It’s really sad to see the demise of the Tour de France as it destroys itself under the weight of persistant performance enhancing drugs scandals.
I really got into the Tour in the mid 80’s when there was the most amazing run of exciting races, starting with Bernard Hinault 5th tour win in 85 – he and his understudy Greg Lemond basically rode away from the rest of the peleton.
In 86 Hinault and Lemond were again a different class to the field but the roles were reversed with Lemond becoming the first American to win the race – the pair had a touchy relationship and seemed to make and and break up on a stage by stage basis – they rode away from the peleton on Alpe d’Huez and crossed the line together hand in hand as a show of unity, however the race officials studied the film, refusing to give a joint stage win, and I think gave it to Hinault. However in the offseason Lemond was seriously hurt in a hunting accident and missed the next couple of seasons recovering.
87 featured a spell binding battle between Stephen Roche and Pedro Delgado – with Roche performing a miracle on the finish at La Plagne – at one point Roche was over a minute behind Delgado but somehow crossed the line only 4 seconds back and promptly collapsed – that amazing effort allowed him to take the lead for good at the time trial. Cycling lore has it that he sold his soul to the devil on that climb, which resulted in the rest of his career being injury plagued.
In 88 Delgado was again an animal in the mountain stages and looked set to dominate the tour for some time (although there were doping allegations around him even back then). In 89 he was favourite again, however he apprently lost track of time during his warm up and got to the start of the prologue (or was it the first time trial – I forget) late, and never really recovered his form after that.
The 89 Tour was probably the most exciting I’ve watched – with Delgado unable to recapture his previous form the race was wide open, allowing two previous winners, Laurent Fignon and Greg Lemond, neither of which anyone had expect to compete, to battle it out in the closest Tour ever. Fignon had broken Lemond in the mountain stages but had only a 50 second lead heading in to an unusual final day time trial round the streets of Paris. Time trials are done in reverse order – last rider first all the way up to the Yellow jersey last with 2 or 3 minute intervals between each rider (I think it was 2 min intervals as this was a shorter time trial).
Lemond had always been an innovator in technology and he was using the now familiar aero bars and carbon fibre wheels, but at the time he was pretty much the only one usign aero bars. Fignon was using the traditional cow horn bars and was battling saddle sores. Lemond crossed the line with the fastest time and the time checks on the course showed that Fignon was struggling to match Lemond’s pace but might just manage to keep his lead.
Lemond had just about recovered when Fignon hit the Champs-Élysées and he and everyone else watched the clock as Fignon strained every muscle to get across the line. Fignon crossed the line 58 seconds slower than Lemond and immediately broke down knowing he’d lost his last chance to win another Tour while Lemond was absolutely jubilant realising he’d managed to win the Tour by 8 seconds.
Lemond went on to win again in 90 mostly due to his extremely strong team (a lesson that his compatriot Lance Amstrong would put to good use in building the US Postal team, and which undoubtedly helped his record breaking 7 Tour wins). Lemond didn’t win a stage in 90 which is always seen as a black mark for a Tour winner – at one point after Lemond crashed his whole team stopped riding, rurned around and rode back to their team leader and pulled him back to the peleton to maintain his lead.
In many ways the domination of Miguel Indurain from 91 – 95 and Lance Armstrong from 99 – 06 made the tour a little boring – it’s a shame their careers didn’t overlap as that would have made for some titanic battles in the mountains and time trials. Sadly the brief period in the 90s when Riis, Ullrich, and Pantani won the tour in competitive exciting battles has been soured by them either admitting to doping or being highly suspicious (Pantani was always dogged by doping claims and died of a cocaine overdose).
What with the ongoing saga of last years apparent winner Floyd Landis (whether he’s guilty or not, it’s clear that the Tour management and UCI were not very professional in the handling of his test and disclosing of the results), and this years farce some are doubting the viability of the Tour in the future.
In some ways I can understand the temptation for riders to use whatever they can – the Tour is one of the most grueling sporting events in the world. For most of the peleton, the ‘domestiques’, the the Tour is not about times or placing, but simply surviving. They ride themselves into the ground for the benefit of the team leader (either an elite rider with a chance of winning the whole thing, or a sprinter with a shot at a stage win and maybe the Green jersey). I’m not sure how the sport can pull itself out of the hole it’s currently in – it would be a shame if the teams, Tour management, and the UCI continue to bungle their anti-doping controls and ruin what can be one of the most spectacular and heroic sporting achievements.
I think you do the tour unjustice this year. Finally they do they right thing, by stricter doping checks. This dramatically raises the potential cost for doping: In the previous years it was quite save to join the Tour doped. Now you do not only risk your healthyness, you also risk your career. Let’s hope this efforts to uncover doping continue – so that we have a clean Tour within few years.
— Mathias Hasselmann Jul 26, 02:35 pm #
Mathias: The doping checks might be stricter but the Tour management are still making a mess of it – Rasmussen should never have been allowed to start the Tour if he’d not shown up for previous random checks. No new evidence appeared today – what we know now is what was know weeks ago – Rasmussen skipped mandatory test and lied about where he was. How was he even allowed to start the race? Because the authorities want to bury their head in the sand, and blame each other for the problems in the sport.
IMHO what the Tour and the UCI need to do is define a clear and balanced set of rules and procedures for doping test and offences and then rigourously enforce them – that includes making sure they are being fair to the riders, respecting their privacy, cracking down on leaks, and making sure the testing is carried in the most professional manner possible so that the results are above question.
The Floyd Landis case lingers on because they haven’t done things properly – the testing itself was questionable in procedure, and letting the result get leaked before the B sample was tested is a gross violation of Landis presumed innocence (even if later test show he was guilty).
By not applying the rules in a fair and consistent manner cycling authorities leave the testing open to question which just gives ammunition to those that flout the rules and gives the public the impression of a sport in chaos.
— Paul Cooper Jul 27, 12:42 am #
Paul, I totally agree with you. I started watching the tour in the Indurain days and have been a huge fan since. I’ve talked the event up with fellow Americans over the years and seen the popularity of the sport here grow immensely—even during the Riis/Ullrich/Pantani phase, people started watching the tour and coverage got better in the States. Then Lance came along, and we were all glued to news about the Tour. I’d ride my bike around whatever city I was living in at the time, and people would yell out “Go Lance!” as I rode by. Cycling has grown immensely.
And now where are we? We’re left with a sport that’s plagued by mystery, cheating, and lies because of all the doping scandals. No one knows the truth. No one knows for sure if any winners of the last ten or so Tours have been clean and we continue to be suspicious. I can’t tell you how many aggrivated conversations I’ve had with people who are convinced that Lance was on some wonder drug. According to all the tests, he’s clean—but with all the mystery in the testing process, no one trusts that.
What I do know is that you’re completely right about what needs to change. We need proper policies on how doping testing should work. When it gets performed, how it is done, what doctors are allowed, confidentiality rules…etc. It also needs to be clear how random tests are performed (namely, how long it takes)...I’ve heard stories from the Lance days when they would turn up at 9PM to test him and it would take three hours. It all needs to be clear so that the board who is responsible for testing can actually ensure the race and the fans whether a rider has been doping or not.
This would help bring back some integrity to the sport and perhaps the riders would catch on and just ride on some good ‘ol fashioned blood & sweat :)
— Patrick van Staveren Jul 27, 11:41 am #