Cycling is hard; I’m not leaking any trade secrets with that statement, but it feels good to say it anyway. No Cyclist avoids suffering, but of those who venture into our world, there are some who seek to limit it while others choose to embrace it. Then we have a handful of characters who consider playing Whack-a-Mole with the Man with the Hammer to be good sport, particularly when playing the part of Mole.
In the current climate, it’s impossible not to consider the impact doping has on our sport. I, for one, have happily watched professional bike racing and delighted in the spectacle for close to thirty years, aware to varying degrees that doping is part and parcel of that spectacle I enjoy so much. In the last decade, I’ve gone so far as to assume most – if not all – riders are doping; a regrettable situation but one which has done little to temper my enthusiasm for the sport. After all, when all the riders are doing it, then surely what we’re watching is a level playing field of willing participants who understand how the game is played. Cheaters cheating cheaters hardly seems like cheating.
It’s all beautifully romantic so long as all the riders are doping. This is not the case, however; there are those who are racing clean against dopers. These riders are truly being cheated out of a livelihood by a culture which not only turns a blind eye to cheating, but who ostracize those who don’t. These riders who refuse to dope have few voices and last week, the sport lost one of the most forward of these with the retirement of Nicole Cooke.
Nicole has been a force in Women’s Cycling since turning Pro in 2002. A powerful rouleur, she excelled in every terrain and in any race format, but was nigh unbeatable in uphill finishes, taking a total of three La Fléche Wallonne Féminine titles, each of which required such a large laying of The V that it brought her to collapse. I was aware of her as much as anyone can be with the state of the coverage of Women’s Cycling, but she became one of my favorite riders after reading a piece in Rouleur about my favorite hub manufacturer, Royce. In the article, Royce’s Cliff Polton described being at a trade show when a young girl better described as a ball of loosely-contained energy bounded up on his booth and started asking about bottom bracket axles and wondering aloud if he could help her achieve her goal of becoming the wolds most dominant female cyclist.
Given what I understand of her personality, I get the feeling it was more like executing a plan than achieving a goal.
Cooke raced at the top of her sport for thirteen years; she scaled the heights of achievement with wins in every major race on the calendar including the Ronde van Vlaanderen voor Vrouwen, La Fleche, the Giro d’Italia Femminile and Grand Boucle (women’s Tour de France), the Olympic Road Race, and the World Championship Road Race. What’s more, she accomplished it while remaining staunchly anti-doping to the point that she faced sackings for refusing doping products.
Anyone who is a fan of Cycling should read Nicole’s retirement statement – I could never do it justice here. My personal hopes for the Pharmstrong Legacy is that it yields a a blood letting in the UCI and that the energy it spends on covering up its own corruption goes instead into promoting Women’s Cycling.
I’m sad to see Nicole go. Yet, for a rider who thrived in the hardest conditions and who unyieldingly stuck to her principles, I find it very fitting that the final two wins of her career came in Stages V of the Giro Femminile and Energiewacht Tour, respectively. Bravo, Nicole.
Here is the finale of her last Giro stage win:
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@Al__S
Most of what you say is absolutely right, but tennis is not a good analogy. A far far higher proportion of women play tennis than women who cycle, I think that is why the balance has been reached in womens tennis, but again this was not the case 10 years ago where the women were paid less and sponsorship was less for them.
You are correct about the catch 22 though. Sponsors will not come forward until they believe Women will watch the sports...and....women will only watch the sport if they get out and ride and love the sport....
Start with the schools...my son (and female classmates) were recently taken to a Velodrome to see how it all works and have a go as a school trip, they loved it and he now wants his birthday treat to be a visit to one again!...Get em young and the enthusiasm and passion will follow and in time so will the sponsors.
@ChrisO
As i read it, she was complaining about the fact that there is no protection for riders who have been employed to do a job. She herself said that she has had to chase teams through courts just to get her wages - and she's at the top of the heap - imagine what it's like for domestiques. These are people who have signed contracts to pay and haven't, not companies trying to decide whether to get in the game or not. The UCI doesn't stipulate a minimum wage that the teams have to pay (that doesn't have to much, just a definite amount they have to pay), so the UCI can just shrug its shoulders. Not sure I read she wanted equal pay, but she did want equal (or just some) grassroots opportunities at state or national level to help women get into the sport in the first place, raising the overall level of competition (perhaps to something you'd like to watch).
@Blah
As many have said, the UCI have an awful lot to answer for....
@Deakus
Too true.
@eightzero's comp after Portrait of a Hardwoman: Evelyn Stevens
@Tobin
Awww...fuuuuck. You're just baiting the Keepers on this, aren't you?
@eightzero
What you got against Evie?
@Deakus
No I don't think they have. I think one has and that one is Armitstead. I haven't seen Cooke do anything apart from be superb given a load of teen-age nonsense from Armitstead. This latest outburst from Armitstead was typical. I don't know how Cooke held back from saying, post the 2011 World Champs - "well I got 4th and nobody was working for me." Instead the press took on a sort of "Armitstead is the female Cav and was guaranteed a gold medal if only the evil queen Cooke had not dropped out of the front group with 1.5km and picked her up from half way down the peloton and then chauffer driven her to the front." Which had about as much sense about it as saying the moon is made of cheese. It wasn't possible. Armitstead does not beat any of the medalists that year in any sprint, unlike Cooke and what about the rest of the team. I didn't see Pooley doing anything to help and yet Armitstead did not bleat on about her.
Cooke's statement is absolute class. The UCI have plenty of levers they can pull to put that side of the sport into a virtuous circle, they just don't seem to be capable of anything, just transfixed in survival mode whilst the Lance story evolves.
Thanks for posting the video link. Absolutely superb. Great racing.
@DerHoggz
Spolied little rich girl. Not a fan. Hard worker? Sure. Time in the pain cave? Sure. Talented? Sure. Does she have lots and lots of time on her hands to go for training rides, put in pain cave time, and ride the best bikes money can afford? You betcha, because she made a wad of dough on wall street, and bought her way into the sport. To each their own; I just am not a fan. Others can feel differently, it's just how I pick my faves.
Me and @frank have had this duscussion elsewhere on the site.
@Deakus
Wow! Awesome statement. Now there's a wake up call for the world, and not just women's cycling, or even professional sports in general. There are a few Enlgish majors and Anthropology majors that I grew up with that could have used this advice about 20 years ago.
And before you all get your panties in a bunch, my wife was an English major and worked in journalism so it is possible to earn a living after getting a BA in English, I just have not seen it too often.