by tymon_tm on Sat Feb 09, 2013 5:25 pm
mattr, most of the time i reserve for bike-related things i spend riding. or watching races. i've no possibility to follow it all, every article or press release, especially if the internet produces tons of them every minute. what i can remember though, is that till the most recent events doping in cycling was publicly regarded and spoken about as an incidental stuff. by 'public' i don't mean cycling enthusiasts, well informed and experienced like many members of this board. there were never dying accusations of Lance, Festina, and the fresh meat that would occasionally hit the table. Puerto came down to few names. all the cyclists took it on their own. and all of them caught doping came back clean and pure as a newborn christians. in the media releases, in 99% of the cases there was nothing of organised, structural nature in doping, that we heard about. even now many people think there was something unprecedented in USPS' systematic doping.
if my memory serves me well, there hasn't been such an outbreak of admissions, accusations and plain publicity regarding doping till today - maybe in the times of Indurain or Merkcx newspapers would cover news on their drug tests, doping scandals (if there were any?) or smth like that. i'm simply too young to know that. almost every day we hear a new name, that is more or less surprising - today it's Cippo. those of us who weren't old/interested enough back in the 70's, 80's or 90's are served with old-new information about the gods of cycling, some of whom probably have statues built and roads named in their honor.
i agree with one thing, we ("cycling enthusiasts" or "insiders") all 'knew' or suspected at very least, but if it hasn't been for LA's fall and recent developments, we'd never have anything solid to back our wisdom with.
in order to make this post even remotely about Lemond - i'll be more than surprised if his name doesn't pop up in connection with doping. investing in a market that's bothered (to say the least) with reputation issues doesn't seem the best way to spend one's money.
kkibbler wrote: WW remembers.