes 10 seconds.
They still cheat at this!

 

[Tetedelacourse]

As Clerc said earlier in the week, you don't cheat to go faster, you cheat to win. Sums it up.

 

[monnet]

Well, I agree with the points about the 100metres etc and, true, if I'd thought my argument through I would have spotted that weakness (it's still early!).

BUT, I do think that races like Flanders and Paris Roubaix rely on luck and bike handling in a way that the Tours don't. Thus, while it is of course possible to use drugs to cheat, in order to go faster with the aim of winning it becomes a less reliable way of ensuring victory as you're more likely to be scuppered by mechanical failure, railway crossings etc.

 

[Monty Dog]

Just to be contentious, but I think that in all probability, the last 'clean' tour win was 1990 - the increasing speeds and the way that certain teams have been able to control the race all point to a high degree of systematic abuse. The Tour as a spectacle has dimished in my view for quite a number of years - I much prefer the unpredictability of the one-day classics, where the courses and tactics have as much an influence on the outcome and therefore dimish the impact of 'preparation'.

 

[Disgruntled Goat]

All this is great for the sport. After 100 years pro cycling is getting its act together, if it means exposing 100 dopers on the Tour then that's fine because we will eventually be left with a clean field.

And as for footballers, they aren't pearly white. Some seem extraordinarily well built and their build suggests drug abuse. Tevez, Ronaldo (both of them) and Owen who has gone from a lithe teenager to a man who looks like he could take a shirt off without undoing the top button. This is total speculation of course but it all whiffs.

 

[fuzzy29]

It only came out last week that there is doping in golf! So it's got nothing to do with the length of the stages.

I think that ASO and the other race organisers should also ban any positive tests for 4 years. That way, the standard 2 year ban, like other sports, is kept. But, if a rider is banned from the classics and Tours for 4 years, they won't get signed up by a continental team hoping to cash in on their fame/ ability. Perhaps the prospect of 4 years in the relative wilderness might put some off from doping.