MODERATOR EDIT: This post and subsequent replies have been moved from its original topic as it was derailing the discussion there
A subject I've seen discussed a fair bit lately is Rominger coming from nowhere to suddenly become a star due to EPO. Usually he's compared to another superstar of the same age, Greg LeMond.
So, being a cycling history buff, I thought I'd be a thread necromancer and ressuscitate this topic to shed some light on this
Rominger always had the talent. The fact that some people (who are ill-informed, which is understandable) think he showed up out of nowhere at a late age is due to a combination of his horrible luck, having turned pro at a late age, and the fact that over time the only race results that stick in your mind tend to be the Grand Tours
Here's a short summary of how and why his GT ability was "masked" from people who weren't paying close attention
1987: Neo pro at a very late age. But immediately he showed star potential. He won his very first race as a pro and a few weeks later finished on the GC podium of his very first major stage race, the Tirreno. Then he went to the Giro del Trentino, another big race (it was much bigger back then) and in the very mountainous course he was again 3rd overall. Remember, he was a neo-pro.
Then came the Giro. He placed second both in the first long TT and the queen mountain stage (he lost the stage win to a guy from the break of the day. You'll notice that would become a recurring theme).
In fact, after this queen stage, two and a half weeks into the Giro he was 2nd just 5 seconds from the pink jersey. Heck, he'd be leading by 2 minutes at that point if his team hadn't lost scads of time in the TTT. When was the last time you saw a neo-pro do that? This, mind, was years before EPO.
1988: Worked for Bugno at the Giro (Bugno was very well placed until crashing during the last week) and won a stage. Rominger then led the team at the Tour. Placed well in the 70-something km TT but had allergy problems in the mountains and suffered in the heat (he'd never get rid of that last weakness) and lost lots of time. Decided to save his strength for the final TT and just barely missed out on the stage win by 2 seconds. Notice that his quality was so completely not in doubt that he was the team's Tour leader in his second season as a pro (at age 27).
1989: Was supposed to lead the team at the Giro, with Bugno being leader for the Tour. Rominger crashed at the start of the Giro, the day after he had dropped all the other GC riders on Mount Etna (but losing the stage win to the break of the day) and was out for most of the season. He still won the Tirreno and the Giro di Lombardia.
1990: Started the season by winning the Tirreno again. Worked for bugno at the tour, led the team at the vuelta. Suffered from allergies, and as a result his performances varied wildly, from dropping all the favorites on the first two mountain finishes (again losing both stage wins to breaks that had been given many minutes' lead), to finishing 10 minutes down on another mountain stage. Finished the vuelta 16th overall. The same happened at the Tour and he was anonymous again. Sat out most of the second half of the season to get his allergies treated.
1991: Dominated paris-nice, romandie and (except for one bad day) the dauphine. his team weren't invited to the giro or vuelta and he missed the tour because of tendonitis
1992: Most people know his results from here on
Was he on EPO? Of course he was. The files seized in Ferrari's documents show clearly that he was on EPO as early as the 1992 Worlds in Benidorm (you just have to see him detonating the race again and again to realize he was ludicrously strong that day).
But the point here is that he was not a product of EPO like some claim. He was, like a few others, a rider with superstar talent from day one. Sometimes, circumstances just stop you from showing your talent. For further proof, just look into Fignon's "disappearing act" between his 1985 injury and his 1989 return. You'll find it actually had very little to do with the injury. Sometimes, life just gets in the way
A subject I've seen discussed a fair bit lately is Rominger coming from nowhere to suddenly become a star due to EPO. Usually he's compared to another superstar of the same age, Greg LeMond.
So, being a cycling history buff, I thought I'd be a thread necromancer and ressuscitate this topic to shed some light on this
Rominger always had the talent. The fact that some people (who are ill-informed, which is understandable) think he showed up out of nowhere at a late age is due to a combination of his horrible luck, having turned pro at a late age, and the fact that over time the only race results that stick in your mind tend to be the Grand Tours
Here's a short summary of how and why his GT ability was "masked" from people who weren't paying close attention
1987: Neo pro at a very late age. But immediately he showed star potential. He won his very first race as a pro and a few weeks later finished on the GC podium of his very first major stage race, the Tirreno. Then he went to the Giro del Trentino, another big race (it was much bigger back then) and in the very mountainous course he was again 3rd overall. Remember, he was a neo-pro.
Then came the Giro. He placed second both in the first long TT and the queen mountain stage (he lost the stage win to a guy from the break of the day. You'll notice that would become a recurring theme).
In fact, after this queen stage, two and a half weeks into the Giro he was 2nd just 5 seconds from the pink jersey. Heck, he'd be leading by 2 minutes at that point if his team hadn't lost scads of time in the TTT. When was the last time you saw a neo-pro do that? This, mind, was years before EPO.
1988: Worked for Bugno at the Giro (Bugno was very well placed until crashing during the last week) and won a stage. Rominger then led the team at the Tour. Placed well in the 70-something km TT but had allergy problems in the mountains and suffered in the heat (he'd never get rid of that last weakness) and lost lots of time. Decided to save his strength for the final TT and just barely missed out on the stage win by 2 seconds. Notice that his quality was so completely not in doubt that he was the team's Tour leader in his second season as a pro (at age 27).
1989: Was supposed to lead the team at the Giro, with Bugno being leader for the Tour. Rominger crashed at the start of the Giro, the day after he had dropped all the other GC riders on Mount Etna (but losing the stage win to the break of the day) and was out for most of the season. He still won the Tirreno and the Giro di Lombardia.
1990: Started the season by winning the Tirreno again. Worked for bugno at the tour, led the team at the vuelta. Suffered from allergies, and as a result his performances varied wildly, from dropping all the favorites on the first two mountain finishes (again losing both stage wins to breaks that had been given many minutes' lead), to finishing 10 minutes down on another mountain stage. Finished the vuelta 16th overall. The same happened at the Tour and he was anonymous again. Sat out most of the second half of the season to get his allergies treated.
1991: Dominated paris-nice, romandie and (except for one bad day) the dauphine. his team weren't invited to the giro or vuelta and he missed the tour because of tendonitis
1992: Most people know his results from here on
Was he on EPO? Of course he was. The files seized in Ferrari's documents show clearly that he was on EPO as early as the 1992 Worlds in Benidorm (you just have to see him detonating the race again and again to realize he was ludicrously strong that day).
But the point here is that he was not a product of EPO like some claim. He was, like a few others, a rider with superstar talent from day one. Sometimes, circumstances just stop you from showing your talent. For further proof, just look into Fignon's "disappearing act" between his 1985 injury and his 1989 return. You'll find it actually had very little to do with the injury. Sometimes, life just gets in the way