Armstrong fallout could extend to Olympic cycling??

[PotomacCyclist]

If Comcast could get its act together, they could reach an agreement with Universal Sports to carry that channel again. Universal Sports covers many cycling events each year, but after they switched to a cable format (instead of an over-the-air digital sub-channel format), the channel is no longer available on most cable and satellite systems. The strange thing is that Comcast is a part-owner of Universal Sports and they still can’t come to a carriage agreement.

I hope cycling stays in the Olympics, even though I don’t watch much of the Olympic road races. I don’t find them as exciting as the mountain stages in the Grand Tours.

[Dirt]

The IOC is weird enough that I’d much rather go for a bike ride.

It would be a shame for the athletes that race clean.

[creadinger]

@Dirt 40762 wrote:

The IOC is weird enough that I’d much rather go for a bike ride.

It would be a shame for the athletes that race clean.

That’s what I was thinking. In recent years cycling has gotten very serious about doping and drug testing. Much more than any other major sport. MLB and NFL drug testing is a joke, but they’re still super popular. Why would the IOC punish cycling now by removing it from the Olympics? Especailly now that the momentum has really gotten rolling toward an actually clean sport.

Besides, it’s not unprecedented for the IOC to strip medals after the fact. If someone in a cycling event is caught cheating, strip the medal. Don’t kick out the entire sport!

Of the 60 medals stripped on this list, only 3 of them were cycling and only 1 since the 1968 games. Stupid Hamilton.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stripped_Olympic_medals

[Dirt]

This is a VERY interesting interview and kind of puts an new light on the Olympics as well as the IOC and UCI.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/01/analysis/hoberman-qa-outlining-corruption-doping-collusion-at-the-ioc-uci_270482

[jabberwocky]

The Olympic committee is obsessive about their public image. I don’t think they really give a crap if the athletes are actually doping or not, they care about whether they’ll get caught during or after the event and create a negative PR situation. In that respect, cutting cycling actually makes sense.

[eminva]

It pains me to say it as a lifelong fan of Track and Field, but if the discovery of athletes doping were some kind of litmus test for which sports should be included or excluded from the Olympics, T&F would be long gone. I think the IOC is more interested in $ than principal (or even image).

Liz

[mstone]

@eminva 40790 wrote:

It pains me to say it as a lifelong fan of Track and Field, but if the discovery of athletes doping were some kind of litmus test for which sports should be included or excluded from the Olympics, T&F would be long gone. I think the IOC is more interested in $ than principal (or even image).

Liz

You don’t say? This is an organization that thought the best way to express some kind of nobel ideal was to suck up to Hitler. Doping can’t possibly be on their moral radar.

[Rod Smith]

@Dirt 40762 wrote:

…It would be a shame for the athletes that race clean.

Why? A clean rider wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell to medal if by some miracle he could even make his nation’s Olympic team.

[Greenbelt]

@Rod Smith 40792 wrote:

Why? A clean rider wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell to medal if by some miracle he could even make his nation’s Olympic team.

I disagree — I have a hunch the racing has gotten quite a bit cleaner since Alberto’s suspension especially — just seems like nobody can run away with the races any more, and if somebody expends a ton of energy one day, they do badly the next. Except for this year’s TdF, which was a bit dull due to the Sky team dominance, I think the racing this last year has been very exciting, and according to insiders, the times on the climbs have come down in recent years due to more riders being clean.

I hope I’m not naive, but I think the racing has gotten fun to watch again.

[Rod Smith]

When Wiggins is asked about doping he swears like a drunken sailor. Why so angry Bradley? Something to hide? Sorry, Jeff, but cheating has been an integral part of bicycle racing since it’s inception and that will not change.

How many times do you need to to be fooled before you can see?

[creadinger]

So we’re supposed to become complete cynics like yourself and abandon bike racing because people doped and cheated and because you think Wiggins dopes because he swears a lot? You don’t watch any professional sports then at all do you? There are PED users, dopers, and cheaters in every sport. At least cycling is trying hard to clean up.

Well Mr. Smith has said it all. Racing as a sport is dead. May as well trade in that carbon racer for a functional commuter model.

[vvill]

I was a little surprised at how dominant Wiggins/Froome were this previous TdF but I like to believe Sky strict anti-doping policy’s is genuine. I think Wiggins is a bit boring to watch (TTs are not the most riveting stages) but an angry reaction to a doping suggestion isn’t that out of the ballpark if you have dedicated so much time/energy to something. Cavendish had a similar reaction recently. To be completely calm would seem more clandestine to me.

Cheating has always been part of any competition and cycling is no exception but that’s no reason not to try to clean up the sport. I enjoy reading what Vaughters has to say these days. I’m also curious about what’s happening at Team Blanco (the team formerly known as Rabobank).

I watched less than 5 minutes total of the last Olympics, so no prizes for guessing how I feel about those. When I was younger I used to enjoy them, especially the 100m/200m sprints. But anyway, opinions are like assholes, right?

[Dirt]

@Rod Smith 40792 wrote:

Why? A clean rider wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell to medal if by some miracle he could even make his nation’s Olympic team.

Which is pretty much why the Olympics don’t really jazz me much. I’d rather go for a bike ride. Honestly, most organized sports don’t hold much interest for me.

[SteveTheTech]

I’ve got to say as a casual observer of this forum I really expected to see a thread about ole Lance earlier in the week. I am guessing everyone pretty much agrees about him now.

It is really sad to see how many of the die hard fans have finally had enough. If you read some of the FB comments on the Velonews or Bicycling Magazine articles it seems like the tides have turned on him.He dolled out false hope to cancer patients for years and should face some court of public opinion justice for that, some civil litigation wouldn’t hurt either. Lying, attacking others, and stealing purse money for years should have some repercussions.

Some of the articles I have found very interesting about this are;
An op-ed from the Guardian that has some real biting questions, that I really think he should have to answer. http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/blog/2013/jan/09/ten-questions-oprah-winfrey-lance-armstrong
My personal favorite it this one
http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/News/MostRead/1166500/Sunday-Times-poses-questions-Lance-Armstrong-print-ad/

And as far as pro cycling is going at least in this country, it looks a little worrisome. The Tour of Battenkill scrapped the Mens Pro race for because of doping issues (http://www.tourofthebattenkill.com/latest-dirt/2012/11/28/tour-of-the-battenkill-withdrawing-from-uci-america-tour.html) and replaced it with a Fondo (http://www.tourofthebattenkill.com/latest-dirt/2013/1/11/tour-of-the-battenkill-announces-gran-fondo.html). To me that seems like a good idea, but I am not a huge pro cycling fan. For pro cycling it is less than encouraging to see a larger event like that being scrapped for something with more audience participation and revenue potential.

I swear if one more of my co-workers comes up to me and asks what I think of this situation I am going to forcefully remove all of my own hair by hand. /rant

[DaveK]

I’m a pro cycling fan and I’m sick of the Lance question. I make it a point to follow the Lance question to NFL fans with “how many murderers and rapists DON’T we know about?”.

[Author]

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