mastersracer said:
No, because Indurain has been given a pass. He is a legend who is still loved. The media do not raise him name when the doping accusations of the EPO era are raised, in part because Indurain was always humble and retired to live a quiet life.
You can throw Armstrong under the bus for obvious reasons these days, and European fans never liked him in the first place. How many riders raise Indurain's name re doping?
Absolutely. Here's another problem with the Indurain example. The one time he or the whole Banesto team was accused of having anything to do with doping was when Thomas Davey dared to open his mouth. The lesson learned is, no one goes after the sacred cow.
If my memory is correct, he then recanted his story and was basically never heard from again. The cycling version of purgatory.
And herein lies the problem. There have been more victims of doping from Davey's side than of actual dopers getting caught. Anyone who says anything will get marginalized out of existence. The teams know it, the riders know it, everyone knows it.
This is why even Ullrich, who many people thought would tell all after the coast was clear, made a weak and impotent remark about his doping saying if he could go back and do things differently, he would and left it at that. So we are left with nothing but conjecture because these guys just won't speak up and never will.
Andy Hampsten, who rode with Banesto one year before returning to the states for a last hurrah on a domestic team, was brought into the team for one reason only-to help Indurain in the mountains at the Tour.
He didn't even make the Tour team. He never gave a reason why, but umor has always been because he wasn't down with the team-wide doping regimen.
And Hampsten will take that story to the grave with him. In a sense I don't blame anyone who isn't like Armstrong, who has to make a living after their cycling days are over and want to remain affiliated with the sport, but must keep quiet to do so.
Whether it's selling rebranded bike frames like Hampsten or a cycling clothing line with a factory in a third-world country like Hincapie, if you mess with the sacred cow you get the horn.
Just ask Frankie Andreu, who can't seem to make a move within cycling without getting gored by Armstrong's Texas Longhorn. But in another sense guys like Hampsten and Vaughters are an integral part of the problem. Vaughters has always spoken just as vaguely about doping as anyone else, saying that his team is dedicated to riding clena without ever giving any firm details on what riding dirty entails.
So we are left to wonder where the goalposts are and how far they have shifted and why. The only ones who have actually said anything are people with absolutely nothing to lose-Landis and Hamilton. Is it obligatory to go through the marginalization program that awaits ex-cyclists who get chucked out the back before any of them speak honestly?
I believe the answer is yes. Basso, making veiled references about how good Sky is going means nothing. The biggest indictment of Sky is their irresponsible hiring of that team doctor who was with Rabobank all those years. What Basso has to say about Wiggo and Froome is just sour grapes from a guy who used to be one of the cats who dictated te pace on the mountains and now doesn't like it when the pace is being dictated to HIM. That is all. He has no proof of anything untowards going on at Sky whatsoever.
If his only proof is that he can't attack them, well who the hell told him to ride the Giro this year? The more director sportifs see their top riders fail at the Tour because of this, the more they make the same mistake year after year.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram