Anyone watching the Tour de France?

[Bugbear]

While not cleansing the charts of pirate scum, I like to go dirtside and get on my road bike and ride the local streets.

Been watching the Tour de France broadcast - those guys always amaze me. Team time trial averaged 59km/h over a 23km course - absolutely incredible.

For comparison the guys I ride with aren't slouches (probably C or high D grade) and our best average over a 70km course is 34km/h...

[CommonSenseOTB]

What amazes me is how we can watch a sport filled with "atheletes" and the winner is likely the one who used the most performance enhancing drugs. And if he doesn't get caught he gets to keep his title. They should make this sport really interesting and give the riders police batons so they can beat and trip each other when they are racing close. Same difference whether the athletes fight dirty before or during the race.

They could do the same for hockey."Sub-Zero, now plain ZERO!"

[Bugbear]

I agree with you that drugs in sport is an ongoing problem, and this problem exists in all sports, not just cycling. The presence of drugs in sport detracts so much from the hours, days, weeks and months of preparation and dedication that goes into competing at the pinnacle of performance.

Your suggestion to introduce violence into a sport, however, doesn't portray you in a particularly good light.

[CommonSenseOTB]

It's already there. Take hockey. Used to love it as a kid. Can't stand it anymore because of the constant attempts to "kill" the other players. I like to play devil's advocate on different issues from time to time and try not to confuse my dry sarcasm with actually supporting the things I'm being sarcastic about. But the way things are going it wouldn't surprise me any if the roman gladiator games from 2000 years ago come full circle as in some sports it already has to some extent.

[Bugbear]

It's already there. Take hockey. Used to love it as a kid. Can't stand it anymore because of the constant attempts to "kill" the other players. I like to play devil's advocate on different issues from time to time and try not to confuse my dry sarcasm with actually supporting the things I'm being sarcastic about. But the way things are going it wouldn't surprise me any if the roman gladiator games from 2000 years ago come full circle as in some sports it already has to some extent.

Whoops...didn't even spot the sarcasm sorry!

I see the same thing here in Australia with the various football codes (fyi in Australia, football != soccer). Week in, week out, I see a bunch of overpaid, overprivileged neanderthals being glorified in the media. The drug controls they have in AFL for example are a joke. These 'controls' allowed a high profile player to use illegal drugs (i.e. cocaine), but because they weren't performance enhancing, that's ok.

Instead, this high performance player was whisked away to 'rehab' (read: damage control) in L.A. for a couple of weeks until the media furore died down. This player called himself an addict (on camera). I think he was just sorry he got caught.

Arrgh...it just hits a nerve with me when I see the hipocracy of bigots from other sports criticising cycling, when the cycling officials are doing so much to target drug use, and aren't afraid to shine a spotlight on their high performers (e.g. Alberto Contador, winner of last year's tour) in an effort to keep drug use under control.

And you can see it's a touchy subject for me...

[CommonSenseOTB]

I sympathise with you man. Not many sports I like much any more because of exactly what you mentioned.

Is Oolite a sport? If so then there is one I still like alot.

[Commander McLane]

I used to watch the Tour de France quite extensively in the middle to late 90's. Since then the ever repeating doping scandals—finally leading to the conviction that more or less everybody in the field is more or less constantly abusing substances—have put a serious dent in my enthusiasm. This year I just noticed the day before yesterday that the Tour had started and found myself thinking, 'so what'?

On the other hand, something like the Tour de France is a superhuman ordeal for those participating. So it's a little silly to expect that a non-enhanced athlete would be good at it in the first place.

I think it boils down to: if you're a fan, you have to take it as it is.

[Eric Walch]

I used to watch the Tour de France quite extensively in the middle to late 90's. Since then the ever repeating doping scandals—finally leading to the conviction that more or less everybody in the field is more or less constantly abusing substances—have put a serious dent in my enthusiasm. This year I just noticed the day before yesterday that the Tour had started and found myself thinking, 'so what'?

That you noticed it so late could have to do with the tour boycot by german media. I think the german media decided to ignore the tour last year because of all the drugs. And a lot of sponsors stopped sponsoring german teams because they got to little media attention now. This year no german team in the tour at all.

Besides drugs is france chauvinism also a problem. Yesterday we had a lead-group of 5 cyclist. The French television wanted to have a French winner and decided to push two competitors from the road. At least in every replay of the incident it looks as it was by intention. There was no room at all to pass and when at the hight of the competitors, the driver fiercely turned his car into them.

[Bugbear]

The French television wanted to have a French winner and decided to push two competitors from the road. At least in every replay of the incident it looks as it was by intention. There was no room at all to pass and when at the hight of the competitors, the driver fiercely turned his car into them.

Yeah, saw that. I couldn't believe my eyes. I'm probably being naive but that act by the driver was unforgivable and incompetent but I don't think it was intentional. At least the rider who fell had already collected all the KOM points he was going to collect for the day, and today being a rest day gives him some chance of recovery.

Commander McLane, yeah, I'm a fan I guess. Cycling around 200km a week gives me some appreciation of how superhuman their efforts are...

[Frame]

I used to watch it, then Rasmussen got thrown off, that was the last straw, doped for sure, why else evade the controllers. That and Bjarne Ris admitting to abuse.

The doping issue has been since the 60s i suppose when someone died of abuse of steroids while participating and literally dying on the road, its really just more of a curiosity and a Tour Management that refuses to see the truth..

and now calling it "Enhanced", i can only think that is a word to make the public accept it..

Sure Fans it will have., but I couldn't care less if it this year was its last year, i mean My country's single winner Bjarne Ris was doped, and upon return he was saluted by a mass of people, while he did a lot of hard work himself, Training, and the rest of the field likely was doped too, he was just the one who was the best at using this extra dope power.. How could he stand there and be saluted knowing that he was cheater..

It is as simple as that, nobody likes a cheater... (unless its a cheatcode for a Computer game )

Cheers Frame....

[DaddyHoggy]

I used to watch the Tour de France quite extensively in the middle to late 90's. Since then the ever repeating doping scandals—finally leading to the conviction that more or less everybody in the field is more or less constantly abusing substances—have put a serious dent in my enthusiasm. This year I just noticed the day before yesterday that the Tour had started and found myself thinking, 'so what'?

That you noticed it so late could have to do with the tour boycot by german media. I think the german media decided to ignore the tour last year because of all the drugs. And a lot of sponsors stopped sponsoring german teams because they got to little media attention now. This year no german team in the tour at all.

Besides drugs is france chauvinism also a problem. Yesterday we had a lead-group of 5 cyclist. The French television wanted to have a French winner and decided to push two competitors from the road. At least in every replay of the incident it looks as it was by intention. There was no room at all to pass and when at the hight of the competitors, the driver fiercely turned his car into them.

I saw that side swipe! And the subsequent fixing of of the dutch guys leg while he was cycling along by a guy leaning off the side of a motorbike!