Where now for our sport?

[foxvi]

After reading this editoral by cyclinghereos I now am in despair for cycling:

http://cyclingheroes.tripod.com/cyclingheroes.english/id981.html

Are all parties involved in the running of cycling never going to resolve their pathetic in fighting?

It appears that there are double standards everywhere you look - for a long time riders have been deemed the villians in this farce but it is not that simple to blame a rider who doped or who dopes. Behind them are the doctors, team managers, sponsors, press, TV companies, the race organisors, national associations, all clammering for victories and then there is the so called cycling authority the UCI.

The UCI's unwillingness to take the lead in investigations, with testing and doping from 1998 after the Festina affair and up to now has resulted in them losing all creditability which I dont think they will ever recover from. McQuaid looks more and more embrassed and out of his depth than ever this week.

Cycling will survive of course but as a fragmented sport in certain parts of Europe - everyone involved has missed the boat - greed and the longing for power has ruined all of them and us fans have lost our sport.

 

[Tor]

After reading this editoral by cyclinghereos I now am in despair for cycling:

http://cyclingheroes.tripod.com/cyclingheroes.english/id981.html

Are all parties involved in the running of cycling never going to resolve their pathetic in fighting?

It appears that there are double standards everywhere you look - for a long time riders have been deemed the villians in this farce but it is not that simple to blame a rider who doped or who dopes. Behind them are the doctors, team managers, sponsors, press, TV companies, the race organisors, national associations, all clammering for victories and then there is the so called cycling authority the UCI.

The UCI's unwillingness to take the lead in investigations, with testing and doping from 1998 after the Festina affair and up to now has resulted in them losing all creditability which I dont think they will ever recover from. McQuaid looks more and more embrassed and out of his depth than ever this week.

Cycling will survive of course but as a fragmented sport in certain parts of Europe - everyone involved has missed the boat - greed and the longing for power has ruined all of them and us fans have lost our sport.

Too many people and organisations fighting over pieces of the pie with no regard to anything but the dollar signs in their eyes.Of course, in all the double standards you mention, its always the little people who get ****ed over.

Not to absolve the cyclists totally but they're the ones who get busted and their names dragged through the mud. Its over a year since Landis's positive - cyclists and many non-cyclists alike know his name and his association with doping but how many people remember his team? Outside of cycling, probably only Phonak employees!

And we, the fans, get left with a sport in disarray and a reputation for all being dopeheads! Every Tom, **** or Harry thinks he can pass comment and dismiss an entire sport, but does so in ignorance. But then you can kind of forgive them their ignorance - how much coverage did the worlds get in the uk media? Next to nothing. And yet just imagine if Bettini had tested positive for something. I think you'd see a whole lot more coverage in that event.

Its politics that killing cycling, doping is just the stick to beat it with.

 

[JohnO]

Agree completely. Doping became a problem because cycling leadership ignored it, and in some cases, institutionalized it. Cycling isn't alone, all sports are infested with PED's.

In cycling's case, doping is particularly harmful, as it shows how arbitrarily the sport has been run, more like a private club than a professional sport. Never has that become more evident than in the last two years - banning, firing, being excluded on the basis of rumors and inferred charges. A modern witch hunt.

And now one must gamble a year's salary to the UCI based on that model of jurisprudence. It's in their financial interest to nail riders, and they don't need hard evidence to do it. Even an organization of the highest character might have a problem adhering to the spirit of that arrangement.

 

[Crankyfeet]

It's in their [UCI's] financial interest to nail riders, and they don't need hard evidence to do it.

I agree with your post but am having difficulty understanding what you meant with this statement. What is the financial interest in nailing riders? Are you referring to the $$$ penalty on riders?

 

[Bro Deal]

In cycling's case, doping is particularly harmful, as it shows how arbitrarily the sport has been run, more like a private club than a professional sport. Never has that become more evident than in the last two years - banning, firing, being excluded on the basis of rumors and inferred charges. A modern witch hunt.

The term "witch hunt" is generally used for a fruitless, unfair search for something that does not exist. But witches are very real in pro cycling. In fact, you cannot throw a rock into the peloton without hitting one. The witches outnumber the pious. The term witch hunt is not applicable to the situation.

A better allegory is Las Vegas in the 70s when large corporations and the state itself wanted to get rid of the mafia. Anyone with connections or even suspected connections to the mob was pushed out. Nowdays if you want to keep your gaming license, you had better not be seen eating lunch with Johnny "Tightlips" Castellano. You can swear up and down that it was just a social meeting and you don't have anything to do with organized crime and that it is unfair to have your license yanked, but you won't find much sympathy. You have to maintain an appearance of propriety to work and important position in the casinos.

A similar thing might be enacted for cycling. Anyone who has anything to do with doctors Ferrari, Conconi, Checcini, etc. has his license yanked--even if they are just happened to meet the good doctor in his RV in the middle of his Team Disco training ride.

 

[Crankyfeet]

Yours is a good analogy except that it is very difficult to be a large equity holder/owner of a casino(s) without being visible to everyone (esp. the govt.).

However, dope suppliers and the act of taking it are/is much harder to observe and detect. But the the net needs to widen obviously, and the Rasmussen case was a precedent. However Operation Puerto is just being covered up mostly, because the numbers of perps are too great it seems.

The term "witch hunt" is generally used for a fruitless, unfair search for something that does not exist. But witches are very real in pro cycling. In fact, you cannot throw a rock into the peloton without hitting one. The witches outnumber the pious. The term witch hunt is not applicable to the situation.

A better allegory is Las Vegas in the 70s when large corporations and the state itself wanted to get rid of the mafia. Anyone with connections or even suspected connections to the mob was pushed out. Nowdays if you want to keep your gaming license, you had better not be seen eating lunch with Johnny "Tightlips" Castellano. You can swear up and down that it was just a social meeting and you don't have anything to do with organized crime and that it is unfair to have your license yanked, but you won't find much sympathy. You have to maintain an appearance of propriety to work and important position in the casinos.

A similar thing might be enacted for cycling. Anyone who has anything to do with doctors Ferrari, Conconi, Checcini, etc. has his license yanked--even if they are just happened to meet the good doctor in his RV in the middle of his Team Disco training ride.

 

[Crankyfeet]

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