posted Jul 27, 2007

indeed. i think lemond's idea is pretty good. no disrespect to contador but u just cant have faith in him...

when was the last time a young rider won the tour?

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posted Jul 27, 2007

If Rasmussen had gone down in a crash (thoguh no fault of his own) this close to the end then nobody would be suggesting we have no champion. It's hardly fair on the riders left in the race to say that none of them deserve to win just because Rasmussen got sacked by his team.

I'd prefer it if Contador didn't win because of the mess last year but nothing has been proved and anyway the race isn't over yet! I've still got hope that Cadel can gain enough time in the ITT.

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posted Jul 27, 2007

The idea has merit. If only in that it will serve as a record in history as to how when left unchecked, systematic cheating will in time bring a sport to its knees.

As has been said in other articles, its very likely the race would have panned out differently without the Rasmussen/Contador dual. In simple cycling terms it made fantastic viewing, but without Rasmussen, Discovery may well have spent Contador in Levi’s favour and the battle for the yellow jersey would between Levi and Evans.

But the argument is countered, as morganmuffle says, by the fact that any sort accident/random event can instantly change the complexion of the race.

In fact, if Vino and Kloden had not crashed, I suspect both of them would still be in the race and the anti doping frenzy wouldn’t have got going, meaning Rasmussen would probably still be there as well. That would throw the Levi verses Evans scenario in the bin.

As for having no winner, I very much doubt it will happen though. And anyway, do we really want to take the Polkadot jersey from Hernandez Soler or the White jersey from Amets Txurruka?

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posted Jul 27, 2007

Great we now have a possible winner who wasnt allowed to ride last year and a a pretender to the crown that is the result of the Australian Systematic Drug Scheme, this is a sad day for cycling. Why dont they just ride in to Paris and then draw the winner from a hat.

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posted Jul 27, 2007

In terms of competition it has been the most exciting tour in many a year; but it is time for zero tolerance even before the tour starts; if someone has missed one out of competition test too many, they should not even be allowed to start the tour. the suspicion is enough to taint the sport. No one in their right minds can claim that missing 4 out of competition tests in 18 months is due to administrative rror: one maybe, 2 is pushing it...3 is evidence of deliberation and of evading the anti-doping authorities; just look at Kenteris and Thanou, the Greek sprinters; they never tested positive but everyone knows they were doing something illegal. Rasmoussen's team should have pulled him out before the race. And teams need to know where their riders are at all times, if they are to be able to control them and avoid doping.

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posted Jul 27, 2007

Looking at the situation as a whole from a young rider’s point of view, I feel hurt by the way that some of these rider's have acted before and during the Tour. For a professional to miss a drugs test is just unacceptable. You are getting paid money, yes money to do something you love, there is no excuses. I think that out policy in the UK is good to a certain extent where if you miss a test for whatever reason, you are not allowed to compete for the country at the Olympics, and rightly so. We need to make sure that at least the biggest sporting event is vaguely clean?

Before I was interested in cycling, I competed in athletics, a sport that cycling is now unfortunately on terms with for all the wrong reasons... One memory that stuck in my mind was when Dwain Chambers was caught for using THG, I was devastated. I had looked up to him for years and followed his career right through. For a young aspiring athlete to see your 'idol' get caught cheating was really upsetting. To know that all those times you saw them, they had an unfair advantage. This opened my eyes to drugs in sport and I soon wanted to get as far away from it as possible.

Cycling was my next love, and from here triathlon. 2 years ago I switched over to rowing, a sport where few drugs can give you that 'edge' over your competition and there have been very few (in the region of 2) high profile cases where oarsmen/oarswomen have been caught. I am glad to have left athletics and to an extent cycling. I still ride when I get the chance, and I still watch the true sportsmen like Marlon Devonish, but to now participate in a sport where you can almost guarantee that the people you look up to, your role models right at the top of their game have made it not through tablets and a syringe, poor organisation and lies, but through hard work, determination and the will to win clean, now that IS inspiring.

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posted Jul 27, 2007

Lance_EPO_Armstrong: UCI have admitted that Contador should never have been mentioned in relation to Operation Puerto and I've never heard of the Australian Systematic Drug Scheme. If you have any links to news articles on this I would look forward to reading it. Other than being cyclists in the Tour de France there is no reason to suspect Contador or Evans. I had a huge issue with Rasmussen winning but can't begrudge Contador his place at the top of the podium.

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posted Jul 27, 2007

The last time a young rider won both the white and yellow jersey was in 1997 - Jan Ullrich. Ullrich even won the white jersey in 96 and 98 - and was second in the GC both years (behind Riis & Pantani, respecyively). Of course, none of the aforementioned was clean...

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posted Jul 27, 2007

" In pure cyling terms"

Are you serious? how can the word 'pure' be used to describe any of what has gone on? The close competiton and thrilling ends mean nothing because as a aspectator you just don't know who's performing at a natural or stimulated level, thus making it all pointless.

By ignoring the fact that the sport is full of cheats and posting comments about how it's fun to watch regardless, is simply irresponsible.

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