Curiously enough the whole landis affair really underlines the underlying popularity of the sport of road cycling.
Let's be honest the list of palmares at top pro level is utterly meaningless since the list of caught/uncaught dopers is as long as your arm with for instance the past 4 winners of le tour and all three current GT winners in one way or another under a cloud. We also have the likes of Museeuw giving the usual dopers "i never tested positive" response nad effectively admitting guilt.
The sport should be dead years ago. Yet somehow it remains.
Wow. What a mess.... cycling, which promotes health, has become a means for competitive cheats to exploit their bodies through questionable medical practices. The absolute best piece in the page in my opinion was this:
"In an official statement, the Valencian Government said after being excluded from the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, it is no longer viable to project [the ideals of] sport through elite cycling. However, despite this drastic decision, the government guaranteed the ongoing support of cycling in general, oriented towards "the promotion of a healthy lifestyle".
Wow. What a mess.... cycling, which promotes health, has become a means for competitive cheats to exploit their bodies through questionable medical practices. The absolute best piece in the page in my opinion was this:
"In an official statement, the Valencian Government said after being excluded from the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, it is no longer viable to project [the ideals of] sport through elite cycling. However, despite this drastic decision, the government guaranteed the ongoing support of cycling in general, oriented towards "the promotion of a healthy lifestyle".
The straw that broke the camels back perhaps? have we reached tipping point?
I think the scandals of the last month will definitely have an effect in the states. I know a lot of people who want to wash their hands of pro cycling. Hamilton followed by Heras followed by Operation Puerto seems to have added so much weight against their view of the sport they cannot deny the truth anymore. Landis is the last straw.
I have been of the opinion for a long time that no one has won the Tour since 1990 without doping, but there did not used to be a lot of people who bought into that. Most people I talk with truly believed that Armstrong was the victim of a witch hunt and only a few bad apples were doping. Now they act like they always knew cycling was overrun with dopers.
I think the scandals of the last month will definitely have an effect in the states. I know a lot of people who want to wash their hands of pro cycling. Hamilton followed by Heras followed by Operation Puerto seems to have added so much weight against their view of the sport they cannot deny the truth anymore. Landis is the last straw.
I have been of the opinion for a long time that no one has won the Tour since 1990 without doping, but there did not used to be a lot of people who bought into that. Most people I talk with truly believed that Armstrong was the victim of a witch hunt and only a few bad apples were doping. Now they act like they always knew cycling was overrun with dopers.
In truth it goes back before 1990.
we will never know but I wonder how many tours have actually been won fair and square. Does it say anything that kelly, a superb rider and as hard a man who ever rode and who was almost certainly clean, never won the Yellow?
Perhaps its paranoia now but if a stomne wall of a man like kelly couldn't do it can it be done?
The reason I pick 1990 and 1991 dates is that is the time when the first riders began using EPO under supervision of doctors like Ferrari and Conconi. Before that the dope that was available had limited effectiveness and it was possible for a clean athlete to compete with a doped one. EPO gives such large performance gains that I cannot believe a clean talented rider can compete with a doped talented rider.
