Tour de France

(21-07-2013 21:24 )bytor Wrote:  Why the cynicism. Its a team sport. Without the rest of the team Wiggins, Froome and all previous winners would not have achieved anything. The teams are built and developed with the sole purpose of winning. They concentrate on nothing else.
Its a shame that the first thought of many is to presume drug enhancement must be responsible. They should be applauded as worthy winners. If at a later date they have been found guilty of using drugs then they should be condemned....not before. Until that time I congratulate the likes of Froome for their achievement.

Look, I'm British it's a British win and i have not actually condemed any one, I don't know if he has or hasn't taken drugs. However, Britian were no where in cycling suddenly they win everything, somethings happened, is it really ALL down to exercise and a good diet. Look at the olympics they won nearly everything, they would have won everything had it not been for a few ref decisions against pendleton and a screw up in the road race. You name me ANY sport where one country wins EVERYTHING, especially when it's a relatively minor sport and one that that country is not known for.

If he genuinly is not taking anything, brilliant, it's pretty good achievement with drugs, but, having been a big cycling fan for years, right through Indurans to Ulrich and Rees, I became very disillusioned with all the drug taking in the sport, that why it's high on the assumption list in this sport. It's not like it's noted for being the cleanist sport around.

But I'll leave you to it.

didn't the Brits team win a lot of medals at the 2008 Olympics?, and we have been building since then. to have two British winners in two years and also from a british team shouldn't we be proud!! Why does it have to be drug related cant it just be the fact that we have two quality road racers oh not to forget a ex world champ in cavandish !!! (is he on drugs too!!!)

^^ Maybe the brits are doing so well because their competitors have stopped taking drugs rather than the other way round!

Contador was unstoppable a few years ago when he was doping, but now he's clean he is vulnerable, and rode this tour with a weak team around him. Both factors that help level the playing field.


Without taking anything whatsoever away from Froome's great win, I personally remain more sceptical about his britshness than any unproven drug taking. Born in Kenya, raised in Kenya, originally raced under a Kenyan flag, now suddenly he's british and the little englanders are applauding him as one of our own!
I'm old enough to remember the days of apartheid and people taking nationalities of convenience in order to compete (step forward Zola Budd), I can't help but be a little cynical about this kind of thing.

british cycling became successfull ever since 92 when chris boardman won gold in the individual pursuit. when he won that money was invested into the sport before we only had outdoor velodromes which were death traps. Also manchester getting the 2000 commonwealth games helped because a new purpose built indoor velodrome was built which became the home of the cycling squad national lottery funding also meant cyclists were no longer part time ametuers but professional sports people that trained together in manchester

so over night sucess has taken 21 years

(22-07-2013 05:53 )munch1917 Wrote:  Without taking anything whatsoever away from Froome's great win, I personally remain more sceptical about his britshness than any unproven drug taking. Born in Kenya, raised in Kenya, originally raced under a Kenyan flag, now suddenly he's british and the little englanders are applauding him

Many Brits are born and raise abroad, Joanna Lumley, Cliff Richard, Englbert humperdink they're still British, it's not like it's Zola Budd who had one grandad british; his dad lineage is all British and his grand mother lineage is all British, his blood and DNA is totally British and his girlfriend is welsh born.

(22-07-2013 10:53 )tuesdayslump Wrote:  ...
and his girlfriend is welsh born.

The nationality of his girlfriend is completely irrelevant to his own nationality


As HP says, british track cycling has a good recent tradition, going back to the likes of Chris Boardman and Chris Hoy. This has led to investment in the sport, giving better facilities, and better coaching, as well as a greater interest leading to more people getting involved. The haul of medals in recent Olympics and other events is the result of all that, it's no overnight success.
It's probably fair to say though that british cycling is still more focused on the track events, whereas elsewhere in europe, the road events are the more 'glamorous' ones that people aim for. There have been a number of very good road riders in recent years, but they were very much team players, not race winners, so they didn't attract the same attention as the likes of Wiggins and Froome.

(22-07-2013 11:56 )munch1917 Wrote:  

(22-07-2013 10:53 )tuesdayslump Wrote:  ...
and his girlfriend is welsh born.

The nationality of his girlfriend is completely irrelevant to his own nationality

Of course it isn't, but she has been brought up in South Africa.

Do you see channel 4 news tonight? They interviewed him, he sounded the very essense of Englishness and what was one of the questions that was asked of him - the 'dopeing'. Whether you like it or not it's been so riddled with it that it's bound to be asked. He answered the question with a hell of a lot less offence than people on here.

Brailsford has been quoted that he would like to see Wiggins & Froome in next years Tour.The plan to have Wiggins go for glory in the Giro almost backfired as the Team for the Tour wasn't as strong as last year & saw Froome stranded in the Pyrenees.

Sigh, more legends bite the dust:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/tour-....html?vp=1

****1998 winner Tour de France winner Marco Pantani and runner-up Jan Ullrich both used EPO during the race, a report released by the French Senate has revealed.

The report released the results of samples collected during the race that were then retested in 2004.

A test to detect the presence of EPO was introduced in 2000. Four years later, France's anti-doping agency decided to retest urine samples from the 1998 and 1999 Tours using the new technology.

Eighteen riders were found to have tested positive for EPO while a further 12 were said to have suspicious samples.

Contrary to earlier reports, American Bobby Julich, who finished third in the race, was not on the positive list but was listed as suspicious.

Green jersey winner Erik Zabel was another who tested positive while French cycling legend Laurent Jalabert, who twice won both the points classification and the mountain classification on the Tour, was also on the positives list.****

^^^ real shame, I remember all those riders well.

It's astonishing just how widespread doping was in the sport, but it also makes you wonder, surely it wasn't just cycling! Let's face it, until recent years, cycling has hardly been a 'glamour' sport, there hasn't been pots of money involved, or much publicity. Outside the Tour de France, most people knew and cared little about it, so if these guys were doping, surely those involved in the headline sports were also doing something similar, after all, they had far more to gain from winning their sports! Maybe cycling is just the one that has gone to such great lengths to clean up not just it's present, but it's past as well.