kostyap

Stumbled upon old 2005 article.

"Christophe Bassons, the most courageous rider in the history of the sport, is the first to challenge the old omerta and is rewarded immediately by being ushered into retirement. Marco Pantani, a celebrated drug-user and cheat, dies of an overdose and the sport responds with talk of building him a monument.

The British rider David Millar threatens to sue The Sunday Times for impugning his reputation, and six weeks later, when exposed as a cheat by French police, begs us to believe in his sudden conversion to morality and starts promoting himself as a role model for kids.

Meanwhile, it’s business as usual on the Tour, where the Spaniard Jesus Manzano narrowly avoids joining the legend of Tom Simpson when he goes into seizure after a dodgy blood transfusion. In 13 months seven riders — Denis Zanette, 32, Fabrice Salanson, 23, Jose-Maria Jimenez, 32, Johan Sermon, 21, Mario Ceriani, 16, and Marco Rusconi , 24, die of heart attacks and we are still asked to believe in “the most beautiful job in the world”.

Did not know it was that bad. Any difference now?

Velo Dog

I dunno about the tour, or very much about pro cycling. But a neighbor of mine is a pro sports agent (mainly football, but some hoops and a few baseball players). He's semi-retired now, but in the 20 years i've known him he's represented some major players, including a Super Bowl MVP and some hall of famers. he says that in his experience, performance enhancing drugs are so commonly used it's nearly impossible to compete without them. The difference between becoming a multimillionaire and being almost good enough is so small, and the business is so competitive, that virtually everybody is forced to use.
when I questioned him about it, he said something like, "You can take the juice and make $5 million a year, or you can stand on principle and get a job selling insurance." In cycling, the effort is so high and the difference between first and 75th so small that I can't imagine it's any different.

CyciumX

Didn't Graeme Obree state that cycling sucked (my words - not his) because you had to use performance enhancers "just" to stay competitive since everyone else was doing them?

DScott

Read Paul Kimmage's new book: Memoirs of a self-hating cyclist

recon455

And that's in the bad sports.

duuuuuude

Gilbert just won Amstel Gold!

Think he stayed true to his convictions from 2005?

Not implying anything. I like the dude!