Le Tour

[The incredible igor]

Le Tour has being on a slippery slope since it left Cork in 98 It left behind the greatest city in the world to go back to france where the first big doping scandals broke ruining the sport for ever. They need to sort it out and write the last 15 years of cycling out of the history books. Has anyone won the tour in the last 10 years without being under the suspicion of doping?

I always followed cycling as a nipper (i followed almost everything, hated horse racing) but would never claim to be an expert or know anything about the technical side of things. I loved seeing a lone cyclist breaking from the peloton and trying to go it alone and always willed him to stay free of the chasing pack. Watched the 98 tour from a foot bridge in Cork and was in awe of the single body of the peloton flowing underneath. Its been all downhill since then

Cycling is dead, who knows what can be done to revive it

[captainfog]

Le Tour has being on a slippery slope since it left Cork in 98 It left behind the greatest city in the world to go back to france where the first big doping scandals broke ruining the sport for ever. They need to sort it out and write the last 15 years of cycling out of the history books. Has anyone won the tour in the last 10 years without being under the suspicion of doping?

I always followed cycling as a nipper (i followed almost everything, hated horse racing) but would never claim to be an expert or know anything about the technical side of things. I loved seeing a lone cyclist breaking from the peloton and trying to go it alone and always willed him to stay free of the chasing pack. Watched the 98 tour from a foot bridge in Cork and was in awe of the single body of the peloton flowing underneath. Its been all downhill since then

Cycling is dead, who knows what can be done to revive it

introduce a pedalo leg

[Helios Creed]

The hardest sport there is? Nah, not havin' that.

Boxing is physically harder, obviously, and skill-wise there are obviously many sports too numerous to mention that are tougher than cycling.

I'd argue being a National Hunt jockey is far, far tougher than being a frickin' cyclist.

I'm told that being a National Hunt horse is much worse. It's even more dangerous, you have to do all the work and you've got a vicious little prick belting you with a whip all the way round.

Met this horse a a pub the other day and we got talking...

[Helios Creed]

introduce a pedalo leg

steer with your feet, pedal with your hands? Just an idea..

[Shaggy]

I'm told that being a National Hunt horse is much worse. It's even more dangerous, you have to do all the work and you've got a vicious little prick belting you with a whip all the way round.

Met this horse a a pub the other day and we got talking...

Racehorses love racing. They thrive on it. It's easy to tell - their ears are pricked, almost always, meaning they're loving it. Granted, the whip use isn't good (although it isn't used from the start - sometimes there's no need forit at all) and jockeys are always punished for excessive use of the whip, but if horses didn't want to race, they wouldn't.

There are some that don't, and 'refuse', but the majority gladly race.

[Red Chilli]

introduce a pedalo leg

Good idea foggy. These guys are expert pedalers. Whether they are pedalling bike or performance enhancing drugs, these guys are the elite.
A pedalo leg would really sort out the men from the boys.

Maybe, start in London, pedal to Dover, pedalo across the channel to Callais and then get back on the bikes for the mountains. Extra bonus points for the person who pedles the most money from his drugs on the way.

That would be a proper sport

[captainfog]

Good idea foggy. These guys are expert pedalers. Whether they are pedalling bike or performance enhancing drugs, these guys are the elite.
A pedalo leg would really sort out the men from the boys.

Maybe, start in London, pedal to Dover, pedalo across the channel to Callais and then get back on the bikes for the mountains. Extra bonus points for the person who pedles the most money from his drugs on the way.

That would be a proper sport

I like the cut of your jib.

Lets start a petition

[Red Chilli]

Can you imagine the sprint finish in the pedalo leg Water everywhere.

The other boon of the pedalo leg is that England already has a pedalo sportsman in Freddie Flintoff.

Bringing a charismatic guy like that into the game would be the making of Le Tour.

[Harv]

As Neil isn't around, can I reply on his behalf that you are a buffoon of the highest order who should be whipped to within an inch of his life.

[thesilverfoxlfc]

Rowing is a tough sport very demanding

[Helios Creed]

Racehorses love racing. They thrive on it. It's easy to tell - their ears are pricked, almost always, meaning they're loving it. Granted, the whip use isn't good (although it isn't used from the start - sometimes there's no need forit at all) and jockeys are always punished for excessive use of the whip, but if horses didn't want to race, they wouldn't.

There are some that don't, and 'refuse', but the majority gladly race.

I must have met one of the ones who refused. He'd become a librarian. Not as good money, but less stressful, I'd imagine.

That Harry Enfield jockeys sketch used to crack me up, when they they were trying really hard and he'd pull along side going "yoo hoo!"

[stringy]

Le Tour has being on a slippery slope since it left Cork in 98 It left behind the greatest city in the world to go back to france where the first big doping scandals broke ruining the sport for ever. They need to sort it out and write the last 15 years of cycling out of the history books. Has anyone won the tour in the last 10 years without being under the suspicion of doping?

I always followed cycling as a nipper (i followed almost everything, hated horse racing) but would never claim to be an expert or know anything about the technical side of things. I loved seeing a lone cyclist breaking from the peloton and trying to go it alone and always willed him to stay free of the chasing pack. Watched the 98 tour from a foot bridge in Cork and was in awe of the single body of the peloton flowing underneath. Its been all downhill since then

Cycling is dead, who knows what can be done to revive it

Cycling is far from dead.

[Helios Creed]

Cycling is far from dead.

:cancels flowers:

we'll have a first-hand account when Neil returns from his sojourn en France. I think he's gone over to help them out with a few pointers - apparently he met Cancellara recently and he was very impressed with some of Neil's ideas..

[Neil Young]

Well, well, well, what a motley load of dinner guests feasting on the apparently rotting corpse of professional cycling. (There are honourable exceptions of course. )

No mention of the fact that this was the closest-ever Tour de France podium. No recognition that catching the cheats and throwing them out can actually be construed a success . And strangely little or no comparison with the hidden and suppressed roll of shame of drug-taking (and other forms of cheating) afflicting other sports, including football. Oh yes, that's right, professional footballers don't take cocaine, do they? And Rasmussen faces a two year ban for missing a drugs test. How long was Ferdinand's again?

Cycling clearly has a major problem which, not coincidentally, is why it has the most rigorous drug-testing policies of any sport. I read today that a MLB player has just been banned for 80 games - what's that, four months? In cycling, it's two years. Over 60% of the athletes caught up in the Operation Puerto investigation are not cyclists yet only cyclists' names have been released. I have no idea why that is but I'd be very interested to know what sports the others are involved in.

A couple of other points are worth making I think. First, there are individual careers and substantial amounts of money to be made out of developing foolproof drug tests. There is naturally a tendency to overclaim the success records of tests. It seems entirely feasible that some of the cases of apparently definitive cheating may turn out to be less clearcut when we understand the science better.

Second, while on the subject of careers, WADA's chief seems to rely on getting huge amounts of publicity for himself in the name of anti-doping. The aptly-named Dick Pound appears to be less forthcoming on workable ways forward to rid professional sport of drugs. Abstinence programmes and "Just Say No" didn't work for society in general - why should his holier-than-thou attitude prevail in professional sport? Of course, it makes him look good though...

Finally, I am looking forward to everyone's contributions on today's San Sebastian Classic.

[DeeGame]

Welcome back Grandpa

How was your Saga cruise?