The lost and the damned, the list of sadnesses is different for all fans, but for me, Pantani and Basso were tragedies. Dope related scandals taint them. Pantani, now a YouTube memory. A fantasy of graceful force. Basso, the family man, youthful and powerfull, in pink amongst the snow in the Giro last year. I want to believe in him. Tyler Hamilton, the collar bone and the Olympics are now lost stories.
Basso – suspended 2007, suspicious involvement in Operacion Puerto.
Vinokourov – that crazy attacker, positive for transfusion 2007.
Petacchi – positive for salbutamol 2007. DFC in 2010…?
Tom Boonen, cocaine in 2008.
Tyler Hamilton DHEA 2009
Alexandro Valverde, suspicious involvement in Operacion Puerto, 2009…2010…
Thomas Dekker, EPO from 2007 sample.
Danilo de Luca, CERA in the Giro.
All tough as guts riders. I expect heroes to take the suffering, the risks, accidents and losses, within the rules. Contador, the figure head of the new clean generation?
I can’t think of a sport where some elite practices seem so out of step with the general participation in the sport.
It might be because general participation in cycling has changed in the last 15 years. Bikers are commuting in the rich western countries in great numbers, to better health and more liveable cities. Values have shifted, “weekend warriors,” “MAMILs,” 40+ year olds are in this activity in droves. It might be a post Armstrong era popularity thing. Is it a bubble? If high profile convictions continue, how much impact on the businesses that have a stake in the industry? How much impact on town planning practices around sustainability issues?
VeloNews reports that a rabble of journos turned up to Volta a Catalunya chasing the Contador / UCI doping scandal, “cycling was once one of Spain’s marquee sports, earning big space in the national dailies such as MARCA and AS. (Newspaper) page dedication to cycling has slowly diminished over the years…” VeloNews concludes the Spanish press are only really interested in doping stories.
Is there an equinox ahead, when the doped-up riders will fade into winter as the clean riders swell in numbers into a summer for the sport?
The Beehive. Cycling in the middle of the bunch. 