I would like to apologize beforehand if this post runs a little long or will be incoherent since English is not my primary language. I have from time to time checked out this forum, mostly during the Lance days but are now back as Sky is going US Postal 2.0. I feel compelled to write here as there are many idiots both in the clinic and in the normal forum who feels that the UCI decision was correct and fair.
Yesterday UCI (with a great deal of help from Sky) destroyed the little integrity that was left in this sport. What separates cycling from other sports is that it is impossible to have complete set of rules since is is performed out in public areas, meaning that anything can (and will) happen. However, to achieve some sort of fair play it has been up to the riders decide the results. There has been a mutual respect for each other in the peloton, often with certain riders being "flagbearers" to uphold this.
The Sky clowns has in couple of years ruined this. For example, it is now standard that Sky rides full gas in front of the peloton if there is the slightest breeze. I guess they hope that it will incur crashes which will be beneficial for Sky if they are at the front. There are more examples of this behavior which combined with the insane amount of cheating (doping+motor I assume) has made the other riders grown tired and they are now doing the same.
What happened yesterday is not something unique or unusual in tour history. Merckx was punched, Armstrong had a fall in one of his victory years etc. What should have happened yesterday was that Porte and Mollema should have stood up and waited for Froome to remount, and the riders coming from behind should have waited as well. However, as Sky has killed all the integrity in the riders the other riders applied the Sky "marginal gains" strategy and rode on. The result should stand as has always happened in the past but for some reason UCI decided to step in, as to why is rather obvious but to show the world that they do not even try to make it look like a fair sport is new to me.
What we have now is no longer a sport but something that will be decided bribed commisaries in closed rooms. I think think we will see a continuing development where the original "big" cycling countries will lose interest and have fewer teams as no sponsor will found as there is no heart or soul left in the sport. What excites me about cycling is that you will never know what will happen, in comparison to football it does not have a fixed structure of how a game is played. This has changed as it is now standard that Sky has a "scientific" approach to go about things. Some people may enjoy this but why don't we just let everyone bike on simulators and see who can turn out the most average watts for a given period of time?
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