Does Lemond need to shut his mouth

[tockit]

The thing I’m looking forward to most from LeMond is his funeral.

I respect Lemond for taking a stand against a sport that is flawed do to doping and for speaking out against issues he knows will be unpopular.

He really has little to gain except the slight chance that the doping governing bodies will get serious about ridding cycling of doping, and the more he speaks out against the status quo, the more he hurts his reputation in many people's eyes.

Tyler Hamilton said in one of his last interviews that there was a "mafia" in professional cycling.

I expect he is telling the truth.

Everyone is in bed together with the doping controls. From the doctors, to the riders, to the teams, to the race organizers, etc, etc.

From Armstrong donating millions to WADA, WADA not pushing for the Autologous Carbon Monoxide tests or Lemond's idea for VO2 Max/Wattage comparisons, etc.

Change is not something they ones in power seem interested in.

As long as no one rocks the boat, and a few of the dumber cheats get caught, many think the tests are working and everyones happy, and everyone makes their dirty money.

But....most top riders are still pushing superhuman watts and the guys with the money and the connections continue to win all the races, instead of some of the honest guys who play by the rules.

Lemond could easily keep his mouth shut (like most retired pros do), kick back and enjoy his millions he made from cycling.

Obviously, he loves the sport, but wants a level playing field and a clean race.

 

[Green Hornet]

toskit -

Yours is the first reasonable thought I've seen on the LeMond issue.

Sorry for the funeral remark!

I get so fed up with the endless "he must be doping" talk after any good performance. I cant stand it any more.

I was recently hit by a pick-up truck while training. I'm scheduled for back surgery in a week or so as a result.

What I REALLY don't want to see is the public looking at cyclists as just a bunch of dopers. We get little enough respect on public roads as it is. All the endless blabbering about doping does nothing to help cycling.

Rant over ...

 

[runninboy]

toskit -

Yours is the first reasonable thought I've seen on the LeMond issue.

Sorry for the funeral remark!

I get so fed up with the endless "he must be doping" talk after any good performance. I cant stand it any more.

I was recently hit by a pick-up truck while training. I'm scheduled for back surgery in a week or so as a result.

What I REALLY don't want to see is the public looking at cyclists as just a bunch of dopers. We get little enough respect on public roads as it is. All the endless blabbering about doping does nothing to help cycling.

Rant over ...

Sorry to hear about your accident, if there is one common ground cyclists all cyclists share it has to be empathy when someone is hit. Hope you heal quickly.
I am sure most of us here are fed up with the doping exposure and how cyclists are portrayed in the media. just as you are.
So really again we are on common ground. some of us believe we need to expose and clean up the sport while others are of the mind that continuing along these lines is not productive to cyclings future.
I have written to quite a few newspapers because as an ex runner i was appalled at how many in the sport are "sick" and the medicinal therapy for their "disease" just happens to be a PED. But it is not a PED if they get their paperwork in
literally hundreds of major leagueball players now have ADD up from a couple dozen a few years ago.
Michael Phelps the GOD of american swimming just happens to have ADD as well so he is eligble to take amphetimines an other PEDs as long as he gets the paperwork in,
And yet not ONE sportswriter ever dared asked "what do u take for your ADD?" I mean his publicity machine put it out there, wouldn't it be nice if people knew what he was taking as obviously his therapy was successful?
Why should it be a secret if it can help some kid in school?

As far as i am concerned i am no longer angry at the athlete i am angry at the media.
*******s.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

toskit -

Yours is the first reasonable thought I've seen on the LeMond issue.

Sorry for the funeral remark!

I get so fed up with the endless "he must be doping" talk after any good performance. I cant stand it any more.

I was recently hit by a pick-up truck while training. I'm scheduled for back surgery in a week or so as a result.

What I REALLY don't want to see is the public looking at cyclists as just a bunch of dopers. We get little enough respect on public roads as it is. All the endless blabbering about doping does nothing to help cycling.

Rant over ...

Rant away - its a forum after all! Good to see you are man enough to apologise for the remark.

However - the reason cycling has a reputation for doping is because the riders dope - and continue to do so.
Yes - it could well be argued that if the lid was lifted on other sports that it would expose an equally systematic doping regime - but unfortunately professional cycling still has to take account of its own actions.

Hope your surgery goes well and you are back on your bike soon.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Greg should keep talking. The problem will be when people stop listening..

That's a very good point.

Tyler Hamilton said in one of his last interviews that there was a "mafia" in professional cycling..

Yes, I remember that, in VN at the end of last season. It was a little eye-popping to hear him say that, especially when we all pretty much knew what he was talking about. It was also telling the way he cut himself off after that. And as you say, they didn't press him on it.

Sorry for the funeral remark! Rant over ...

Apology accepted. Sucks you got hit.Ouch. Hope your recovery goes well.

Runningboy and Tokit bring up a very good point on the media. When someone like Lemond or Paul Kimmage start asking these questions, they are really doing work the media should be doing. I've mentioned my job before, but I swapped some e-mail with a sports director at a TV station in my state that was covering a race. I thought it was great that they did a blurb on cycling and the guy said he liked the sport. But as we swapped more e-mail, it became apparent he didn't know much of anything discussed in the clinic here. But for a guy working in a market of 100,000 people, that's not surprising, I was just happy he knew some on the sport and knew who a lot of riders were. It is however surprising when BIG media players - we're talking Eurosport, La Gazetta, L'Equipe (who has been neutered), ESPN, Versus, etc. will not even address these issues at all with exception to lobbing softball questions at Lance that he can give canned answers to. So we're left with Lemond (and Kimmage) to do the dirty work.

This of course goes beyond cycling. I wondered why after Manny Ramirez was busted for steroids there was almost no speculation in the media that he might not only be not alone, but in the majority. And no further questions asked of league officials, or anyone else. A local columnist wrote this blunt article that I fully agreed with. There was also banter on sports radio, but a lot of that isn't taken to be serious media by many. Why was he the only one?

 

[sars1981]

Lemond needs to keep talking but he needs to wage his anti-doping campaign with a bit more nobility. He has turned bitter and senile. These days he seems to have adopted the logic 'íf they're going fast, they must be doping'. Most of the time it's correct, but it's unfair to make these allegations in public. Corrupt as the sport is, the athletes need to be given the benefit of the doubt.