It’s been a few days since I have written, and there are a number of reasons for this. The past four stages were supposed to be relatively quiet, and transitional stages. They were not supposed to cause major changes in the overall standings, rather they were to be for the breakaways and the sprinters. Purely from a spectator standpoint, this is probably the least interesting part of the Tour. The sprints are exciting, and the script generally is the same: an early breakaway gets away, builds a lead, and then gets caught near the end. From this standpoint, the last few days have been predictable. After the excitement of the Pyrenees and the shifts in the general classification, it is difficult to be patient to wait for more stages to shake things up. It forces you to look at the other competition, and concentrate on those standings, such as the points jersey, which is now really taking shape.
It has been exciting to see Mark Cavendish blossom as the top sprinter in the world. I sometimes like seeing people who are really built up actually meeting their potential. Cavendish has gotten alot of press over the last couple years, and I can now see why. Team Columbia has worked hard on a number of different fronts in this Tour, and they are arguably the strongest overall team in the race, even if they cannot support Kirchen in the highest of the mountains. It is nice to see a team flex their muscles, though, when it is appropriate, and see the results reach fruition. There has been seemingly so little organization to this race, on most days, that at least on the sprint stages, it is nice to see things shape up as they are supposed to.
I’ll be honest, I have been a bit bored waiting for the mountains to return, and see opportunities for the g.c. to continue developing. That being said, I am sick of the doping issues, and their effects on the race. When Beltran and Duenas were busted, I was mildly annoyed, but I discounted them as small fries who were just plain stupid, but who weren’t going to affect the race one way or another. Beltran is someone hanging on at the end of his career, and Duenas is/was a nobody. That being said, I was/am really pissed off about the doping positive of Riccardo Ricco.
I hate the feeling that I think I had seen it coming, and have maybe even questioned him in the past. It is one thing to read about someone in the results, or even in the play by play online during the Giro; it is completely different to see someone in action on TV. The way he rides is very much like Marco Pantani, whom he idolized, and very much unlike a man dealing with the natural fatigue of racing the hardest race in the world. When he attacked, he did so like everyone else was standing still. He rode as if he were almost too good to be real, and now we find out that indeed, he wasn’t.
This is a man, and I would also be willing to believe, a team (Saunier Duval-Scott), who really affected the outcome of the race, and indeed did so unfairly. I am personally choosing to believe that if his team itself does not have a systematic doping program in place, there are other riders on his team who also cheat, and what they did, shaped the race. I feel like this is Astana 2007, all over again, and it pisses me off. I really like to believe that when I watch sport, I can believe in what I see, and yet it feels like an annual affair that something extraordinary takes place, only to be cancelled out later by a doping positive test. There is talk about re-assigning his stage victories and dispersing his mountain points, but to me, all of that is pointless and ridiculous. Reassigning a stage win, or giving points out to lower riders are hollow victories, which were neither earned, nor could they be properly enjoyed. His actions in the mountains did affect the way the race was run, and at this point, the damage has been done.
My only comfort stems from the fact that the race is not completely irreparable. Ricco and his team left the race at a point when there are still plenty of critical stages left, where the remainding riders can decide the outcome of the Tour on fair terms. I hope that Ricco suffers the fullest of punishments that the law has to offer, and that he can serve as a deterrent for the future. I don’t know if this will change the minds of other riders, but it sort of reminds me that sometimes, when things seem too good to be real, they often are. Ricco shows this clearly. It is sometimes important to remember that these are human beings, with physical limits, and that particularly for younger riders, domination off the bat is not always realistic.
I fear the worst for the outcome of this Tour. Already, we have seen Barloworld announce that they will end their sponsorship due to the drug allegations, and Saunier Duval has acknowledged that they will follow suit, if the allegations are proven real. Riders have to realize that the consequences of their actions will negatively afffect others, including their teammates, directors, and the lowly paid support staff, who depend upon this sport for their livelihood. I fear that as we see sponsors leave the sport, they may not always be replaced with new ones, and thus there will be fewer riders and fewer jobs available. Drugs and how they affect the sport have already seriously affected the status of the governing bodies…at what point will people get the message!!!
I realize that this is a war with casualties, and I would like to the think that percentage-wise, the peleton is growing cleaner every year. I realize that the price for cleaning out the sport of cheats is to catch those who are cheating. I am disturbing to find that Ricco was caught using a new form of EPO, but maybe it is better that they did, showing that the testing is catching up with the new drugs. Who knows.
In the meantime, I look forward to the racing tomorrow, in the Alps, when my focus can actually be directed towards the actual racing, and I can enjoy the sporting spectacle that is the Tour continue to unfold into its final form. I hope that my next blog can be on a positive note…perhaps cheering on Christian Vande Velde into the yellow jersey, or seeing some of the other top riders showing their true class. We’ll see….Vive le Tour…and let cycling live, as the cheats die.
