The early eighties saw the tide change in the European Peloton. Components were taking on a new, curvy shape as they left their boxy forms behind. The glint of toe clips in the sun would become a rarer sight as the move towards clipless pedals would take hold in 1985. English speakers were winning the big races classically won by continental Pros.
The 1984 Tour could be my favorite edition of the race. In 1983, the rookie Laurent Fignon had won in the absence of Le Patron, Bernard Hinault. The 1984 race saw the two go head-to-head, with Fignon becoming the one and only person in history to have laughed at Hinault and lived. He did more than live, he won. The new guard was here, and they were making their presence known.
This photo is from the stage to l’Alpe d’Huez. LeMond was riding in support of Fignon, and Robert Millar, in his second Tour, was leading the King of the Mountains competition, which he would eventually win. Millar wrote an account of this stage in Issue 13 of Rouleur, which everyone should make an effort to find a copy of. He describes the attacks that come fast and furious on the penultimate climb in such vivid detail, it makes my guns ache. But worse than that is his and LeMonds effort to hold on to Fignon and Hinault’s wheels in the ride through the valley to Le Bourg d’Oisans and the base of the final climb. It is the perfect description of the suffering of the Cyclist. LeMond, in service to his leader, is on the front one moment as he reels Hinault in after an attack, before being cast into the gutter and the back wheel a moment later when the next attack comes.
Just as 1984 was a watershed moment in the Pro peloton, 2013 is a watershed year for the VSP. This year we are offering five amazing prizes from five amazing partners.
Prizes
First prize is a Veloforma Strada iR road frame, painted in an exclusive Velominati color scheme with the newly-designed Velominati Super Prestige logo. Please note that this is a brand-spankin’ new frame for Veloforma. The geometry can be reviewed here.
Second prize is a pair of Café Roubaix carbon tubular wheels. The winner of this prize will be given the choice between the sub-1000g Haleakala wheels or a road version of my beloved Arenberg wheelset. As an additional incentive, anyone who enters their picks in the Tour VSP will get a $200 discount on any wheelset at Café Roubaix.
Third prize is a pair of Bont cycling shoes. The winner of this prize will be assisted in selecting the size, color, and model of shoe.
Fourth prize is a Flandrian Best kit from DeFeet consisting of a wool U-D-Shirt, Arm Skins, Kneekers, Slipstreams, and a pair of V-Socks.
Fifth prize is a wool jersey from our Keepers Tour tour partners, Pavé Cycling Classics.
Many thanks to each of our sponsors for providing such exciting prizes.
Rules
Enter your picks for the top five riders on G.C. by the time the countdown clock goes to zero; Grand Tour scoring rules apply. Check the mapping of your picks by the end of Stage 1 and use the dispute system should it be mapped incorrectly.
We will be enforcing Piti Principle rules much more closely. We will be accepting pick disputes through the start of Stage 2. After that, it will be at The Keepers’ discretion as to whether or not we allow the dispute. If your pick is ambiguous and we map them to the wrong rider, make sure you check your disputes before the deadline; we may reject the dispute after that time. For example, should both Tony and Dan Martin take the start and you enter “Martin” as your pick, we will pick one for you and you will have to live with it if you forget to dispute it before the deadline.
Good luck, and Merckxspeed.
Update: This is the same paint scheme that the winner will have, except the VSP Winner’s Badge will be replacing the V-Lion.
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View Comments
@Buck Rogers
I love the way the press talks about someone "admitting" doping just after they get found out.
"well, what happened is that I had never doped before. I heard about this stuff called EPO. So I drove my car over the border on my own, bought some of it and shot it up. I never doped again."
About as likely as shooting up heroin without ever having smoked a joint.
nb. that is a made up quote - but it is what O'Grady is asking us to believe.
oh yeah, and i never doped again. But i used to be a sprinter and then in 2008 I was the guy pulling Sastre and the Schlecks through the lower passes, then i would hand over to my mate Jensy and then the guys would go on after that...
and one more thing, doping was never a part of any of the teams I was on, not even Cofidis in 2004, despite any suggestions by my mate Dave Millar that the team was involved.
@sthilzy
and thus we know what prompted the decision to change his mind just a month after signing a contract extension to finish at next year's tour...he's an indecisive one is our Stuey.
@Marcus
How about keeping quiet all through the Green Edge purge last year? He played Mr Clean, and happily collected another year's salary. What a prick! Shows how effective "thorough internal investigations" really are, not to mention the Nicki Vance review that cleared everyone else in the team once Whitey stood down.
And if it turns out that Whitey knew about SOG all along and still said nothing, then he might be fired for a 2nd time.
I don't buy the press release bullshit from Shayne Bannan expressing the team's support for SOG either. He and Gerry Ryan must be seething behind closed doors.
I know this next part is pure conjecture and hearsay, so shoot me down if you like. Maybe this is why SOG allegedly has the aggro drunkard reputation in the peloton. And why he and Schleckette allegedly used to go on regular benders, even during GTs - because they can't handle their own terrible truths.
@Bianchi Denti not sure about your conjecture, but O'Grady definitely has the pisshead reputation (which i like, not so much the aggro).
Here is the interview he did last December with cyclingnews. Couple of choice quotes:
"At the end of the day, I've been available whenever they want to talk and I'm happy to tell them everything that I know - most of the time I'm not going to have any of the answers that they're hoping for or want - but hopefully I can give an insight into my life and my world and the teams and the people that I was around."
"I was never a mountain climber and I just thought that losing half an hour a day was stock-standard," he said. "I was more of a sprinter so I did more sprint training. I never did mountain training. To be getting my arse kicked every Tour I just figured that was kind of normal. Obviously things weren't normal..."
His problem is back in Australia - no one in Europe will bat an eye, and most cycling fans in Australia will be unsurprised - but he has a decent non-cycling profile. Massive in South Australia (not that that means anything), on the AOC (not for much longer), etc etc.
Graeme Brown better hope they dont press Stuey too hard and he fesses up to more doping - Brown might lose an Olympic gold...
@Marcus
Or the even earlier thought process of "I doped for two weeks, came second in the Green jersey comp, won a stage in the Tour, but hell I don't want to do that again."
What's not to believe.
I'm only just catching up on this as I have been travelling, but I hope the general response is not that this was all a long time ago so lets forget it. While changing the results may be pointless, these people should not be working in the sport, in any capacity. Not as advisers, coaches, directors, commentators or representatives.
I see the Australian Olympic Committee has asked O'Grady to resign as the athlete's representative and that's a start but I don't want to see them re-appearing and perpetuating the culture of lies and forced admissions.
@sthilzy
Very easy to admit it when you are pretty much on the verge of retirement. Really not worth much more comment, we have seen it before, we will see it again, let's not fan the flames of publicity....
@Deakus
In terms of cycling identities generally and Australian sport as a whole, whilst it isnt too surprising it is a pretty fucking massive story. This guy is the member of the Australian Olympic Committee's Athlete's commission (seen as a very big role here), his Olympic Gold is seen by non-cycling sports fans as a massive thing and he holds a pretty revered role in cycling worldwide.
Being the first Australian Olympic Gold medallist to be exposed as a cheat (albeit at a different time in his career) makes it a big story.
And he only admitted when he was caught. An important difference.