21 July 2008

Rest day reflections...

Rest day reflections on le Tour de France...

I haven't written much about this year's Tour de France, mostly because I haven't felt incited to do so, well, except the other day when Ricco got taken down for doping. And then come to find out, Piepoli got taken down as well. Turns out, 2 bad apples do make a bunch, as their sponsor is going to pull out because of the 2 doping cases, and the team has suspended their racing schedule pending, well, whatever happens next. Way to go you ego-maniac! You almost, by yourself, took down your entire team, and will probably put a bunch of people out of work just because you wanted to win a bike race. Your support staff, your directors, your fellow riders, they are all probably going to be out of a job. Talk about downsizing. I think therein lies the real bad rotten end of doping. Someone on your team takes some PEDs to win a bike race or 2, said person gets busted, and then the entire team either folds immediately, or ends up folding at the end of the year because of it. Then you have 30 something riders looking for work, one less top end team to take any of them in, and a bunch of not very well paid support staff looking for jobs as well. Even if doping did just affect the one person doing it, maybe you assholes doing it should just think of someone beside yourself before jabbing a needle into your vein to make you go uphill faster. Maybe you ought to think about the other people around you, who are, like it or not, going to be affected by your actions. That's the insidiousness of doping right there. Not the guy taking it, but everyone around him who gets screwed to the wall at the end of the day. You don't really see this with other top level sports. Say, someone in pro baseball gets busted. Their entire team doesn't get suspended from playing. Just the one player. Their team sponsors don't pull out, and stop paying everyone, maybe just that one guy, and maybe only for a month or so. It's different for cycling. A lot different, and it affects a lot more people. So to you dopers out there, think about it before you go doping away. Think about your soigneur's infant child, whose mouth you'll be taking food out of. Think about your teammates, who won't have a team come this time next year. And above all, stop thinking about yourselves.

Moving on from that little blight on my otherwise great day. I've got to throw out props, big time, to Garmin-Chipotle. Here you have a team that has taken upon itself an internal doping program like almost no other in the world. There are other teams out there who are doing something similar, but Garmin-Chipotle I think came down with this first. Their riders are tested at least once every 2 weeks throughout the year, and sometimes more. All of this information is contained in their dossier, and is available for review at any point in time by the powers to be if and when it is required. This is not to mention the other testing that is carried out on these athletes, for example, by their own cycling federations, at races, and other random controls that pop up every once in awhile. This is good. This team is transparent, and they can be proud of that, and maybe even a little smug. Having that program got them into the Tour de France. Their early season results didn't hurt too much either really. They seem to have a great thing going, and as far as sponsors wanting to be involved with them, I think that they are only going to grow from here. Why? Well, we've seen sponsor after sponsor dump their teams because of doping. Here you have a squeaky clean team riding, and winning some races, and riding at the front, and doing well for the most part, and they are as transparent as Caspar the Friendly Ghost. They're doing it right. If you have been watching/reading the Tour coverage, you will also seem something else about them. They are getting involved. They are in the breakaways,
Danny Pate made the final selection yesterday, and almost took a win on a tough alpine stage. Christian VandeVelde is sitting in 5th place overall (only 39 seconds back from the lead), and they are doing it without doping. As far as we know. They are showing the rest of the cycling world that you can be competitive, and you can be strong, without doping. It's inspiring to me and it makes me want to watch the sport more now. I dread and fear what would happen though if one of their riders currently in the Tour de France got busted for doping. I fear we'd see that team come tumbling down around Jonathan Vaughters' sharply pointed sideburns. I do believe in the sport, but the last few years have made me very cynical about it as well. As I said, Garmin-Chipotle gives me great hope, but I'm also waiting for the house to come down. Let's just say that nothing would surprise me anymore. For the time being though, go Garmin-Chipotle! I want to see Christian VandeVelde attack tomorrow. Why? Because if he wants to win, he needs to attack, and he needs to be able to ride away from the other leaders, or maybe bring one or 2 of them with him, and then kick them in the ass during the TT. I believe he ought not to protect his position, on the other hand, he should lay it out there. If it works, it works, and he might win the biggest race of his career. If it doesn't work, well, you can't say he didn't try. And the best part about his efforts thus far, he's been pretty much doing it all alone. CSC had 3 or 4 guys on the final climb yesterday, and they were yanking it. Christian? Nope, he was alone. Sure, Pate was up the road, but he wasn't coming back, well, that break wasn't coming back. VandeVelde is basically doing it alone. If he could get just a little help from Millar, Lowe, or Ryder, he might be able to attack better up the final climbs of the day. One thing is for sure, this Tour has been exciting. It's been great to watch, and to take in. The race favorites, at the head of the race, kicking each other in the nuts every chance they get. It is also inspiring to watch, and to see. This is the way it should be. Not one entire team riding TTT style into the final climb of the day, and then burning everyone off, giving a springboard to their team leader. Sure, that works, and it led to many victories for Armstrong, but it's also boring to watch. I enjoy seeing these guys, pain faced, clawing up the climbs, attacking each other, coming back, attacking again, helping one another. It's great race drama. It's been a great race so far, and tomorrow, we have a killer day, and the day after that, we have l'alpe d'Huez. It's going to be very interesting to see who rises, and who falls, and who gets taken out of contention.

Now, if only I had cable so I could watch the race on TV at night. I don't right now, and that's disappointing, so I have to read the blow by blow accounts on Cyclingnews.com, which suffices, but I do like to see the pictures. Next year I guess I'll be able to watch it. Next year...

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1 Comments:

At 7:50 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

suck it.
http://schnookedinderspurt.blogspot.com/

 

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