The Cycliste Moderne, June 27, 2006

Long Time, No Write

Sorry things have been quiet. I have just spent four days in Dallas for the annual commercial office building conference and trade show. That consumed the better part of all four days and getting ready to leave also consumed every waking moment I had. First things first, however, England v. Portugal will likely be a 1-0 game and will not be pretty but it could be the most compelling match of the quarter finals. I just cannot see Germany continuing its run and beating Argentina, I cannot see Italy losing to Ukraine and I cannot see the French beating Brazil. England v. Portugal is a toss up. At the end of the day it will be Brazil v. Argentina in the World Cup final as Italy has not shown enough scoring ability to get by Italy and Brazil is gradually getting better and Brazil's second 11 is probably better than the starting 11 that either Portugal or England can put on the field.

As for Dallas, Mrs. Cycliste Moderne went with me and she got to see the highlights of life in Big D: Neiman Marcus, Dealey Plaza and the Texas Book Depository, the Cotton Bowl. I got to sit in the air conditioned Dallas Convention Center which is exactly what you would think a city like Dallas would build for a convention center. She got to watch my team Portugal defeat the Netherlands as I sat in a speech by Malcolm Gladwell. At least I had my Blackberry so I could watch the match tracker and she would e-mail me her commentary from the hotel.

At night I got to get out though and we did go to the new soccer stadium in Frisco, Texas for FC Dallas as well as hit a Brazilian churrascaria where it is essentially all you can eat meat. The only bikers I saw in all of Dallas, however, were the 100 or so Harley riders parked at a bar in the North Dallas suburbs. I did not see one person on a bike in four days.

Dope

Well, the big news is dope. Lance Armstrong and Tyler Hamilton have been in the news. It was interesting to be in Texas and see the sports commentators rise up to defend Armstrong from the latest allegations by Frankie Andreu’s wife and Greg LeMond. Both the Austin and Dallas sports pages had local commentaries and stories that largely blamed the latest issues on the French. I got back late last night from Dallas and saw Armstrong on ESPN defending himself and calling everyone else a liar.

The Spanish press continued the press barrage over the weekend with stories linking Tyler Hamilton to the doctors at the center of the latest doping scandal there. The Spanish papers offer doping schedules they purport showed Hamilton’s doping regime as well as a financial statement purportedly faxed to Hamilton’s wife. Jan Ullrich has also been alleged to have been involved in the Spanish doping affair as well.

The UCI and ASO, the organizers of the Tour de France, are awaiting the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision on whether the former Liberty Seguros, now Wurth-Astana team will be allowed to start the Tour on Saturday. The UCI has approved the license for the new sponsor and will not sanction the team until the Spanish authorities take some action. The ASO does not want the team there. The CAS has now promised to hold a hearing on the matter and issue a ruling by Friday.

I have come to the conclusion that yes, probably every athlete has cheated in one form or another in their careers. Some times the cheating occurs during the course of the event or on the field of play. Some times the cheating occurs off the field or outside the running of the event but has an effect on the outcome. In some sports, cheating has become a game inside the game. Those who get caught just get sneakier. Those who don’t get caught think they are invincible. When athletes do get caught, they frequently are willing to name names.

Cheating does not affect, however, the popularity of the sport. NASCAR is not less popular due to the rampant cheating that exists in the sport. Baseball has never been more popular than during the drug induced boom years of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. Professional wrestling has never been affected by the illegal drug use and fixed results that exist in the “sport.” Why? Because people want to be entertained.

The Dick Pound’s of the world do not comprehend that sport has always been about entertainment. People go to sporting events to escape. Athletes cheat because (a) they can and (b) they honestly believe everyone else is doing it. We need to reconsider how we are fighting the war on doping. The current model is broken. It results in athletes categorically proclaiming their innocence. It results in WADA and the press declaring everyone to be a cheat. The truth is in between. Most athletes have probably doped at some time in their career. Most of that doping has had virtually no effect on the outcome of the events. The more authoritarian the response from doping officials, the less likely they are to be able to root out the problems and to end doping.

Most importantly, has doping really affected the popularity of any sport? Absolutely not. Is track and field any more or less popular as a result of doping? Is boxing? Is swimming? Is cycling? None of them have had their popularity affected by doping.

Tour Preview

I will try to get a Tour preview out for Friday. However, if I am not able to do so, know that while the Tour is likely to be exciting due to the fact that Armstrong is not there, it is interesting to note that Ivan Basso’s CSC team, Floyd Landis’ Phonak team and Jan Ullrich’s T-Mobile team have been named and clearly have a single focus, that is getting their leaders to the front and keeping them there. As CSC showed during the Giro d’Italia, the Armstrong-Bruyneel model of a strong team coupled with strategic attacks by the leader which occur only when the leader can gain an advantage will likely prevail in the ProTour era. All three teams have had excellent results this season for their leaders using this model. With larger teams and larger budgets, some teams will be going to the Tour knowing that they can get a rider into the top 10 and that is all they really want to do. As is usually the case, there are probably only five riders capable of winning the Tour: Basso, Ullrich, Landis, Leipheimer, Valverde. Of those Valverde probably does not have the team or experience to do it. Leipheimer has yet to show really strength in the Tour de France. That leaves the final podium as Basso, Ullrich, Landis in that order.