Tour de Farce
In the past, I’ve been an avid follower of the Tour de France. I got slightly bored with the predictability of the eventual outcome when Lance Armstrong was winning every year, but there were still some epic battles on individual stages, particularly those in the mountains. In 2006, I was looking forward to a more open race, and enjoyed the Tour, only to face a massive disappointment when the winner — Floyd Landis — failed a doping test. He appealed against that test result, so we still don’t know a year later whether he should be considered the winner of the 2006 Tour or not. This year has been even worse for doping scandals, with mass failures or withdrawals of the leaders of the race.
The physical demands of the Tour have always seemed so hellish to me1 that I’m amazed anyone can do it at all, doped or clean, but the race becomes a farce when so many people fail doping tests. As soon as someone puts in an amazing performance or makes a spectacular recovery (like Vinokourov in the time trial), you immediately wonder what they’re on, rather than marvelling at their athleticism. I also feel incredibly sorry for the clean riders in the race, who end up lagging behind all the super-charged dopers, but get tarred with the same brush.
Predictably, there have been a number of editorials in the sports pages of the newspapers suggesting that this is make-or-break time for the sport of road cycling, and I think that I generally agree. If the sport doesn’t clean up its act dramatically, sponsors will pull out, and — more importantly — fans will become disillusioned with the whole thing.
1 They go faster up a 45 degree slope than I do going down one. ↑
1
Interesting that two British riders were visibly very hacked off - Millar started crying in a press conferance whilst talking about Vinokourov, and Bradley Wiggins was very bullish too. I didn't think the odd positive test would have had much effect on me, but it has really spoilt it this year. Possibly good news that the organisers are going to split from the UCI and organise their own doping tests from now on. I went to Canterbuty to see the end of day one, and the fantastic atmosphere then seems a very long way away now.
by birchscrub @ 30/07/2007 8:59 pm • Permalink •
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I think one thing that marks this years Tour out against others is that the majority of the peloton is vehemently anti-doping - the 1998 race had riders protesting about the tests, this year they protested about the users.
I agree that the Tour has a number of riders who do abuse the system, and had done for years. After all it was Anquetil who said 'you can't ride the Tour de France on mineral water'. However, I think now the organisers, riders and teams realise that it is affecting the perception of the race and are taking action (the whole Astana team leaving following Vinokourov's positive and Rabobank pulling Rassmussen even though he has not exactly broken any rules). With the increase and improvements in testing, things may well get worse before they get better [and the testing needs improving, the levels of ineptitude coming to light from the Landis case is staggering].
I also think that anyone who believes that this is a problem that is solely endemic of the sport of cycling needs to reconsider: of the 200 or so names recovered from Operation Puerto, only a small number were cyclists.
It doesn't help that the press gives 10 seconds of daily coverage to what is arguably the largest sporting event in the world, unless there is something negative to say, and the Radio 2 pundit mangling the pronunciation of Cadel Evans smacks of someone who hasn't spent even 5 minutes actually watching the race.
by Ian @ 30/07/2007 9:16 pm • Permalink •
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If you're disillusioned with Le Tour, then you certainly must be disillusioned with all sports. It seems to me that cycling is MOST concerned with cleaning things up, and that many other sports are MOST concerned with looking the other way (i.e. not losing the viewers and hence sponsors!).
And before we call it "mass failures" let's put it into perspective. Two riders were ejected during the Tour (Vino and Sinkewitz). Another was fired by his team (Rasmussen). Today we are hearing that Mayo may have a non-negative test for EPO, but even with that, we're talking about 4 out of 189. Hardly "mass failures".
Besides all of this, the sport is still beautiful, and the athletes, although just pawns in a bigger messier game of politics and money, are still incredible.
Please, let's keep things in perspective shall we?
by Stephen Waits @ 30/07/2007 11:42 pm • Permalink •
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Oops.. I forgot Moreni. Message stays the same though... --Steve
by Stephen Waits @ 30/07/2007 11:47 pm • Permalink •
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I agree that the signs point to cleaner future Tours: I read that despite taking a lot more samples during this Tour than in the past, there were a lot fewer positives and (until Mayo) no EPO. Re Cadel, the Australian TV commentary and interviews covered his efforts in considerable detail: after Vino's departure and again after Rasmussen's dismissal, various commentators rhapsodised about how knackered Cadel was at the end of each mountain stage, with the strong implication that he couldn't possibly be cheating. btw I think the steepest gradient on the Tour was 11% -- a rise of 1m in 9m, or 6 degrees; for comparison, the road into Robin Hood's Bay is 1 in 4: my partner made me get off our tandem and walk because he didn't think our brakes would hold if both of us tried to ride down that hill.
by Audrey @ 31/07/2007 12:05 am • Permalink •
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I must disagree. What you are seeing is the result of the sport trying to clean up its act. The Tour is cleaning house, and the most noticeable thing is the garbage left outside.
by Martin Polley @ 31/07/2007 5:49 am • Permalink •
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Not forgetting, of course, that the Tour cost the British Taxpayers £6.8 MILLION to support the sections that were run through the UK.
WHAT?
We're paying for a bunch of drug addicts to block roads and cause chaos?
by Andy Cunningham @ 31/07/2007 9:24 am • Permalink •
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Actually andy - we pad for a grand day out for 6 million people, plus the adverising of London (deson't need it) and Kent (which could use it) on TV to a large audience. I'll assume you're not in favour of the Olympics coming here either?
I take the point that if you didn't test, you wouldn't know you had any cheats, but the disappointment is that the people who have been caught are all the big names. At one turn, that's obvious, because the drugs give them the advantage to put them at the front. But it is also dispiriting - a: how thick are they? clearly they're taking a big risk. b: somehow cycling requires an emotional investment from me - the history & the story are something I buy into in a way I don't with other events. So I resent the cheating & lack of respect more than in other events.
by birchscrub @ 31/07/2007 5:01 pm • Permalink •
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@Andy: Do you not think that your economy saw a relatively huge infusion of money during the Tour? And, aside from those already realized financial gains, think of all the people in the world seeing London in all its glory on their televisions, and thinking, "you know, we should really get over there one of these days".
by Stephen Waits @ 31/07/2007 6:02 pm • Permalink •
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birchscrub: Yes, I felt pretty sorry for Wiggins.
Ian: That is encouraging, but I wonder how many more Tours like this we'll have to go through before it really is clean throughout.
Stephen Waits: Well, cycling is the only sport I follow, so I couldn't really care less what happens in other sports
And for me, the problem was more with the quality of the riders who failed rather than the quantity per se.
Audrey: My reference to a 45 degree slope was a lame attempt at a humorous exaggeration. Plus, it always looks like 45 degrees when you see it on TV
Andy Cunningham: I don't know if the money was worth it or not -- I think that these things are very difficult to quantify.
by bsag @ 01/08/2007 5:39 pm • Permalink •
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