Tyler Hamilton’s win in La Doyenne in 2003 was one of the highlights in what was generally a fantastic season. A great Spring campaign, a great Giro, a great Tour, a great Fall; unpredictable races, and closely-fought battles littered the events. But, with the luxury of 20-20 hindsight and a quick cross-reference of results listings to doping scandals, it’s safe to assume that season landed smack in the middle of an era of jet-fueled racing that rivals the 1990’s in their indulgence.
It’s a tough time to be a cyclist. Death, doping scandals, corruption in the organizing bodies of the sport. We test our athletes more than any other sport, but the tests are flawed and incomplete, and rumors persist that teams and riders pay off not just the labs to surpress positive tests, but also the UCI. Hamilton’s confession on 60 Minutes this week is the latest in an unsettling chain of events that keep peeling back more layers of the onion. I was a big fan of Tyler’s and part of me even believed in his innocence. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy – much too nice a guy to get involved in cheating. But there he was on television, talking openly about the magnitude of drugs-taking within the USPS team.
On the other hand, I’ve never been a fan of Armstrong’s. I find him to be arrogent, controlling, manipulative. His Tour wins were too formulaic; in sharp contrast to his fight with cancer, his racing showed no element of humanism. I have taken it for granted that his wins came with considerable assistance from a carefully planned and executed doping regimen. But these beliefs were woven together by a thread of doubt, and the possibility always existed that his were clean wins.
Hearing Hamilton talk of the seemingly nonchalant attitude towards doping at USPS and, in particular, by Armstrong, is surprising not in the content of the message, but in how hard the message hit. I expected the words. I had read them. I have even written many of them myself. But there was always a tangible element of speculation about them. For me, that element is now gone, and it feels strange to say the least.
Even as someone who generally accepts that doping is commonplace in the peloton, it hurts me every time another allegation of doping comes out. It takes me days to recover from it. But even if the worst happens, if Professional Cycling as we know it today falls apart, cycling will continue. Because cycling is more than watching others race bikes. It’s about racing or riding the bike yourself. It’s about overcoming your own limitations. It’s about the rider and the machine working together. It’s about cleaning, caring for, thinking about your bike. It’s about taking photos of it so you can look at it when you’re away.
Cycling rides through a storm today, but we will always have the bike. We will always have la Vie Velominatus.
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You should be drinking James Boags. Much nicer taste. @JiPM, I am sure that this will get that funny taste out of your mouth as well after your not so tasty post from Laughstrong.com
Just back on topic for a sec (much as I love to rev up a Kiwi, and incidentally we do have weasels in Oz but they've learnt how to walk on their hind legs, drive Mercs and sell real estate)..has anyone pushed the conspiracy theory about Clenbutador's brain clot being a result of the gear he was on? At that time, he had been in the clutches of Manolo Sainz and the Liberty Seguros/Wurth for a few years, having been racing from a pretty early age...
I SHOULD BE DRINKING NEW ZEALAND BEER (thanks for your concern though!)
@SupermanSam
Do weasels have white feet? There's a running joke about real estate agents with white shoes. Could be an evolutionary trait.
@Marcus
Sounds like you've lived in London mate, that used to really make me grit my teeth being referred to that way as well. But, when you balance out all the good bits, especially the cash the UK government is paying to subsidise the nice little lifestyle of our own little 3 x Grand Tour stage winner Gerro, I can live with it.
Sounds like you're just grumpy from riding in the dark on these wet cold Melbourne mornings..
@Minion
Yes, but only those found up North (Gold Coast variety)...hehe
I was going to mention possums but had a thought you Kiwi's had monster sized ones, or so I was told. Ahhh, it's all gone a bit hillbilly..
@pakrat
Interesting list. Soler? Now there's a juice monkey if ever there was one. No results at all since a test for CERA was developed.
And don't get me started on COTHO surviving cancer because of a bike or any special personal qualities. People in desperate situations cling to any beacon of hope. And if that gets them through, then that is great. But my layman's understanding is that it comes down to the quality of your treatment and pure luck.
What I have always wondered is: How would Lance have turned out without cancer?? An ocassional TdF top 10 finisher 7kg above what should be a winning weight? And no
fanatical followers?
Please don't take this as a heartless outlook on cancer. It is anything but!
@frank
Methinks you doth protest too much. Come on Frank, I wasn't personally attacking you. All I said was you've said some strong words about riders doping, and I wasn't personally used to you leaping off the page all flaming and brandishing emotion. You have - and I'm not mistaking your comments reflecting dislike of Contador because he's a jerk, for comments about doping specifically. Observation, not criticism; your emotion expressed in writing isn't a negative. I also understand your and the Keepers overall views... I was, in the last comment, and am in general, just ruminating on how interesting it is to see everybody examining how they feel, which is really sort of amazing, to see the process of change and introspection, growth, happening on paper. So to speak. You are doing it too; you said it yourself - I'll paraphrase - that you have recently realized your frustration/anger about the doping is because of... etc. That sentence covered the two things I was simply observing: Frustration/anger - er, strong emotion? Which you possibly let color SOME of your writing? (not a bad thing at all, that's one thing that's great around here, people let themselves show) Check. Recent realizations about what that may really have been about for you; pretty interesting awareness? Check.
Sorry I'm still back in the serious stuff, I'm trying to catch up. Have a cookie.
@Bianchi Denti
Since u r being a bit if a smartarse let me join u. Pre-cancer Armstrong was a tour stage winner, multiple classics winner (San sebastian and Flèche) and a world champ. He was no slouc
@Mikeweb
This is turning into a complete farce. I would have some sympathy for the guy if it wasn't his team calling for the extension. In my mind there are only two reasons why you would seek an extension in a case like this a)They need more time to examine information by the other side that has only been been provided recently and out with any set time frame (and if that was the issue here, any request for an extension would be preface with a protest about the lateness of that information or a move to have it made inadmissible) or b) his case sucks. If he is not prepared to turn up before the tour, he shouldn't race in it.
My own thoughts on doping in general are that it is cheating and there is no excuse for it. I do however believe that there is no point in looking backward and pointing fingers - the fact is that unless the status of each and every competitor in a race could be determined, we will never know who gained an improper advantage of whom.
As for LA, whilst he might be an arrogant prick and be responsible for some web based oddness, he gets the benefit of my doubt until he is proven guilty.