byu123 said:
Perhaps the largest problem lies with Walsh himself. Over the years, Walsh worked closely with former riders such as Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche. By the time Walsh's positive biography about the former was written, Kelly was no stranger to rumors of performance enhancing drugs, and had failed drug tests.
The connection Walsh has with Roche is even stranger. When Stephen Roche was publicly accused of using drugs years after he retired, Walsh quickly wrote a condemning piece in a British paper. This problem goes to the center of Walsh's predicament. It had been long rumored that Roche had used drugs during his career, and Walsh never took the time to investigate it. 15 years later, Roche is accused and Walsh condemns him before any actual evidence about the case came out.
This example shows why Walsh is not pure either. First of all, Roche's name had been brought up for years in connection to his days with the Carrera cycling team. From the time of his retirement in 1993 until 2005, Walsh never accused Roche of anything. It is not like Roche wasn't worth the time or effort, as he was one of only three riders in history to win the cycling triple crown of the Giro, Tour, and World Championship in the same year. Was he not worth Walsh's effort? Secondly, Walsh was so quick to finally condemn Roche that he forgot to look at the facts of the actual accusations made in 2005, which haven't held up. So, Walsh ignores it while it is not out in the open, and then when someone makes an accusation, Walsh is quick to condemn without researching the actual accusations being made.
Walsh should have taken a couple of lessons on investigative reporting from Matt Rendell, whose biography of Marco Pantani leaves no room for intepretation. Where Rendell risked quite a bit to make sure that his case was indestructable, Walsh seems to feel the need to sensationalize.
My first post on this forum, but have been a regular on a couple of others. Have followed the sport for over twenty years, am Irish by the way - just like Roche, Kelly and David Walsh.
Firstly, let me just say that I'm not sure if you're for real, as your level of knowledge, if indeed you are for real, is farcical. Simply too many examples to cite. But I feel it important to set a few things straight here about David Walsh, as there are plenty of people refuting your nonsense in relation to Lance.
David has been writing about cycling since the early 80s, even late 70s. He felt that Roche and Kelly were not getting the publicity in Ireland, which they deserved. He went about putting this right, and indeed befriended them both. As is also well known, David wrote a book called Inside the Tour de France, in the early 90s, where he interviewed a raw Lance. This was a very positive piece for Lance.
Fast forward 1996 and the Atlanta Games. David Walsh, along with Paul Kimmage were basically the only two journalists in Ireland to have the courage to express their suspicions at our 'greatest' Olympian, Michelle Smith. They both got severely criticised, but were completely vindicated two years later when she tampered with a Urine sample.
In relation to cycling and David though, the seminal moment for him was the Festina affair. Even Paul Kimmage admits himself that he didn't realise things were so bad, until Willy's car was stopped. This opened David's eyes. Instead if the '99 Tour being slower, because EPO was a thing of the past, it was faster again. And Lance won this Tour at a canter.
David Walsh actually reported Stephen Roche's EPO usage in 2000, in an Irish Newspaper. David reported it, because Stephen's name had come up for EPO usage under Conconi, the teacher of a certain Ferrari. An Italian judge was unequivocal that Roche was one of the riders mentioned.
I've read Matt's book, but this is the same Matt Rendell who castigated Paul Kimmage for investigating David Millar, only a couple of months before David actually confessed.
BYU, I'm not sure if it was you who wrote that piece/review on Amazon, but if it wasn't, you should stop commenting on David Walsh's work, until you have read it.
Incidentally, he is a mutli award winning journalist amd writes across a whole range of sports.......
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