Originally Posted by SoreFeet
The original riders of the tour are the finest ever and never got paid enough. They were truly the greatest riders who ever lived. No tour cars to change flats or bikes, no gears, just legs and balls. Red wine, cigarettes...ah those were the days when men were men. Now we have doping/carbon fiber sissies. Why can't the tour be like the good old days...?
You mean great, honest competitors like Maurice Garin who won the first TDF and then was disqualified in the second for taking the train instead of biking in order to get ahead of his competitors?
Or perhaps you mean guys like Bernard Thévenet who won in 1977 after testing positive for drugs earlier in the year and then two months after winning the TDF admitted taking drugs?
Oh, maybe you mean Eddy Merckx, widely considered the greatest cyclist ever. Did he dope? Well, many contest it but he actually failed two drug tests during his reign.
Perhaps you're referring to Anquetil who admitted to intentially losing a race because he was paired with Poulidor and he said he got more enjoyment watching Pou Pou lose than to win himself. Yep, that's admirable.
Modern cycling did not invent cheating, immorality or bad people. They've been with us since the beginning.