Rob's Blog

The Tour de France cycling event is becoming a joke. After last year’s debacle with the initial winner Floyd Landis being rubbed out due to drug taking (which is still ongoing), we thought that the event would be cleaned up. This year’s event is not over yet, and there have been several doping incidents, the latest with the tour leader Michael Rasmussen being dropped by his team for lying to them and possibly covering up where he was when he missed drug tests last year. Other recent events include pre-race favourite Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov testing positive for a prohibited blood transfusion, and early on in the tour a German rider tested positive for testosterone resulting in some German TV channels stopping their coverage of the Tour. Tour officials are trying hard to clean up the race, but the problem in cycling is too deeply rooted. The penalties need to get even tougher. How about banning transgressors for life? And they should not hold another event until the sport is squeaky clean.

Related Pages: Tour de France, cycling, Floyd Landis profile

Lance Armstrong competed in the New York Marathon on the weekend. He finished in a credible time for a non-runner at just under 3 hours. With his huge aerobic fitness level that he has shown on the bike in winning the Tour de France seven times, you would think it would be a walk in the park for him. He struggled, and said afterwards that it was the hardest physical thing he has ever done. This will bring joy to all the distance runners out there to get the credit for the hard work that they regularly go though. Maybe it was so tough for him as he is not with a cycling team anymore, and therefore does not have the team resources to ‘aid’ his performance.

Related Pages: marathons, track and field, Tour de France, cycling, Lance Armstrong profile

It would not be a Tour de France without some doping scandal. I thought that when a few of the favorites were pulled out by their teams at the start of the event due to a link with a drug laboratory, then that would be it. However, the day after the end of the Tour finished, we discover that this year’s winner Floyd Landis gave a positive test for elevated testosterone, from a sample given after his big comeback win on one of the final stages. This whole incident may go on for a long time with appeals etc, but already the damage has been done to his reputation and to the reputation of world cycling, if it could get any worse. I followed the ups and downs of the Tour for the two weeks, and even stayed up late and watched a couple of the stages. Now I feel like what I watched was not real, and I feel cheated. I feel the same disappointment whenever there is a drug scandal. The doping cloud over Lance Armstrong is never going to go away either. In an era when many of the leading cyclists are being done for drug taking, indicating that the many performances are drug assisted, here is a guy who has won seven of the events in a row. It is hard to believe that someone who is clean can dominate for so long in those conditions.

Related Pages: Tour de France, cycling, Lance Armstrong profile, Floyd Landis profile

Michael Rogers, one of two Australians that finished in the top ten of the Tour de France this week, suggested it was time for Australia to put a team on the tour. There is a big financial hurdle to overcome, but other than that there is enough interest in Australia and certainly enough talent to put together a team. This year was Australia’s best performance - we had two riders in the top ten, Stuart McGee and Michael Rogers, and the winner of the sprint title was Robbie McEwen also of Australia. Getting a major sponsor must be easier knowing that a competitive team could easily be put together, and the public interest will only grow with any success. Most Australian sport fans will follow any sport, and a winning team will bring on board everyone else. What is in it for the sponsors? They need to find someone with a lot of spare cash to throw around, or someone looking for worldwide publicity, particularly in Europe.

Related Pages: Tour de France, Robbie McEwen profile, cycling

He is Australian, and he often wears green, but many people in sporting mad Australia don’t know of him. Robbie McEwen is currently setting the Tour de France on fire, winning his second stage and leading in the Green Jersey running for the best sprinter. The sport of cycling usually only makes the news at Olympic or Commonwealth Games times, and occasionally during the Tour de France. However, another ‘minor’ Australian sport, soccer, is still capturing news space with the World Cup nearing it’s finale. If he can keep on winning, maybe he can get the recognition that he deserves and become a household name for his achievements in his long career at the top of cycling.

Related Pages: Tour de France, Robbie McEwen profile, cycling

It is not surprising to hear of another doping scandal in the Tour de France. I don’t think that the teams are just being overly cautious to ban all implicated riders, there must be some pretty damming evidence to take such a drastic action. At least they are not covering up the problem as they may have done in the past. It can only be good for the sport which has a bad reputation for doping. They are showing that they are going to be tough on those who break the rules, even though they may be high profile riders.

Related Pages: Tour de France, cycling, doping in sports