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Alberto Contador learned his lesson when he got snagged for doping at the 2010 Tour de France. He learned not to use clenbuterol or other "lesser" performance enhancing drugs in the days leading up to drawing blood for later transfusion.
At the 2011 Giro d'Italia Contador dominated like a machine. He humiliated all comers and hardly broke a sweat doing it, giving away stage wins like a king granting parcels of land to favored vassals.
At the elite level of any sport, the difference between levels of excellence is measured in hair breadths, not light-years. Alberto's dominance at the Giro would be expected if someone of his talent were racing against ProConti riders. But against a collection of elites?
Alberto's competitors learned as well, both from Alberto and from UCI.
From Alberto they learned that if they are to stand any chance whatsoever of defeating him in this year's Tour de France, they must be just as skilled and ruthless at doping as he is.
From UCI they learned that they have nothing to fear, regardless of how obviously they dope.
Because just a few months ago we saw the Index of Suspicion, aka The List.
The List was intended for use in targeting the most suspicious riders, those whose biological passport data indicated the highest likelihood of having doped during that season.
But that targeting of the most highly suspect riders never occurred.
Then, during the build up to the Amgen EPO Tour of California USADA was slotted to take over testing from the UCI and ran a three month program of pre-race blood testing leading. They had used that testing cycle to again identify the riders who were most highly suspect and formed their own Index of Suspcion, which we were told would actually be used for its intended purpose.
But just days before the race, in order to prevent just such targeting, UCI removed USADA from the in race testing program and took over those duties itself, tossing all of USADA's work and its List out the window.
Riders are faced with a choice, race clean and be humiliated or dope to the gills and be competitive. Knowing that UCI not only expects them to dope, but tacitly condones it and will take drastic steps to protect dopers, we can expect to see doping at this edition of the Tour de France rise to new heights.
I also anticipate that we'll see some performances that will make the best of Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis and Alberto Contador (to date) look mundane.
I understand this is a personal blog, lighthearted, nothing to be taken too seriously. But, it is filled with such hatred and bitterness which then translates into erroneous ideas. Maybe, this is all meant to be uber-sarcasm and I ain't getting it.
ReplyDeleteYou left out The Chemical Brothers' (Chris and Levi) performance at ATOC. They got the same memo Contador did. I fear that you're absolutely correct: industrial doping is back with a vengeance.
ReplyDeleteAnd they're showing their commitment to clean riding by searching the Quick-Step bus?! I now pronounce you completely vindicated.
ReplyDeleteHow would you explain that the top times on Alpe d'Huez this year were about three minutes slower than top times over the past two decades? There was a big headwind on the Galibier, but not Huez the next day. It was a tough tour this year and Huez came at the end of the alpine stages, but that shouldn't account for a three-minute slowing, especially given that there was plenty of attacking and Contador was firing on all cylinders. I'm an ardent opponent of doping, and I am deeply skeptical about Armstrong's claims on innocence, but you have to work with all the evidence. You might have to consider that the doping scourge might be receding.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to have been generally incorrect in my pre-Tour evaluation.
ReplyDeleteBut do you believe that Andy's Stage 18 performance was anything less than the result of a transfusion?
I've read that Cadel's performances have been very consistent over the past 8 Tours, and that it was Alberto and Andy who've slowed.
That would seem to indicate that Alberto and Andy, overall, were cleaner this year than i previous years.
Why?
Clearly Alberto's performance in the Giro evidenced that he was doped to the gills.
So why does it seem that this Tour was cleaner?
They probably were cleaner, but they aren't consistently cleaner. There's politics at play in this.
And a change that important points to ASO's involvement.
I've also heard that UCI is currently divided and that there is a faction pissed off about its historical corruption that demands more integrity in its anti-doping efforts. That would be the faction that leaked The List.
Maybe they had a hand in this, too. But if so, why didn't they have any effect on the Giro? This inconsistency also hints that the political force behind this is ASO and not internal to UCI.
Lots of questions, but hopefully there is real and permanent movement toward a cleaner peloton.