It’s 30-something degrees in the Adelaide Hills. Two cyclists are battling their way to the top of a climb. The crowd is cheering both as they struggle to get the advantage, one rider just nudging the other out for the victory as they cross the line. Alejandro Valverde has just made a triumphant return from a two-year doping suspension.
The crowd certainly doesn’t seem to mind his history, applauding him as much as his Australian opponent, Simon Gerrans. The Spanish fans love him too, holding him with the likes of Luis Léon Sánchez and Alberto Contador. In truth, it hardly seems fair. After his actions, does Valverde actually deserve to be applauded? It’s hard to say. And this begs another, more serious question:
If we applaud after they cheat, are we applauding the cheating, too?
Are we unreasonable for wanting to applaud? Is it wrong to admire David Millar for his strict anti-doping stance, wrong to worship Dave Zabriskie for daring to be a vegan pro-cyclist when no-one thought he could? Is it wrong to esteem George Hincapie as one of the heads of state of the peloton, a loyal, capable rider? Or should we be shaking our heads and saying that everything that we love and believe about these guys has been washed away with the flood of guilt? That the moral high ground should take precedence over everything; that their right to be applauded was stripped the moment they admitted to doping?
I hold all of these riders among my favourites for these reasons, but I feel guilty in saying that now. I feel as though I should wash my hands of them to set a good example for other fans and riders; to show that we, the fans and the media, will not condone doping either. But I just can’t shake the desire to thank George Hincapie for being the capable lieutenant and road captain that led Cadel Evans to victory. I can’t shake that desire, and yet I can’t shake the question: does he still deserve our thanks? Or did he resign the right to that kind of admiration when he said yes to the drugs?
Should knowledge of redemption and the chance of returning to the fold form part of the doping culture in cycling? If riders admit, or repent, should their mistake be acknowledged and they be embraced upon their return? Or should complete ostracision by the cycling community and rescission of all respect and status be the unwavering punishment for doping? I’m not sure. I don’t think anyone is.
It’s not just the riders, either. Half of the support staff of the pro peloton is made up of former riders. Some are former dopers. What about Matt White, Bjaarne Riis, Jonathan Vaughters? Do we lump them in the same group as the riders, too – and what group is that, exactly? Can we admire their work as team managers and trainers without admiring their decision to dope? Is that even possible? I don’t know. It’s cycling’s version of a rock and a hard place – either we clap every good achievement, and provide no further disincentive from doping, or we draw a line and only clap clean riders and staff, and therefore clap far less often.
I really do feel guilty for saying it, but I think that, at least for now, I’m going to keep applauding. As much as I despise doping and think that desperate times call for desperate anti-doping measures, I still want to applaud these riders, even knowing their doping history. Despite everything they’ve done wrong, I keep finding that I can’t ignore everything they’ve done right, either. But I’d feel so much better if I could applaud them for their clean pasts as well. And I bet they feel that way, too.
Showing posts with label David Millar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Millar. Show all posts
Thursday, 3 January 2013
Friday, 13 July 2012
Stage 12: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne - Annonay-Davizieux
Despite the climbs at the beginning of the stage, the 208 kilometres from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Annonay-Davizieux were essentially flat, meaning a calm day. That’s not to say it didn’t have its moments of excitement – that, and the heated battle for the green jersey today became an open flame as the race heads towards Paris.
Compared to the past few days, Stage 12 was much more relaxed, the peloton having a day off as they rolled across south-eastern France. It was tipped as a stage for breakaways, and the successful one went off the front around 10 kilometres from the end of the neutral zone, another big bunch of 19. The failure of the peloton to react after the break reached one minute was the signal that they didn’t plan to and the breakaway was free to go.
They didn’t go very far, though, never quite reaching two minutes before riders began being spat out on the Col du Grand Cucheron. Soon enough there was an 11-man lead one minute ahead of a three-man chase group, which was a further 1’10” ahead of the idle peloton. Of course, it was destined not to last. By the time the lead group began the ascent of the second climb, the Col Du Granier, the chase group had collapsed and a series of attacks from the peloton meant there were riders all over the road.
There were soon fewer riders on the road than had started the day. Argos-Shimano’s leadout man-cum-secondary sprinter Tom Veelers abandoned the stage after 65 kilometres of racing, while Cofidis climber David Moncoutié was shattered at having to abandon his farewell Tour de France with a possible broken collarbone after crashing on the descent of the Col du Grand Cucheron. But the Tour de France doesn’t wait for abandons, the now-five leaders approaching the King of the Mountains point atop the Col du Grand Cucheron and sprinting for the 10 points on offer.
Behind them at the peloton a third chase group was forming, Liquigas-Cannondale sprinter Peter Sagan obviously hoping to beat the peloton to the sprint point. Orica-GreenEDGE definitely didn’t like that, chasing the green jersey for their sprinter Matt Goss, and the Australian team began leading the charge to bring in the latest breakaway. Their work paid off, Sagan and his breakaway companions returning to the main field as they reached the feed zone in Saint-Joseph-de-Rivière, 35 kilometres from the sprint point.
With 119 kilometres to go the breakaway had finally settled into a stable group of five – Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Robert Kiserlovski (Astana), Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R La Mondiale), Cyril Gautier (Europcar) and David Millar (Garmin-Sharp). The group began working together to build up a lead that went right out to 11 minutes as the peloton approached the intermediate sprint, making it seem unlikely that the breakaway would be caught.
The peloton had other cares at this point, the intermediate sprint dominating their thoughts. Team Sky continued to lead the peloton right into the final kilometre as the sprint trains prepared to launch their sprinters. Matt Goss decided to leap out with a few hundred metres to go and managed to hold off the ‘Tour-minator’ Peter Sagan to take sixth place, gaining three more precious points over his green rival.
Despite the wind out the front of the stage making pace-making difficult, the breakaway was holding a 12 minute lead over the peloton at 40 kilometres to the finish. They managed to maintain most of their advantage for the remainder of the stage, the gap still 10 minutes as the leaders reached the five kilometre mark and prepared themselves for the inevitable attacks. It was Peraud who finally made the serious move, bolting towards the finish with just a couple of kilometres to go, Millar quickly on his wheel. The pair worked together tentatively to stay away from the trailing trio, each waiting for the other to start the sprint. In the end Peraud leapt out from behind the wheel of the Scotsman, but though Millar took a few seconds to respond his speed soon surpassed that of Peraud and the Frenchman was pipped on the line for first place. A few moments later Martinez appeared, leading Gautier and Kiserlovski in the sprint for third.
It was a further nine minutes before the peloton arrived, the sprint trains already doing their work again out the front. The green jersey of Sagan was once again prominent next to that of Matt Goss, sprinting for sixth and seventh place. Though Goss crossed the line first, Sagan protested that the Australian had deviated from his line, and the subsequent decision from the race judges ruled in his favour, relegating Goss to the back of the group and leaving Sagan to collect the points for sixth and keep his green. The fiery rematch will likely take place tomorrow, with a dead flat Stage 13 promising some fun for sprinters such as Sagan and Goss as well as Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel.
Compared to the past few days, Stage 12 was much more relaxed, the peloton having a day off as they rolled across south-eastern France. It was tipped as a stage for breakaways, and the successful one went off the front around 10 kilometres from the end of the neutral zone, another big bunch of 19. The failure of the peloton to react after the break reached one minute was the signal that they didn’t plan to and the breakaway was free to go.
They didn’t go very far, though, never quite reaching two minutes before riders began being spat out on the Col du Grand Cucheron. Soon enough there was an 11-man lead one minute ahead of a three-man chase group, which was a further 1’10” ahead of the idle peloton. Of course, it was destined not to last. By the time the lead group began the ascent of the second climb, the Col Du Granier, the chase group had collapsed and a series of attacks from the peloton meant there were riders all over the road.
There were soon fewer riders on the road than had started the day. Argos-Shimano’s leadout man-cum-secondary sprinter Tom Veelers abandoned the stage after 65 kilometres of racing, while Cofidis climber David Moncoutié was shattered at having to abandon his farewell Tour de France with a possible broken collarbone after crashing on the descent of the Col du Grand Cucheron. But the Tour de France doesn’t wait for abandons, the now-five leaders approaching the King of the Mountains point atop the Col du Grand Cucheron and sprinting for the 10 points on offer.
Behind them at the peloton a third chase group was forming, Liquigas-Cannondale sprinter Peter Sagan obviously hoping to beat the peloton to the sprint point. Orica-GreenEDGE definitely didn’t like that, chasing the green jersey for their sprinter Matt Goss, and the Australian team began leading the charge to bring in the latest breakaway. Their work paid off, Sagan and his breakaway companions returning to the main field as they reached the feed zone in Saint-Joseph-de-Rivière, 35 kilometres from the sprint point.
With 119 kilometres to go the breakaway had finally settled into a stable group of five – Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Robert Kiserlovski (Astana), Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R La Mondiale), Cyril Gautier (Europcar) and David Millar (Garmin-Sharp). The group began working together to build up a lead that went right out to 11 minutes as the peloton approached the intermediate sprint, making it seem unlikely that the breakaway would be caught.
The peloton had other cares at this point, the intermediate sprint dominating their thoughts. Team Sky continued to lead the peloton right into the final kilometre as the sprint trains prepared to launch their sprinters. Matt Goss decided to leap out with a few hundred metres to go and managed to hold off the ‘Tour-minator’ Peter Sagan to take sixth place, gaining three more precious points over his green rival.
Despite the wind out the front of the stage making pace-making difficult, the breakaway was holding a 12 minute lead over the peloton at 40 kilometres to the finish. They managed to maintain most of their advantage for the remainder of the stage, the gap still 10 minutes as the leaders reached the five kilometre mark and prepared themselves for the inevitable attacks. It was Peraud who finally made the serious move, bolting towards the finish with just a couple of kilometres to go, Millar quickly on his wheel. The pair worked together tentatively to stay away from the trailing trio, each waiting for the other to start the sprint. In the end Peraud leapt out from behind the wheel of the Scotsman, but though Millar took a few seconds to respond his speed soon surpassed that of Peraud and the Frenchman was pipped on the line for first place. A few moments later Martinez appeared, leading Gautier and Kiserlovski in the sprint for third.
It was a further nine minutes before the peloton arrived, the sprint trains already doing their work again out the front. The green jersey of Sagan was once again prominent next to that of Matt Goss, sprinting for sixth and seventh place. Though Goss crossed the line first, Sagan protested that the Australian had deviated from his line, and the subsequent decision from the race judges ruled in his favour, relegating Goss to the back of the group and leaving Sagan to collect the points for sixth and keep his green. The fiery rematch will likely take place tomorrow, with a dead flat Stage 13 promising some fun for sprinters such as Sagan and Goss as well as Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel.
Monday, 4 July 2011
Stage 2 - Les Essarts => Les Essarts (Team Time Trial)
The best thing about cycling is the unpredictability of the sport. Just when you think you know the riders, know the teams, know the conditions, someone will unexpectedly pull out a breathtaking performance, or suddenly crash, or Mother Nature and Lady Luck will intervene just to keep things fresh. Today was one of those days.
The team time trial is not a stage where you expect the unexpected. On such a flat stage under good conditions like today, without wind or rain to mix things up, you expect to see the best performance that you know the teams can do. This assumes, of course, that you know the best the teams can do. Before today, we clearly didn't.
After yesterday's crash that put him 1:20 behind the Tour leader, Alberto Contador's Saxobank-Sungard team went out first. Without any knowledge of the other teams' times, the Danish-registered team simply went like hell for the finish line in the hopes that the speed would be enough for a good time. The brutal tactic saw them drop several riders along the way, but the requisite five riders crossed the line in just over 25 minutes.
It didn't work as well as they'd hoped, though. When Team Rabobank went out as one of the teams touted to do well, they smashed Saxobank's time at the first checkpoint and finished 15 seconds ahead of Saxobank's final time. This wasn't the end to Contador's bad day. The other good time trial teams, Radioshack, HTC Highroad and Sky, also came in around 20 seconds faster than Saxobank, until Garmin-Cervelo stormed over the line in 24 minutes, 48 seconds, a time that was to win them the stage and put sprinter Thor Hushovd in the yellow jersey. Even Leopard Trek, the Luxembourg team of Contador's rival Andy Schleck, came in only 4 seconds off the pace, hauled over the line by Fabian Cancellara, the big time trial world champion known as 'Spartacus'. Already 1:14 behind Andy, Contador can't have been happy at losing another 24 seconds.
But it was BMC, the team of Aussie GC hopeful Cadel Evans, that took the day's spotlight. Boasting only Cadel and American George Hincapie as its big names, the team of solid but otherwise unremarkable riders pulled off a near-perfect ride, right from their smooth, well-rehearsed dismount down the start ramp. Likely thanks to Cadel taking more and longer turns at the front of the train than any other rider, all nine riders stayed together right through the first checkpoint to throw up a time of 9:04, third-best of the 22 teams. Their second checkpoint wasn't as promising, having had two riders go off the back of the train, but with Cadel's dogged perseverance the team kept up the high pace to come in second - a mere four seconds behind Garmin, leaving Cadel only one second away from cycling's biggest prize, after Hushovd and Tour co-leader, Garmin teammate David Millar.
BMC also had seven riders cross the finish line within one second of each other, more than any of the other five top teams. It seems the US-registered, Swiss-trained team has been quietly working on their team time trial skills, an effort that has clearly paid off today in making them the second-fastest time trial team in the world. Pretty damn good for a team where you can't name half the riders (Cadel, Hincapie, Marcus Burghardt, Ivan Santaromita, Michael Schar...no, I can actually name half).
BMC also had seven riders cross the finish line within one second of each other, more than any of the other five top teams. It seems the US-registered, Swiss-trained team has been quietly working on their team time trial skills, an effort that has clearly paid off today in making them the second-fastest time trial team in the world. Pretty damn good for a team where you can't name half the riders (Cadel, Hincapie, Marcus Burghardt, Ivan Santaromita, Michael Schar...no, I can actually name half).
Today's result cannot leave Alberto Contador a happy man, but if past experience is anything to go by, it will certainly leave him a determined one. But will his determination match up to that of Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans?
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