Professional Cycling - Drugs - A Tour de France Tradition

Henri Pelissier, winner of the 1923 TdF quit the 1924 race when he was penalized for removing one of the two jerseys he wore. He and his brother were found in a restaurant drinking hot chocolate. A reporter interviewed them and Pelissier, opening his pill box said "..cocaine for the eyes and chloroform for the gums.....and do you want to see the pills? We ride on dynamite."

It's been going on a long time.

Good story, I can believe it. I could believe pharmaceuticals have played a part since 1903 or soon after too.
I have a few biking dvd's here including "Hell of the North- Paris-Roubaix". Now that I think of it, what appeals to me most about that one is that it attempts to show racing without commentators making any value judgments about the racers. It's just about competitive cycling and the race experience. That's all I really need to see. What I've gotten since I've been watching the TDF is basically a media attempt to glorify LA, others and their human achievement. That's out of the bounds of pure racing I think. There's enough about the TDF to appeal to me, that I don't need to care too much about who wins it.

I'm just happy that weightliftng is substance free.

I'm just happy that weightliftng is substance free.

LOL

If they ever come up with a real test for HGH.........

Don't get me wrong I love the sport and was in Atlanta in 96 when Chemerkin (sp?) set a Clean and Jerk World Record but clean...........:rolleyes:

I'm just happy that weightliftng is substance free.
:D :D :D

I do not believe there's any clean professional sport anymore. Even amateur sports are affected at some point. The worst was probably during the Cold War when the US and the Eastern Block were battling for Olympic glory. That's when the science of sport medicine really kicked off. It has never stopped since. Now it's not about glory, it's about money, very big money.
One truth was told by the UCI top honcho today: "only the cyclists are penalized now. we have to find to way to punish teams and organizations as well."
One interesting comment from the boss of Phonak company when asked if the sponsorship of a cycling team was worthwhile. His response was that there's no other way in the world to get so much press and media exposure for so cheap. That's from the team with the most doping scandals in the last 2 or 3 years. That comment was made at the end of the Tour before the Landis allegation surfaced. Well Phonak gets a lot of coverage just before leaving the keys to iShare.