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Any Non-Dopers at the TdF?

Last Post 07/16/2013 05:25 PM by Dale Dale. 30 Replies.

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ElleSeven

Posts:48

07/14/2013 04:04 PM
OK, so anyone who crosses the finish line many seconds or minutes ahead of rivals is a doped rider. What gives away a non-doper? Not long ago, anecdotal evidence for pure sporting morality seemed to consist in things like: Nice personality, Big old dog with illness, Finishing stage races one or two positions off the podium, American citizenship, Crucifix, Back-breaking work-ethic, Thick glasses, Brand of coffee named for oneself, Erratic results, Consistent results … and so on. What about now? If we know that Froome is doping because he can drop every former doper on the hardest climbs on Earth, what clears the other guys behind him?

huckleberry

Posts:824

07/14/2013 04:16 PM
What is your true question, or statement?

jmdirt

Posts:775

07/14/2013 04:34 PM
I decided to take the a view that even I have criticized: clean until proven dirty. Yep, head in the sand, didn't I learn anything from the 2000s, etc, etc, etc. Its either that or not watching/reading cycling at all. CF looks like an opilionid humping a bike when he rides but he gets the job done. I still want to know how much slower a clean rider is than a doped rider though. Or how much improvement a good dope program is worth (10%? 20%). I'm going to be in Missoula in a few weeks maybe I'll bump into Tyler H. and see what his answer is to that Q.

ElleSeven

Posts:48

07/14/2013 04:35 PM
If I were to convert that into a statement, I suppose it would be something like: We used to get this very wrong (not all of us, of course), and now we can see that our presumptions of innocence were based on associations that had little or nothing to do with what was really happening. I guess I'm curious what moves us now to place riders in one category or another. Personally, I see some big pitfalls in drawing conclusions about guilt or innocence from individual performances on a given day. But the question really is, I kid you not, Who's not doping and why do you think that?

huckleberry

Posts:824

07/14/2013 06:32 PM
I guess I am so far past cynical, that I am assuming everyone who has access to a decent program is doing it... Bicycle racing is a product, just like all professional sports, and the powers that be may gesticulate as much as they feel they need to appear to appease the masses, much like our government, but in the end, they sell us what profits them the most. As Bob quoted in another thread "If it's to good to be true, it's too good to be true". I guess that's my attitude these days - sad as that is, and today's ride by CF would definitely fall into the "too good to be true" column for me. Actually, I was quite shocked by my reaction after watching today's stage - I think I'm done with it. I'm up in the mountains, alone, building a house - been here since the Giro, and have watched nearly every stage of both races before I start my day, and I can't imagine letting go of that lifeline, but I feel like nothing has changed since LA - foolish of me to think it might.

Posts:61

07/14/2013 07:32 PM
Here's my problem with Froome. You have a guy putting on one of the most dominating performances in the history of the Tour De France who has ZERO history as a world class cyclist until joining team SKY. Heck in 2010 he was disqualified for holding onto cars on the Mortirolo. Check this video from the 2009 Giro (7:30) Froome has to paperboy to get up the climb. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEGpv0xn0E8

Keith Richards

Posts:781

07/14/2013 08:06 PM
I really think you should take a closer look at the margins of victory over the years JS. Granted, doping has been part of the sport as long as this sport has been going on, but to say his time gap is out of the ordinary is just not an accurate statement. I guess my big problem I have with the whole thing is...can you please tell me when you watched a "clean" TdF?

----- It is his word versus ours. We like our word. We like where we stand and we like our credibility."--Lance Armstrong.

Orange Crush

Posts:4499

07/14/2013 08:31 PM
I think the OP is ill-posed, as Lemond put it (dont quote me on this), you can't get rid of all doping but you have to weed out the excesses. Sky stands out to me in terms of the predicatability of their wins. Last time things were this predictable...

Keith Richards

Posts:781

07/14/2013 08:55 PM
Last time things were this predictable was when? Indurain? La Vie Claire? Fignon's back to back wins? Merckx's back to back double digit time gap wins? If you want to watch clean racing, go watch juniors.

----- It is his word versus ours. We like our word. We like where we stand and we like our credibility."--Lance Armstrong.

Ride On

Posts:537

07/14/2013 08:57 PM
It is easier to see the outliner from the norm than the norm itself. If you cheat to get yourself into the middle of the pack you are hard to pick out, but if you distinguish yourself as an outliner you are one of two things, someone very special or a cheat. Sadly in today's sports , not just the TDF, it is up to you to prove you are something special and not a cheat. Innocent until proven guilty has left the station for me personally. Do I believe Bolt is the fastest sprinter of all time, no. Do I believe Barry Bonds is the best home run hitter of all time no. Do I believe Lance is the greatest TDF rider of all time, no. Do I believe Michael Phelps is the greatest swimmer of all time, yes. I believe he is an outliner.

Orange Crush

Posts:4499

07/14/2013 10:03 PM
Posted By Keith Jackson on 07/14/2013 08:55 PM Last time things were this predictable was when? Indurain? La Vie Claire? Fignon's back to back wins? Merckx's back to back double digit time gap wins? If you want to watch clean racing, go watch juniors. Indurain - yes. The guy who can't be named yes, La Vie Claire and Fignon, no. I don't need clean racing. But I'd like to see a race not a procession.

Entheo

Posts:317

07/14/2013 11:05 PM
although on another thread i said i would give froome the benefit of the doubt until something more substantial came to light, there is something that bothers me about that guy, and his performances... they just don't, for lack of a better way to put it, look natural. he reminds me of ricco & piepoli at the end of a mountain stage. and then he says this about today's stage: “When I did catch up to him (quintana), I thought: ‘This guys is going to win the stage today and I'm going to have to settle for second'. But then, in the last two kilometres, he was fading a little and I still had a little bit left. We talked a little bit and I was just trying to say, ‘Man, come on just a little bit more... we're almost there...' but he was slipping behind. “Near the end, I don't think that I attacked…it was just that he couldn't ride on my wheel anymore and a gap opened up.” why would he try to encourage quintana to hang on? he didn't attack to open up the gap? he might want to watch a rerun. too much shades of armstrong/pantani, as if the whole thing is scripted... and very odd indeed.

Yo Mike

Posts:338

07/15/2013 05:36 AM
Color me suspicious of Sky's program. +1 Entheo I think it was HG Wells that wrote 'The Island of Dr Moreau' Was the island in fact Tenerife? I wonder of Froome will make a 'you have to believe' speech in Paris like he who shall not be named (HWSNBN)