la dopage

Clark said...
Somehow, even though this post is 8 days old, my RSS aggregator just barely got to it. But, now I'm relying on you for some good detail and analysis. Team Astana is gone? Why? I understand that Vinokurov failed a test, but why would the rest of his team drop? Didn't Kloden still have a chance?Another topic: I've heard this argument made in Floyd's defense: "Why would he dope and win if he knew he was going to be tested? It makes no sense!" I agree. It makes no sense. So then, can we make the same argument for Vinokurov, or is he really that dumb?It seems like the argument makes logical sense, but then tons of people are out there proving that they are just dumb enough to dope and win.

Okay. Now that a day has gone past, maybe I can get some coherent thoughts together on this one. I was devastated, devastated, when I got this news yesterday. My favorite Tour racers from 2005 (Armstrong, Basso, Ullrich, Hamilton, etc etc etc etc) were all out this year - retired or doping - and Alexandre Vinokourov seemed like the last great hope. Yes, Leipheimer is a good guy, but Vino seemed to be the one with the nerve and the skill to win this thing. He's had a podium finish before. He got locked out of last year's race. Last time he was here, he won on the Champs Elysees - a sprint stage! He just went out there and won. Because he can. Because he wants it more.

Saturday's time trial seemed to prove my point. Here's a guy who has stitches in his knees, losing to his teammate, and he went for it. No holds barred, a one-man race to the line and he wins the day. Moxie. Followed, the next day, by a catastrophic failing on Plateau de Baille and losing half an hour. Is the man out? Why no, Monday he goes for individual glory, having already literally waved goodbye to his chances for the overall win. So he goes out and clobbers everyone. Beats them into dust. He's a new man.

Fatefully, I turned to my friend and remarked: "This is so reminiscent of Floyd last year. Don't count the man out. He will come back to make you pay."

24 hours later, he's persona non grata at the Tour - both him, and his team. Gone. Stripped of wins (pending B sample results), out of the Tour, probably finished. He's 33. You don't come back from a 2-year ban that starts when you're 33.

So reminiscent of Floyd.

Actually, this mess wouldn't be possible without Floyd. Yes, Floyd had a sample come up positive after a win. But his whole team didn't get instantly removed from contention. Without last year's doping mess, this year's [over?]reaction wouldn't have happened. Kloden would still be in there, in the top 5, racing for glory with his broken coccyx.

Almost as devastating as the doping, almost as damaging, is that he went about it in the most stupid way. For a year now I've railed against Floyd's positive result. Why would you dope and then set out deliberately to win the stage? You are guaranteed to be drug tested only on three days of the Tour: the first day, the day you win a stage, and the day you wear yellow. The whole point of Floyd's resurgence last year was to win the stage and get back yellow. The whole point of Vino's Saturday was to win the time trial. Both of these guys knew that if they did what they had set out to do, there was a 100% chance of getting tested that day. 100%.

That has led me to protest for 12 months that Floyd must be innocent, but now . . . Vino not only kicked the sport while it's down, not only made Rasmussen's job that much harder [more on that another time], but dragged whatever chances Floyd had down with him. Floyd's done now, thanks to Vino. There's no way arbitration is coming back in his favor now.

Edited to add: Another one bites the dust.

For further viewing, go to http://www.velonews.com/ and watch their video interview with British cyclist David Millar (convicted former doper) from yesterday afternoon, right after Millar heard the news.