If you follow professional cycling, you probably know that the Tour de France is in full effect. This year however, the Tour doesn’t have the ‘Big’ Names that are we are used to. Gone are Landis, Ullrich, Basso and the latest, Petacchi all due to drug implications. Why do we care as bike commuters? Well, really, we don’t. It is just sad to see the grand sport of professional cycling go to the shit hole.
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Personally, I don’t see the big deal with the “scandal” that is Pro Tour cycling. People cheat…and they get caught. Meanwhile, others have found ways to beat the system. Whooopie whoa.
Our country is home to two of the planet’s most corrupted professional sports leagues (NFL and Major League Baseball). Players and staff have been using and abusing steroids, street drugs and other “doping” products for years, yet there is no outcry about it here. We still throw millions of advertising dollars to these groups and hundreds of “ass-hours” spent watching those sports…no nationwide boycott scheduled for the NFL season, I can assure you!
I am convinced that the big outcry about cheating in professional cycling is because a) in the U.S., good ol’ boys can’t pronounce all them “fer-in names”, b) them damn fer-iners wear obscenely tight clothing and c)they’re all a bunch of damn fer-iners…Bush-haters and pinkos.
Alright, rant off.
You also forgot to mention the fastest growing “sport” in America. NASCAR is also rampant with cheaters. You don’t see those drivers/crew chiefs getting 2 yr bans. (Well, except for Waltrip’s crew chief, but I think he got the shaft because he’s with Toyota).
No offense, Moe, but you shouldn’t have even posted anything about it.
At this point, legalizing performance enhancing drugs is about the only way to level the playing field and get me interested in cycling as a competitive sport again.
Randonneuring is still impressive and fascinating to me. The way things are going, you’d see me a heck of a lot more interested in the upcoming PBP than the TdF.
Noah, I wanted to see what some of you would say about the TdF. Interestingly, last year I wrote a post about (http://commutebybike.com/2006/07/06/le-tour-de-epo/) legalizing performance drugs. I got crap for it… Personally, I like Dirt Jumping and Track racing
As you imply, the reason there are so many scandals in professional cycling is because it is so closely policed, often by individuals and agencies that have no accountability or moderating regulations. I would love to see the level of mandatory testing that is required for bicycle racers applied to baseball, football, and basketball – what a circus it would be! Also, for what it’s worth, I recently saw an acticle that asserted that the professional sport with the highest level of doping is actually…(any guesses?)…billiards. Go figure. The riders in the very first Tour, and for many years thereaafter, would use any and every thing they could get their hands on that might give them an advantage, including cocaine, morphine, and tobacco (to expand the bronchial passages before the mountains). Of course, they weren’t allowed any support, either. Sounds good, yes? Anyone for a return to the roots of racing?
I am SURE those Klunkers were using “performance enhancing” substances….those cats looked like the biggest bunch of potsmoking hippie weedburners to ever walk the Earth!!!
If only ProTour cyclists were potsmokers instead of steroid-injecting, EPO-using badguys, I think we’d all enjoy their antics much more. Can you imagine watching 200 stoners try to race bikes down those narrow European streets?
I don’t see how you can be so cynical after a such a brilliant and gutsy performance to hold on to the coveted prize today by Fabian Cancellara. That much heart is not shown in any so called american sports.
We all know that the Tour is won on the Mountains, these early stages are just warm ups. We’ll see how Fabian will react to Vino’s and Kloden’s attacks.
re: Val
the reason doping is such a problem in cycling is the nature of the sport. it is all about strength and endurance, 2 things that drugs can certainly help you with. no amount of policing in basketball, for example, is going to reveal a ton of cheaters. drugs just dont help your jump shot the way they help you get through a 100+ mile road race.
this is not to denigrate the talent or physical condition of the riders. they are all clearly at the top of their game, but the availability of performance enhancing drugs and their effectiveness in the sport means that guys are always going to try to get an edge by cheating.
that said, the tour can still be very fun to watch.
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