Figaro

I guess all of us have a bit of Schadenfreude, taking pleasure in the misfortunes of others, in us, but Fred Metheny and Ed Pavelka of Roadbikerider.com have it on a psychotic level. In this week's Roadbikerider.com newsletter, they gloat over the inability of Joseba Beloki to recover his physical and mental health after his horrible crash at the 2003 Tour de France. They mock his attempts to get into form this year. But what is their real concern? By having crashed in that mushy tar, Berloki got in the way of Armstrong and might have caused their hero to be hurt.

Their incredible lack of compassion made me sick. These are grown men who look at the world like self-centered teenagers. A few weeks ago, they actually blamed Tyler Hamilton for ruining Lance's retirement statement. They made it sound like that "cheater" had the arbitration panel to save the announcement of their decision just to ruin what "should have been Lance's day." That's on the level of "how dare Daddy to have a heart attack right before my sweet-16 party." No matter what your opinion of the arbitration panel's decision or of Hamilton's guilt or innocence, many of us--maybe even the majority of us--have liked Hamilton and are just plain sad about seeing his career unravel before our eyes. This is called compassion, it keeps us civilized by looking beyond ourselves with concern for others.

These roadbikerider.com guys are doing Lance Armstrong a terrible disservice. They seem to think that best way to show how great Armstrong is is to show the misery of Beloki, Hamilton, and others. Pavelka and Metheny are jerks and they make Armstrong look like a jerk by being associated with them. These guys are in the business of selling cycling advice: Their lack of good sense in these articles make me question their lack of good sense in any of their writings. Anyone want a copy of Fred Metheny's Complete Book of Roadbike Training cheap?

Hanzo

I'll bet they don't smile when they ride by either.

lilHinault

Sports don't develop character, they reveal it.

goldfish

ROTFLMAO

CommuterRun

The level of poserness can often be determined by the shade of brown of the nose.

stealthbiker

Went to their web site and looks like all the good stuff is for "premium" subscribers only. But I agree - mean people suck. Beloki had a terrible accident - only by the grace of God (or good bike handling) did Armstrong (or any other rider) not have this happen to them. To gloat about it just makes them a**holes.

iowarose

Here's what they wrote, from Thursday's newsletter. I'm not entirely sure whether you can see it on the website or not. Their tone didn't really strike me as gloating, but clearly YMMV.


Remember Joseba Beloki? If the name doesn't ring a bell, one spectacular crash will.

Beloki is the rider who lost it in a downhill turn during the wild 2003 Tour de France. Right behind him was Lance Armstrong, bidding for his record-tying fifth Tour victory.

The French roads in July were as hot as the racing action. Tar was melting. Beloki overcooked the turn, fishtailed, rolled his rear tire (a tubular) and went down hard. An overhead camera captured the accident, guaranteeing that race fans will be cringing forever.

If that image is vivid, so is what happened next -- the sight of Armstrong braking hard and veering off the road to miss the fallen Spaniard. Lance kept his wits, bucked down through a farmer field, dismounted to jump a ditch, and latched onto the small group (now lead group) that had been chasing him.

The cycling gods were extra kind to Lance that day. If the road hadn't turned back on itself or a wheel had crumbled in the rough field, win No. 5 may very well have been lost.

The cycling gods have not been kind to Beloki. In 2003 he was a top Tour contender, a rider who had previously finished on the podium. The crash broke his bones and ended his season. The next year was a disaster as well. Beloki was clearly not the same rider physically or mentally.

He still isn't. After three stages of the Giro d'Italia he is in 159th place, almost 9 minutes off the pace being set by Paolo "The Cricket" Bettini. Beloki says he's riding mainly to support his Liberty Suguros teammates while building form for the Tour.

At 31, Beloki still believes he can contend for the yellow jersey. If he can, it would certainly earn "comeback of the year" honors for one of cycling's tragic figures.

HigherGround

Wow, I'm glad the article was included. My initial reaction to the first post was, "Pavelka and Matheny are a bunch of prix". However, after reading the article, it seems to me that they were simply giving an update on a rider who many people may have forgotten about. I would suspect that most people who saw that crash remember it pretty clearly. I also bet that many people who saw Lance's impromptu cyclocross session remember that pretty well, whether they are cycling fans or not. How many people could have named the rider in the crash, or said what he was up to now? Significantly fewer, I'd bet. That the article ends by commenting on Beloki making the comeback of the year if he is competitive at the Tour, and that he is a "tragic figure" in cycling suggests that the authors are being sympathetic rather than petty and vindictive.