What Is There To Say?

It’s the news that cycling has been waiting for. The next step in the Armstrong case that has kept not just cycling but the whole world on the edge of their seats, waiting to see how the chips will fall. Every day seems to bring another admission, another revelation, something else to make you stop and weep at just where all this is going. It’s like riding the rollercoaster of Bad News that you can’t step off, your heart in your throat every time you hit another loop-the-loop.

And it feels like something ought to be said, but, really, what is there to say? The evidence is out there. USADA’s decision has been made. It’s hard to argue with the proof. Hard to dispute the verdict. Hard to believe the truth. Hard to know what to think. It’s a black day in the history of cycling. What is there to say?

Yet the circus still goes on, name after name crumbling like a wall of bricks without mortar. Vande Velde, Zabriskie, Danielson. Leipheimer, Vaughters. Hincapie. Bruyneel. Will no one escape the purges?

And now there’s news of one of our own. Matt White has now been touched, now been tainted. Our Australian ‘purity’ on the doping front has crumbled into dust, our belief and faith in our cyclists shaken, the trust gone.

It’s disheartening to see another great of the sport laid low, like the pillars of Stonehenge falling to the earth. Those who are well-acquainted with cycling are well-acquainted with its chequered past, too, and it says a lot that so many can still love it knowing full well the scandals in its history. But we can still be saddened that this is the situation in cycling. Disappointed that cycling has been reduced to salacious headlines in the tabloids. Angry that cycling has changed from how well you ride to how well you dope.

But it can’t go on like this. If we look hard enough we will always find another doping scandal, another ‘drug cheat’ to be vilified and torn down from his pedestal. Such is the history of cycling. At some point we need to draw a line and declare an amnesty. Someone has to suggest that from now on we let the dead past bury its dead and focus on the future of cycling. It’s been suggested before. Someone has to say that we need to forgive, though not forget, the old culture of cycling that allowed, nay, condoned, such widespread doping as the Armstrong case, and instead construct a new future in which doping is rejected from the level of the fans right up to the UCI, and that embraces those spectacular feats of plain old guts and endurance that make this sport great.

Let’s make this cycling’s turning point. Let’s make this the time when things could go back to the way they were or they could change for the better, and we gave them a push in the right direction. At risk of sounding like a motivational speaker on a sugar high, fans are an important part of cycling, and they do play a part in the pro cycling scene. All the sponsorship, advertising, marketing and money that gets thrown around at races like the Tour de France is aimed at the fans – fans who are sick of the riders they worshipped in July being kicked to the kerb by December. Fans who can use that advertising and marketing to push for a cleaner, safer sport, more entertaining in its purity and its natural ability to surprise.

So, what is there to say? Well, let’s start by echoing the words of Lance Armstrong and saying, “Enough is enough.”

Stage 6: Épernay – Metz

The Tour de France ended today.  For a lot of riders, it did, in one way or another.  Stage 6 from Épernay to Metz takes the Drama Award for the Tour de France so far – and maybe the Decisive Stage Award as well, mixing up the race in a way that really wasn’t expected and could be telling in the days to come.

The day started before it started, so to speak.  A crash in the neutral zone took out Lotto Belisol’s Jurgen van den Broeck and Sky’s Richie Porte.  With no serious injuries, everyone was soon back on their bikes and heading towards the official start of the stage.  Today’s ‘eager beaver’, hovering off the front of the peloton, was the American David Zabriskie, famously the first man to ride the Tour de France on a vegan diet. He was soon joined David Malacarne (Europcar), Romain Zingle (Cofidis) and Karsten Kroon (Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank), the quartet making slow but steady progress into the distance.

The peloton was not destined to have a good day.  Though the time of the breakaway only seemed to concern the leading Radioshack-Nissan-Trek team, the four-minute lead of the escapees putting Malacarne in virtual yellow, what concerned the other riders far more was the crash at 35 kilometres from the start.  André Greipel headlined a short list of names that hit the tarmac at the very beginning of the stage, none too damaged to continue riding, though the race doctor was forced to ply his trade on a few bleeding knees and elbows.  The crash took the pressure off the chase for a while, allowing the breakaway to stretch their gap to a peak of 6’50”.

The weather seemed content to play along as the peloton rode along at a leisurely 42km/h, no sun, but only a few spots of rain to disturb the day’s ride.  Lotto Belisol and Orica-GreenEDGE were leading the chase, promising another exciting showdown between Lotto Belisol’s sprinter Greipel and the Australian, Matthew Goss.  The average pace of the peloton slowly increased as they passed through the feed zone, the approach of the intermediate sprint clearly enforcing that they wanted to catch the breakaway before the final kilometre this time.

For once the intermediate sprint brought some surprises.  The teams set up as usual, Sky providing a small train for Mark Cavendish.  As the final Sky leadout man swung off, Matt Goss launched himself into the sprint from behind Cavendish.  The green colours of Liquigas-Cannondale’s Peter Sagan were visible behind the pair, but the real battle was just between Goss and Cavendish, Goss holding half a wheel’s advantage on Cavendish as they crossed the line.

Today’s King of the Mountain point passed without incident, ‘Captain America’ of the time trial, Dave Zabriskie, taking the single point on offer as they rode under the trees.  It wasn’t so uneventful for the peloton, who seemed to have learnt nothing from the crashes of the past few days.  Another crash sent André Greipel to the ground for the second time today, along with Garmin-Sharp sprinter Tyler Farrar.  As a result of his injuries, Lotto Belisol team manager Herman Frison said Greipel wouldn’t sprint for the stage race, as the German was still trying to rejoin the peloton.  Things were definitely looking up for Matt Goss, itching for the stage win.

The focus was on a few riders beginning to drop off the back of the peloton, notably Katusha fastman Oscar Freire, when the big drama of the day occurred.  Yet another crash rocked the peloton, but this one looked to be a lot more decisive than the previous ones.  Only 50 or so riders escaped the carnage just 26 kilometres from the end of the stage, and if you weren’t part of Orica-GreenEDGE, BMC Racing Team, Euskaltel-Euskadi or Team Sky then chances were you weren’t one of the lucky ones.  A number of the big names faltered, including Frank Schleck (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp), Robert Gesink (Rabobank), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Mark Cavendish, and ended up losing between two and eight minutes to the front peloton.  Some riders were destined never to see the front peloton again, riders like Tom Danielson of Garmin-Sharp, Davide Viganò of Lampre-ISD and Mikel Astarloza of Euskaltel-Euskadi pulling out of the race for good.

Meanwhile the front group were oblivious to the drama they’d avoided, all concentration on catching the renegades ahead of them in time for the sprint finish.  Simon Gerrans, pulling for GreenEDGE on the front, was having a hard time recouping those last 15 seconds as the breakaway and its chasers raced under the banner of 10 kilometres to go.  As soon as Lotto Belisol stepped up to help the pacemaking, however, the numbers began ticking down and heartrates began ticking up.  Was Lotto Belisol lining up for Greipel’s leadout man Greg Henderson to take a shot at the victory, or was the effort for Greipel himself?

Lampre-ISD also jumped on the front and lent a hand with the pulling, hauling in two of the three riders, Zingle having dropped off long ago after a flat tyre.  Zabriskie, on the other hand, apparently wanted to be the hero of the day, and with two kilometres to go he was attempting a solo time trial 150 metres ahead of the bunch.  A racing peloton, however, is as inevitable as karma, and Zabriskie was caught with a kilometre left for the sprinters.  Lotto Belisol were powering down the straight as usual, Peter Sagan’s green jersey on Greipel’s wheel and Goss on the end of his own train.  For a moment or two it looked like it was between Goss and Greipel, but just as Goss fell behind Greipel’s wheel, a green bullet shot up the side and across the line before anybody could say ‘Sagan’, leaving Greipel with another second and Goss with another third.

The rest of the riders filtered through over the next hour, in varying spirits and states of shabbiness with assorted amounts of skin still attached to elbows and backsides.  The jersey wearers remain the same, with Zabriskie claiming the red number for Fighting Spirit, but the GC has certainly received a shake-up today, one which will likely decide the Tour de France.  As for tomorrow, we’ve left the sprinters’ stages behind, but with Stage 7 finishing on the never-before-seen climb to La Planche des Belles Filles, we’ve entered the stages of medium mountains, where breakaways have the chance to succeed.  Orica-GreenEDGE are becoming desperate for a stage win, so keep an eye out for Simon Gerrans or Michael Albasini, who’ll be looking to join any moves that form, as well as climbers like Alejandro Valverde, who lost a lot of time today that he’ll be looking to get back.