I heard the news yesterday - yet another lame slap in the face for pro cycling. All of this has gone beyond comical now. I’m even losing interest in the Tour. I may start watching pro wrestling instead.
If true, great – caught as he should have been. If so, I still can’t believe they take these chances doping at this level. Then again, maybe not so surprising. My gut tells me these guys can’t compete at that level without something extra, and plenty of pros still do it. I hope that’s not the case. If they did cheat and get caught, they should fess up and admit it – like David Miller – who still has respect with fans (maybe even more so). That’s better then the other crazy excuses over the years: Tainted meat, drugs meant for other people, was thinking about doing it, the beer I drank, unborn twin – the crazy list goes on.
I read today the one year ban for Contador is not finalized – don’t know what that means. I thought it was a two year ban for doping. Schleck said he won’t consider himself the ‘10 Tour winner – Contador won – and he wants to beat him on the road in 2011. “Winning” the Tour after something like this leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth – just an all around lame situation.
Unfortunately, I think Floyd Landis is correct – despite his whacked out method of crazy accusations and finger pointing – which kills his credibility. Same with LeMond, who gets shouted down as the cranky, bitter guy – though I think that’s a bad rap. It may eventually turn out they were correct all along. Or things will continue as usual, with certain pros getting bagged occasionally. If the UCI or whoever is checking the test tubes is wrong, that’s another story. But you would think those folks would be 110% confident in their findings before pulling such a heavy trigger.
Even Sir Lance has once again been put under the microscope with the recent federal investigation. If something is proven, catching Lance would be like taking down Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Ugly indeed.