Get On, Clip In, Fall Off

Doping and hypocrisy

I guess that most readers (both of you) won't need to be told that since I last got around to posting an update here, there have been a bunch of people expelled from the Tour. T-Mobile's Patrik Sinkewitz was the first to go after producing a positive test for testosterone in an out-of-competition test a month before the Tour began.

Then possibly the biggest shock - pre-race favourite Alexander Vinokourov produced a positive A-sample for homologous blood doping (i.e. transfusion of blood from someone else) after his time trial victory, and was slung out of the race so hard that his entire Astana team went home as well. Then the storm clouds which had been building around Michael Rasmussen ever since it was announced that he'd missed 4 out of competition tests in the last year finally burst when Rabobank withdrew him from the race, maillot jaune or not, and sacked him for having allegedly lied about his whereabouts in the week leading up to the tour.

Along with all that, a positive for testosterone from Cofidis' Cristian Moreni was almost an anticlimax, even if it did result in, yes, the whole of Cofidis booking an early flight home.

As I write this, various blogs (and Politiken, a Danish newspaper) are reporting rumours that one of the jersey holders produced a positive for something after Stage 14, but we'll have to see if that one turns out to be true. As L'Équipe doesn't seem to have anything on it, I'll remain sceptical until tomorrow.

Naturally, it's sad when this happens. It is, however, a good thing that cheats are being caught (although let's not forget that all the above are pending B-sample analyses which may still vindicate them). It's a sign that finally, the anti-doping systems are more or less starting to work. They're by no means perfect, but still, people are being caught. All of the other hundreds of tests carried out before and during this Tour have so far turned out negative, meaning that of the 189 riders who rolled down the start ramp in London, 186 haven't tested positive for banned substances. I'm including Rasmussen in that number as it's fair to do so - he hasn't, indeed, tested positive for anything, and that's important to remember.

The mainstream press has, naturally, reacted predictably (the usual 'Tour de Farce' headlines, calls for cycle racing to be banned, etc, etc). The cycling press is full of readers letters about how "I've followed cycling for 30 years, but this is the end". Dick Pound (now there's a name to conjure with) of WADA has helpfully offered to host an "anti-doping summit" to address the "crisis" of doping in cycling, after dissing cycling at every possible opportunity for the last couple of years. Everyone who has an axe to grind is grinding like crazy in the hope of getting themselves in the papers, even including Greg LeMond, who seems to be trying to set himself up as a representative of a semi-fictional era of cycling when all was lovely and there weren't dopers round every corner. Even Germany's two main public TV channels, ARD and ZDF, have got in on the act by self-righteously dropping coverage of the Tour.

What a load of bullshit. Hypocritical, self-serving bullshit. I tried to find a more elegant and poetic word to use here, but no - bullshit it'll have to be.

Why is it bullshit? Well, it's getting late and there's a lot of typing involved. I'll tell you tomorrow.

Posted by mpk at July 28, 2007 12:27 AM | TrackBack