Bye bye Basso
"It was only attempted doping," says former Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso.
Go ahead and mark your calendars down for the timeframe around May 8, 2011. It will be around then that Basso will be eligible to sign with a ProTour team, but that's only if Tinkov doesn't sign him after his initial two year ban. I'm not much for speculation about woulda/shoulda, but this confession sure does put a dark cloud over his past successes.
What I'm having trouble with is reading news of people talking about the "courage" it took for Basso to confess. Let's not get the word "courage" confused with "truth" or "honesty." Ivan Basso did nothing courageous by coming forward. I'm sure he was scared as hell leading up to this tipping point, but the only pain he'll feel is within his own heart for cheating himself. If you want to bend the definition of courage then do so for the riders who actually do not use dope to ride professionally. Talk about occupational hazards.....
Now that Michele Scarponi has admitted his involvement it's just a matter of time before Alejandro Valverde owns up to his involvement as well. According to news reports Valverde's confiscated blood was found to have included EPO. Adios fellas.
I know for many months I stated we could not say for certain the alleged riders were guilty of doping due to the circumstantial evidence provided. However, the authorities' patience on tightening the noose has paid off in spades with their most favored position; confessions. I don't feel compelled to say I was wrong about their guilt. I still feel strongly about innocence until proven guilty through incontrovertible evidence (or confession!).
We very well may be witnessing the swing of the pendulum in the direction of a cleaner sport. Illegal doping activity will never be out of cycling 100% of the time, but this path we're currently on is having a positive long-term affect. Take away all of the previous "best" riders who were doping all along and we're left with riders who no longer feel compelled to try and keep up through cheating.
The mental and emotional impact this series of events will have is immeasurable. I'm guessing here, but there are riders who likely breathing a deep sigh of relief knowing they now don't have to choose to dope or not dope. It's easier to say no today than it ever has been, and with the implementation of stricter controls by each team this decision should be an easier one for riders. We can only hope this trend continues and the sport of cycling regains its respect.
Go ahead and mark your calendars down for the timeframe around May 8, 2011. It will be around then that Basso will be eligible to sign with a ProTour team, but that's only if Tinkov doesn't sign him after his initial two year ban. I'm not much for speculation about woulda/shoulda, but this confession sure does put a dark cloud over his past successes.
What I'm having trouble with is reading news of people talking about the "courage" it took for Basso to confess. Let's not get the word "courage" confused with "truth" or "honesty." Ivan Basso did nothing courageous by coming forward. I'm sure he was scared as hell leading up to this tipping point, but the only pain he'll feel is within his own heart for cheating himself. If you want to bend the definition of courage then do so for the riders who actually do not use dope to ride professionally. Talk about occupational hazards.....
Now that Michele Scarponi has admitted his involvement it's just a matter of time before Alejandro Valverde owns up to his involvement as well. According to news reports Valverde's confiscated blood was found to have included EPO. Adios fellas.
I know for many months I stated we could not say for certain the alleged riders were guilty of doping due to the circumstantial evidence provided. However, the authorities' patience on tightening the noose has paid off in spades with their most favored position; confessions. I don't feel compelled to say I was wrong about their guilt. I still feel strongly about innocence until proven guilty through incontrovertible evidence (or confession!).
We very well may be witnessing the swing of the pendulum in the direction of a cleaner sport. Illegal doping activity will never be out of cycling 100% of the time, but this path we're currently on is having a positive long-term affect. Take away all of the previous "best" riders who were doping all along and we're left with riders who no longer feel compelled to try and keep up through cheating.
The mental and emotional impact this series of events will have is immeasurable. I'm guessing here, but there are riders who likely breathing a deep sigh of relief knowing they now don't have to choose to dope or not dope. It's easier to say no today than it ever has been, and with the implementation of stricter controls by each team this decision should be an easier one for riders. We can only hope this trend continues and the sport of cycling regains its respect.
posted by NashvilleCyclist.com at 5/09/2007 12:41:00 PM
1 Comments:
Nice post.
I also think this will lead to the demise of pro cycling in the US. Specifically, I don't see a US sponsor replacing Discovery (I bet they are very happy they didn't extend) nor do I see Versus renewing their Cyclysm coverage for 08 or beyond. Finally, makes me wonder how many more years we will get the Tour of California or Tour De Georgia (which almost didn't happen this year because of no sponsor).
Sad, very sad.
AC
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