Why Iam NOT watching the Tour de France
A good friend of mine responded to my last post, saying that I was wrong when I mentioned there was ‘inactivity’ on the sports front. The Tour de France was on. He had been watching the cycle race and had become a major fan.
I ask my friend just one question. Is this your first Tour? I guess the answer is yes, and that is precisely the reason why, you have become a fan.
Let me ask you a few questions.
What is common to Bjarne Riis and Floyd Landis, apart from being former winners of the Tour?
They have also been caught doping. While Bjarne has already admitted to cheating, Floyd is fighting a losing battle to prove his innocence. Riis has already been asked to return his yellow jersey and Floyd will have to do the same soon.
Now, tell me why was the famous Phonak racing team disbanded and why is German television not broadcasting the race anymore? Remember cycling is hugely popular in Germany and former Tour champion Jan Ullrich was one of the most popular athletes in the country.
Because, the Tour has become the most drug tainted event in the history of sport. It’s no longer a competition between racers but one between chemists. The cocktail of drugs taken by some of the cyclists makes other drug cheats like Ben Johnson look like a school boy taking vitamin pills for his school race. As a matter of fact, the usage of drugs is so widely prevalent, that as a racer you are no longer cheating if you are taking drugs. Because everyone else is taking them. Let’s face it, the chemists will always stay ahead of the testers and cyclists will continue to inject themselves. It’s so bad that drugs in cycling is no longer an issue.
So my ‘first time Tour de France watching’ friend, enjoy the race if the history of the sport doesn’t bother you.
On a more somber note, it’s a very sad development because once upon a time, the Tour was the face of the sport; a household name across the globe, known even to those generally not interested in cycling.
I have followed each of Armstrong’s seven wins and spent hours watching lots of grown men pedaling away for hours. Iam an ‘old’ Tour de France fan and hence Iam no longer watching.
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I ask my friend just one question. Is this your first Tour? I guess the answer is yes, and that is precisely the reason why, you have become a fan.
Let me ask you a few questions.
What is common to Bjarne Riis and Floyd Landis, apart from being former winners of the Tour?
They have also been caught doping. While Bjarne has already admitted to cheating, Floyd is fighting a losing battle to prove his innocence. Riis has already been asked to return his yellow jersey and Floyd will have to do the same soon.
Now, tell me why was the famous Phonak racing team disbanded and why is German television not broadcasting the race anymore? Remember cycling is hugely popular in Germany and former Tour champion Jan Ullrich was one of the most popular athletes in the country.
Because, the Tour has become the most drug tainted event in the history of sport. It’s no longer a competition between racers but one between chemists. The cocktail of drugs taken by some of the cyclists makes other drug cheats like Ben Johnson look like a school boy taking vitamin pills for his school race. As a matter of fact, the usage of drugs is so widely prevalent, that as a racer you are no longer cheating if you are taking drugs. Because everyone else is taking them. Let’s face it, the chemists will always stay ahead of the testers and cyclists will continue to inject themselves. It’s so bad that drugs in cycling is no longer an issue.
So my ‘first time Tour de France watching’ friend, enjoy the race if the history of the sport doesn’t bother you.
On a more somber note, it’s a very sad development because once upon a time, the Tour was the face of the sport; a household name across the globe, known even to those generally not interested in cycling.
I have followed each of Armstrong’s seven wins and spent hours watching lots of grown men pedaling away for hours. Iam an ‘old’ Tour de France fan and hence Iam no longer watching.
4 comments:
It just seems that other sports have looked the other way when it comes to doping. Do you turn off the SF Giants games, or do you really think there is little doping in baseball, football and the like...
There will be nothing left to watch, and maybe that's for the best!
Now, tell me why was the famous Phonak racing team disbanded and why is German television not broadcasting the race anymore?
First, as far as I know, the Phonak team wasn't going to sponsor a team after the completion of last year's race anyway. So blaming Floyd for that is nonsense.
Second, the two German channels that were showing the race [ARD and ZDF] pulled the broadcast in response to the leaking of T-Mobile's Patrik Sinkewitz's A-sample results before confirmation, from an out-of-competition test back in June.
Dear anonymous, baseball has very stringent testing these days. Do you see people testing positive by the dozens like cycling? The only other sports where I see a similar collection are athletics and most of the power sports and see where their popularity is going.
And before we start accusing barry bonds of anything, has anything ever been proven against him. He continues to be a top performer at the age of 43 and in an era where we have stringent testing.He has proved that he is one of the game's premier sluggers.
Most of the drug infested sports rely heavily on muscle bulk, strength and stamina and less on skill and talent. And hence the temptation to alter your physical dimensions.You cannot take skill and talent out of the equation in most sports and hence there will always be sports and sports watchers
Dear Jim, I have this link where the owner of the Phonak team clearly says that it was the positive test for Landis which broke his back and how cycling has become synonomous with doping.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2006/08/16/1715947.htm
And as for the German TV channels, Steffen Effenberg was kicked out of the World Cup in 1994 was pointing his middle finger at the fans. Did the Germans stop broadcasting the World cup after that. No. Why would a TV channel not broadcast the biggest event of a sport so popular in Germany?
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