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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@minion
Well, that was cool. Except I didn't understand about half of it. For me, that par for the course.
Heh heh. Heh heh. Marcus said weasel-fucker. Do they even have weasels in Orstralia?
Whilst the commentators here are clearly wisened types, I am amazed no one has mentioned JV in all this.
He shares parallels with LA in that he now has a just cause, Garmin is without doubt going about Pro racing the way it should be (with the exception of treatment of Trent Lowe, but I think that was a case of judging without checking). But...
Remember JV rode as a loyal lieutenant to LA on USPS, and spoke strangely to Cycling News once (only) about his one great win at Alpe d'Huez in Dauphine Libere (I think). He was stranegly circumspect, not proud at all. That 'bee sting' episode does not mean he was Mr Clean when racing. He's not spoken a word about his career since, just like Big George he's been a loyal domestique to the 'end' as it were.
There is no precedent with ASO stripping a Tour win despite not having a positive test, unfortunately. Bjarne Riis never tested positive but admitted ten years later he was a cheat. The official website record still has him as the 1996 winner.
Whether we like it or not, the Pro side of the sport is essentially like Bernie Ecclestone's Formula 1. ASO run it, and being a private family business, they run it how they want to. UCI is a toothless tiger, and usually acts like a stir crazy 50 year old zoo tiger at that. It's true that the Feds only care about their agenda, they are not responsible for cleaning up the sport. With virtually every Pro team DS or Team Management including an ex doper anyway (check Sky, Leo-tard, Saxo Bank, etc.), things are unlikely to change quickly either.
This too will pass.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
No weasels in Oz - they got eaten by the drop bears
Don't try and fuck these weasels!
@Marcus
At least when they eat your face off, you can enjoy their delightful eucalyptus breath.
@pakrat
What, no Frank Zappa reference?
Here ya go JiPM
@Marcus
Showing my age here, but The Dropbears were also a brilliant indie group in the late 80's doing the pub rounds. Had a minor hit as well "fun loving". Ah, those were the days....
That is some scary statistics as well! Didn't realise thay had a preference for the tourists either? Thanks Marcus
Bollocks. "Oi" is originally English. Like "bollocks". My father used to regularly start his many admonishments of his kids with "oi". We would often reply "bollocks". But generally very quietly.
And they're sheep, Mate, not weasels. (Though you'd pronounce them "shoip", as you dragged them throough to the pewel room.)