One roadie you can respect
- Thread starter sanjuro
- Start date
Too bad he gets his hair cut by a hobbit barber though.
if doping was legal everyone could do it, then the competition would be level again?
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luelling
Guest
I like Wiggins, I read that when they posted...good quotes. One thing that gets me about doping....if someone has a genetic "gift" of really large lungs or heart (Armstrong had both) then how is it a level playing field? Really its tilted by genetics. Maybe they should dope to certain level so all bodies are the same and then tactics win the race? Similar to car racing.
Car racing still depends a lot on the natural abilities of the driver. Michael Schumacher just had better reaction time and more stamina and guts than all the guys he raced. The bikes are the level playing field. If your natural hematocrit is 29 you should probably not bother trying to be a bike racer rather than doping it up to 50.
Wrong. It is extremely expensive, only riders from a wealthy background or a big contract can afford it. Reportedly athletes caught in Puerto were paying 40k-80k Euro a year. That is like $60k to $120K per year. There is also a lot of doping that is straight up illegal in most countries, like the use of bovine hemoglobin Rassmusen is accused of trying. Do you allow them to take illegal drugs like cocaine to?
That's life.
The bikes are similar and so are the teams. There are always competitors better than others, but work is required to move to the next level. Keep in mind that Lance Armstrong, while winning a stage, did not finish his first Tour De France.
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luelling
Guest
Lance before cancer and after are two different people. The base genetics still there, but he was a lot lighter with a completely different riding style after cancer. When he had cancer it broke his body down to nothing and he changed his body to be a stage racer coming from being more of a one day racer.
That being said, I do agree with you guys. I hadn't thought about reaction speed of drivers, I was thinking about the "engine" that gets the person to the finish line. I still don't care if they dope. We went through this crap in '98 and everything was going to change and there was lots of big talk and nothing has changed. There is, again, lots of big talk and I bet nothing changes. Cyclists have been doing one drug or another since the 70s and none of the organizations have ever been able to stop it. There will always be people who don't dope and win, but you will always have dopers.
The sport is losing huge money right now and the hunt for dopers is doing more harm than good. To boot they maybe chasing innocent people. The tests aren't 100% and even if they are 99% your are going to have some false positives. They prefer to crucify people the minute they test positive.
Supposedly after rejoining the peloton after the protest riders laughed at Wiggins and the French riders for protesting and said if they took drugs maybe they wouldn't be so slow. There is still a pervasive doping culture in pro road riding.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Slipstream next year. Whether they get into any big races, get any results or any sponsors. That have at least been hyped as having a 0 tolerance doping culture. Millar and Vandevelde just signed with rumors of Dave Z joining.
There have also been rumors of Hincapie leaving Discovery. He is nearing the end of his career and has a lot of other things going on, a clothing business and cycling focused housing developments. Getting caught up in a doping scandal would ruin him. I can't help but to think he is looking to go to a team with no chance of getting caught up in a scandal. After the Basso debacle Discovery does not have the cleanest image not to mention Contador has been loosely implicated with the Puerto thing.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Slipstream next year. Whether they get into any big races, get any results or any sponsors. That have at least been hyped as having a 0 tolerance doping culture. Millar and Vandevelde just signed with rumors of Dave Z joining.
There have also been rumors of Hincapie leaving Discovery. He is nearing the end of his career and has a lot of other things going on, a clothing business and cycling focused housing developments. Getting caught up in a doping scandal would ruin him. I can't help but to think he is looking to go to a team with no chance of getting caught up in a scandal. After the Basso debacle Discovery does not have the cleanest image not to mention Contador has been loosely implicated with the Puerto thing.
I don't follow cycling news that closely. Are you talking about this slipstream as the group that might take over the DSC team?
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luelling
Guest
they aren't taking over disco, they are going to be another american team and the rumors are ASO will allow them into the Tour next year. God knows they should with their stringent testing, helps keep the doping scandal down.
It is a new team aspiring to ride the Tour. It will be comprised of mainly 'Merican and other english speaking riders. Je ne parle pas fraincais.
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