Certainly,
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Benêt, naïve or hypocritical, the press acts as a “puppet” of advertisers and the public of the Tour de France. Doping has always existed within cycling, and will probably never be eradicated. But to believe the statements of those who comment on cycling, since the start of the tour on July 9th, and the exclusion of some favorites like Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich, Oscar Sevilla, and Alexandre Vinokourov etc., cycling has become a “clean” sport. When you take a closer look at the results, you have to wonder if the system is poorly designed or simply not well-engineered enough to clean all the dirty laundry.
The fear of the media is losing the audience
In any case, France Télévisions, which holds the broadcasting rights of the Tour, hinted that the 2006 tour would be “healthy.” This is not entirely false considering previous years. Especially when we know that Floyd Landis, former teammate of Lance Armstrong, six-time Tour de France winner, was also suspected of cheating. The media has endorsed and continues to endorse doping in cycling. Fearing to lose audience, France Télévisions prefers to let viewers dream and tell them about the exploits of the “greatest champions” of cycling, usually dying around the age of fifty. A study by the Pasteur Institute in Paris shows that of the 677 French riders who participated in the Tour de France between 1947 and 1998, there were 77 deaths, a little over 11%. When examining mortality by age group, one observation strikes: the survival of riders is becoming increasingly worse over the years. As time goes on, more and more deaths are recorded before the age of 60. The peloton seems to evolve contrary to the general population, whose mortality has decreased in all age groups since the war (survey by Michel De Pracontal). Enough to leave one perplexed…
Oscar Pereiro: “a hollow winner”
Floyd Landis, unable to pedal during this 16th stage of the tour between Gap and L’Alpe d’Huez. The next day, the American was energized, resisting a pack of cyclists chasing him for nearly 170 kilometers. The new hero of Pennsylvania looked proud. A hero with a heart of gold and such a human face! But, for once, the lie was revealed. In an unusual turn, the renegade Landis will be stripped of his title and exit in disgrace.
Even more pathetic: Oscar Pereiro, second in the overall ranking and former teammate of Floyd Landis, claims in the press to feel like the Tour de France winner by 99%. But last year, the same Pereiro went on a long breakaway with George Hincapie, then a teammate of Lance Armstrong. Throughout the race, the Spaniard worked alone at the front of the group while Hincapie protected his leader by staying in his wheel. Unfortunate at the finish, the Spaniard attempted his luck again the next day successfully. During the first mountain stage of the Tour of Spain, Oscar Pereiro showed a gloomy face. “Far below” his usual skills, the Spaniard showed his limits in a tour considered less difficult than the Tour de France. In the end, he finished more than five minutes and thirty seconds behind the day’s winner: Daniele Di Luca. Astonishing… isn’t it?
The Phonak team to which Floyd Landis belongs has already fired several riders this year due to doping: Oscar Camenzind, 1998 world road champion, Tyler Hamilton, Olympic time trial champion in Athens, Santiago Perez, second in the Vuelta last year, and Santiago Botero, winner of several stages in the Tour de France in the past… Suffice it to say that the victory of Oscar Pereiro or Floyd Landis, depending on one’s interpretation of the winners, mirrors current cycling: doubtful and pathetic.
For the press, the question is straightforward! Is it prudent to hire former cyclists as consultants who might have been involved in doping stories? Remember, Laurent Jalabert, to name just one, was on the Festina team in 1995 with Didier Rous, Laurent Brochard, Christophe Moreau, and Richard Virenque: all found guilty of doping three years later. Also remember, he was the leader of the Once team, led by Manolo Sainz, recently arrested in Spain for organized trafficking of banned substances. These illegal substances: EPO-treated blood bags, anabolic steroids, growth hormones, etc., found in a secret laboratory, were intended for several dozen riders in the professional peloton.
Ah, what to think of all these vultures who are there only for business or to cheat and claim glory they don’t deserve. The future of this sport, so magical yet so difficult to practice nowadays, depends on a general awakening: What phenomenon drives the public to worship cycling, and more specifically events like the Vuelta currently being broadcast on Eurosport; while “we” know full well that most riders dope? The unsaid words further destroy this otherwise respectable discipline. It’s a vicious circle in which we are entrenching ourselves: a “false” fight against doping conducted expertly by evasive rhetoric.
Jacques Anquetil, already in 1967, declared to “L’Equipe”: “You have to be a fool or a hypocrite to imagine that a professional cyclist running 235 days a year can cope without stimulants.”
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