2012 was not just an annushoriblis for Lance Armstrong, it was bad for the sport of cycling. No need to underscore the “bad” because it was that bad. If there was a sport that was trying to commit a harakiri, cycling was it.
There was a time when the NBA was also dying due to drugs, though not the performance enhancing type, but because of a dynamic leadership of David Stern and charismatic athletes like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, it was able to climb up to respectability and profitability.
It has been 14 years since Wily Voet, a soigneur(basically a gofer) for team Festina, was apprehended by French customs police for carrying various doping products and paraphernalia’s when he crossed the border from Ireland where the Tour de France made its start in 1998. In those 14 years, a lot of doping scandals have happened and some were bigger than the Le Affaire Festina, yet, the doping practices have not only continued but also became sophisticated.
The came USADA’s report about the alleged doping practices and how he defrauded not only the cycling universe but also the cancer community by his use of PED’s in his historic 7-consecutive Tour de France victories. It was the biggest bomb ever in a sport and while the case is still to reach its finality, a lot of turns can still be expected.
I’m not going to debate here again about the pros and cons of the LA case nor the doping issue as I’ve said more than enough but what I’m going to say here is that as long as the same set-up is followed, the I’m afraid we’ll have a redux of the same scandals in 2013.
The only way for cycling to shed its doping image is start right at the bottom, and that is to make each cyclist job stable. Imagine you are working for a 6-month contract, what would you do to get noticed to become a permanent employee? You can either be the best in what you do or do something “out of the box” to get noticed. Or get another job.
And that is the conundrum surrounding the sport today. The men in suits don’t want the apple cart to be upset so they simply put their blinders on. Then there are the people who want to change the sport, people who believed that they have this divine mission to scorch the sport in order to set up a new order.
But what they are forgetting are the cyclists who make the sport what it is today. While I’m pessimistic that changes I am hoping for will be realized in the near future, there’s always hope that it can. However, cycling simply doesn’t need any iatrogenic scandal. Everybody who has a stake in the sport should get together and put things right. That’s what we need to see in 2013.
Happy New Year!