What a shock: an American wins the Tour and he has to have cheated to do it...

[alacoldart]

The Tour de France is becoming more and more a joke with each passing year. Lance Armstrong, easily the most inspirational single athlete this country has seen since Jim Thorpe and Jesse Owens, won the thing 7 years in a row and every time he did so, the cries of "cheater" and "doper" grew louder and louder

Comments

[feather]

It may have been one of the most amazing feats ever, but it was very hard not to think 'doping!' after that stage. It wasn't a stage where you would expect a man who was basically out the day before to come back in. I even made a joke while watching him accept his cup, that now he'd have something pretty to hold his drugs in. I think he's had his doubters all along, even before the investigation.

This has been an abnormal race for so many reasons. There has been so much pressure, so much desire to become the next winner of the Tour, that it led people to do crazy things. Floyd wasn't even supposed to have a shot - it was going to be a battle between Basso and Ullrich. Yet we didn't see them race... I don't think people really understand the pressure they felt, and sadly instead of using that energy to win they turned to doping (although as of right now, no one has been officially found guilty).

Obviously, I was thrilled when Floyd won. It was the feel good story of the year - and another American! He's been a great rider in the past, so it was nice that he had his time to shine. So I'm hoping that it's the same angry people who tried to prove that Lance (the most tested rider - no, ATHLETE, ever) was doping, and that he will be cleared just like Lance was. But I think there's a reason we were all wondering, "drugs?" after seeing his amazing comeback. I hope hope hope he did it all naturally, but gosh he was dead the day before... that's an awful lot of energy to regain in the mountains! But he could have done it naturally, by seeing the headlines of stories saying that LANDIS IS OUT. It could have motivated him. That's what I want to believe.

I don't see any problems with the rules on doping and the penalties, though. The penalties in cycling are much worse than in any other sport, and it should stay that way! As long as there is competition, there are going to be cheaters, and it's good to punish them. I think the only problem is the execution of the testing and investigations. As you stated, there's definitely a problem there.

So ends my 8 am ramble. :)

[alacoldart]

Yes, it was an amazing comeback for Floyd and maybe he did use some artificial means to achieve it, but the fact that his testosterone levels were normal and he'd been clean after every other test makes it very convenient that the positive result came then and there.

Drugs like that only work if they're taken consistently over a period of time. You can't just pop a pill or shoot up and expect to be Superman. Sure, you might get a little jolt of energy but considering how taxing cycling is, it'd be negligible in its effects. I'm sure you've read the comments by one of the doctors investigating it that say that it doesn't add up and that's a big time red flag for me. Chances are that his levels were so disparate either from the medication he was taking combined with how much he was exerting himself. It could have even come from the alcohol in which he drowned his sorrows after he was pretty much out of it prior to Stage 17. I'm not a bio-chemist; I don't know how everything works in your body when combined with foreign substances, but it's awfully conveninent that the result came after his comeback.

Like you said, maybe he was motivated by the talk of him being done. It could be that he ate or drank something infused with more supplements that day or maybe, just maybe, he cheated. I don't think we'll ever really know. Even if his name is cleared (which, again, I don't think it will be), it's unlikely that he'll be trusted again.