{"id":421,"date":"2012-10-29T10:00:18","date_gmt":"2012-10-29T15:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.foell.org\/justin\/?p=421"},"modified":"2014-07-05T17:37:47","modified_gmt":"2014-07-05T22:37:47","slug":"cycling-doping-and-heroics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.foell.org\/justin\/cycling-doping-and-heroics\/","title":{"rendered":"Cycling: Doping and Heroics"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the aftermath of what the Bike Snob calls “Shitstorm 2012”<\/a> (the doping scandal primarily revolving around Lance Armstrong), professional bike racing is being reevaluated.\u00a0 Long-time team sponsor Rabobank<\/a> has decided to stop sponsoring the sport<\/a> entirely.<\/p>\n

Several pundits are now chiming in, posturing as to what the future of professional road cycling will look like.\u00a0 One of the most thought provoking articles I read actually suggests that doping should be allowed<\/a>, or at least not prosecuted, by implementing a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.<\/p>\n

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One of the arguments is that by entirely eliminating doping, the lack of super-human efforts will drive fanatical fans away from the sport:<\/p>\n

Hardcore fans hooked on heroic, drug-fuelled performances may not care about the extent of doping, but may leave the sport when those heroic performances become fewer and further between.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I watched the 2012 Tour de France, and you know what I thought was heroic? On stage 10, there was an uphill finish where five breakaway riders partook in what commentator Paul Sherwen called<\/p>\n

The slowest sprint I have seen in the Tour de France.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Co-commentator Phil Liggett said he has “never seen a sprint quite as slow as this” and used the anecdote of The Tortoise and the Hare<\/em> to describe how the slowly the riders were attacking each other as individuals ran out of steam:<\/p>\n