Tour Cheats Soil Their Own Sport

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What Now For The Tour?

30th July 2007

Well it is over. What seemed like the best tour ever with no dominant team and rider descended into chaos. I was advising Big Brother devotees to watch it as you never knew who was next to go...

Worst of all to the organisers must have been Leipheimer's last time trial looking a bit like the left field effort of the previous weekend's time trial winner - Vino. How their hearts must have sunk as Leipo took time out of an accomplished cyclist like Evans mercifully staying in third - just.

Even some vague gladness of the cheats being caught will be soured by Discovery riders in the 1st and 3rd slots. With one of Dr Michele Ferrari's boys in 3rd and 1 caught and 1 thrown off hopefully next year the Tour will be allowed to give Discovery the middle of June off.

A soiled unsatisfactory tour.

A seemingly young fresh faced winner, Contador, but one who rides for the team that was US Postal 'linked' in the past with players like Landis, Armstrong, Heras, Hamilton, Hincapie and Leipheimer. They tried to recruit the disgraced Ivan Basso this year!

Not to mention people linked to Dr Michele Ferrari like Vino, Landis, Armstrong, Hincapie, Leipheimer, Rogers and Rasmussen. Seriously is there only one doctor in Europe and USA who knows about sports medicine? Why pick a guy so heavily implicated in the use of EPO?

Never mind Contador was at least removed from suspision in the Operation Puerto investigation. He obviously made a 'careless' choice of doctor. An error that should surely in future mean he is excluded.

Let us hope that next year the Tour is in control and the likes of Rogers, Leipheimer and Contador have shown they are clean with no suspicion. That all those under a cloud have weekly results of blood tests publicly published or are not allowed on.

Otherwise we will wonder as Wiggins did if the only people challenging for yellow are cheats. The youngsters will probably conclude the only way to win is to join them. The Moral Hazard of Rasmussen do right for himself and help kill cycling - take the short term advantage for yourself like a pissed up Liam Plunkett deciding to drive rather than hire a cab.

I also hope the naive commentators and their implicated co commentators either get a bit less naive and/or a bit more honest next year. Seriously were Sherwin, Roche and Kelly unaware of anything when they cycled? Was Rasmussen's right to silence really the issue that Sean Kelly made it? Or was it not the UCI had the perfect opportunity to exclude the cheat and failed to take it?

Surely the TV companies have to demand these people fuel an honest debate and do what Bjarne Riis did for the good of the sport not themselves. That is not accusing them personally of anything but did they really see nothing and have nothing to contribute on this debate? You contrast these figures with Boardman and Wiggins and what they have to say.

The fact is that drugs and cycling may be at a low. Anecdotes of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s tend to suggest this. Now the old guys who grew up in those teams are hopefully being packed off in disgrace. Indeed I would be hard pressed hand on heart to name a single tour winner not on something - Greg LeMond would be my first choice and he has not been around for a while.

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