Jul
06
Posted on 07-06-2007 at 05:20pm
Tour De Disillusionment
Filed Under (Cycling) by Katherine Coble on 07-06-2007

Josh Tinley is asking a question popular with many of my friends.

Is the Tour de France worth our time?

I’m not sure how much time I want to invest in the 2007 Tour. Floyd Landis’s unlikely come-from-behind win was inspiring; his subsequent positive test for testosterone supplements was heartbreaking. While I allow for the possibility that Landis is innocent (as does Lance Armstrong), the lingering disappointment and the fact that so many of the sports top athletes in the past decade have been connected to performance-enhancing drug use—including stars Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso, who were suspended one day before last year’s Tour—have sucked the magic out of what is otherwise one of the world’s greatest sporting events.

I live in a cycling house. Bikes are a huge part of our lives. Our second car is a bike. My husband builds bikes for charity. He repairs and tunes bikes for free or low charge to anyone who asks.

The Tour de France is like Chanukah in our house. Or, more accurately, three Chanukahs in a row, seeing as how it goes for about 24 days. Missing it would be almost unthinkable. But the politics behind it are troubling to say the least and they are robbing cycling of it’s basic joy.

I plan to cover the Tour 2007 here pretty extensively–and by that I mean at least one post per day. Landis will always be one of my favourites, as will Hincapie. If you’re laying bets in Vegas, the man to go with is probably Vinokourov.

Regardless, the entire Tour is packed with riders suspected of doping. Funnily enough, Josef Hackforth,professor for sport, media and communication at the Munich University of Technology seems to think that’s the fans’ fault–or at least that fans have the cure.

For cycling to survive, Josef Hackforth, believes, it needs a shock to the system like the sudden and mass exodus of fans not willing to put up with supporting a sport that is riddled with the doping disease. “If the spectators say: we are not interested any more, then cycling would have to act,” he said.

Here’s an idea, fellows. Just stop doing the drugs. Quit blaming the fans, the testing agencies and the legendary French cycling snobbery. The lead riders, domestiques and team owners are the ones doping. We fans are just tuning in for the show.

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Comments

Grace on 6 July, 2007 at 6:45 pm #

In the spirit of le Tour, I have put “The Triplets of Belleville” at the top of my netflix queue.

You should too.

But only after I get my copy first. ;)


Kat Coble on 6 July, 2007 at 8:49 pm #

Grace,

You can keep all the copies. ;-p

I have one here. Or I think I do.

I must say I like the soundtrack better than the film itself. ;-p


Jeffraham Prestonian on 6 July, 2007 at 8:55 pm #

Haw! Dinking with the stylesheet, now, eh? I should do a screenshot! :)
.


Kat Coble on 6 July, 2007 at 9:00 pm #

God, no.
Please no.

This isn’t final, but I was tired of not being able to read my own stuff.


Ron on 6 July, 2007 at 9:05 pm #

You’d do much better with “Breaking Away,” about IU’s Little 500. It’s a pure bike race, with nothing powering it but alcohol and pride.


Benoit Joachim on 6 July, 2007 at 9:06 pm #

Life Sciences on wheels. that is what the Tour de Pharmacia has always been.

Armstrong (SCA lawsuits testimonies) cow blood, medical waste dumping & Landis (witness tampering) wrecked the charade.

When nobody knew how dishonest and doped these lab rats were—it was a great theater show for Phil Liggett and Bobke.

Now we all know what frauds they all were–and how Phil & Bob lied like crazy to keep their stickin jobs.

Soon Roid Landis will be gone.


Kat Coble on 6 July, 2007 at 9:12 pm #

You’d do much better with “Breaking Away,” about IU’s Little 500. It’s a pure bike race, with nothing powering it but alcohol and pride.

I have that movie memorised.

It’s a pure bike race, with nothing powering it but alcohol and pride.

Isn’t it funny how disillusioned Dave Stoller got with Team Cinzano when he found out they were cheaters? In a way, it’s like all of us Cycling fanatics are like Dave Stoller, riding our hearts out, in love with the bikes and thrills of riding and just now figuring out that the pros are snakes.


Kat Coble on 6 July, 2007 at 9:22 pm #

Make that “some of” the pros.

I still personally don’t think Floyd is guilty.


Bob Thomas on 6 July, 2007 at 9:37 pm #

In 2004 I went to see the tour in person, alone with a bike and a train pass. I rode some of the mountains - Plateau de Beille and the Alpe were particularly impressive.

The “man in the street” in France thought that the whole peloton doped. Perhaps that evens the playing field. I don’t know.

But the work of riding that course day after day in the freezing cold rains of Belgium and the baking heat of the Pyrenees? Those guys are one step above mortal no matter what is coursing through their veins.

I don’t think Floyd doped.

Anyone who looks at the transcript of the arbitration would have to say that WADA and USADA hard a hard time proving their case and actually failed to prove it.

As for revealing LeMond’s secrets - Floyd didn’t do that to the public- even Geohegan didn’t do that before the public- LeMond did that.

I will go watch the Tour again live if I can be so lucky, but I won’t miss a day of the coverage this year or the next or the next.

The drama of the tour, even with its falls from grace is too much to miss.

To others who can’t “afford the time” to watch - fine - turn away and leave us in peace.

I followed it before there was decent TV coverage - there used to be “Major Taylor’s News and Results Service” run by a knowledgeable prof at Vanderbilt - he would forward us TdF news even as he sat in faculty meetings and he would find bilingual Dutch fans who would watch the Eurosport TV live and “call ” the race based on what they saw on their screens. I would gladly go back to that rather than give up the spectacle.

Vive le Tour!!


Grace on 10 July, 2007 at 5:12 pm #

Has anyone seen the preview for the new cycling movie “The Flying Scotsman”???

Google it and watch the trailer. AWESOMENESS.