Yesterday I watched history in the making, history that is likely never to be rewritten, as Lance Armstrong secured his 7th consecutive Tour de France title. My first exposure to the Tour came in the seventies when ITV’s World of sport carried ½ hour reports madmen with nicknames like ‘The Beast’ pushing themselves to breaking point over the highways and byways of France. Even at that young age I was in awe of the repeated physical effort these men were required to put their bodies through in order to complete this totally illogical event. Let’s face it unless you win one of the prize jerseys what fun could you possibly have racing for several thousands of kilometres through all weathers and over all terrains?
The pressures on the riders to get their sponsors name on TV by winning a stage or being involved in a breakaway attack is immense and has often led to illicit means to improve performance being employed. Perhaps the most famous recent incident of a rider being caught cheating is that of Marco Pantani winner of the last pre Lance era Tour in 1998. During the following years Giro de Italia Pantani was well on the way to victory when he was disqualified for having an excessively high red blood cell count, indicative of EPO use. Pantani only raced sporadically after this and was constantly dogged by rumours of further drug use and he never reached his previous level of success. In 2003 Pantani checked himself into a clinic in an attempt to overcome clinical depression and on February the 14th 2004 his body was found in a hotel room in Rimini, he had taken a huge overdose of cocaine.
Lance Armstrong himself has often been accused of cheating; after all how a cancer survivor could possibly win the world’s most arduous event more times than anyone else in history is surely suspicious? Nothing has ever been proved against Armstrong and he has never failed a drugs test despite being tested more than any other rider over recent years, yet still the rumours persist. I hope the history books never require a rewrite and that Armstrong’s record stands as a testament to a great mans strength and courage through adversity.
Next year will be the beginning of a new era for the Tour and its result may be the most unpredictable ever with anything up to 15 possible winners out of the 180 strong field. It will be, like this year’s race, more than just about the victor and I have every bit as much admiration for Iker Flores the Spaniard who finished 155th and last some 4h 20m 24s behind Armstrong and without whom, and riders like him, Armstrong wouldn’t have had a race to win.
The pressures on the riders to get their sponsors name on TV by winning a stage or being involved in a breakaway attack is immense and has often led to illicit means to improve performance being employed. Perhaps the most famous recent incident of a rider being caught cheating is that of Marco Pantani winner of the last pre Lance era Tour in 1998. During the following years Giro de Italia Pantani was well on the way to victory when he was disqualified for having an excessively high red blood cell count, indicative of EPO use. Pantani only raced sporadically after this and was constantly dogged by rumours of further drug use and he never reached his previous level of success. In 2003 Pantani checked himself into a clinic in an attempt to overcome clinical depression and on February the 14th 2004 his body was found in a hotel room in Rimini, he had taken a huge overdose of cocaine.
Lance Armstrong himself has often been accused of cheating; after all how a cancer survivor could possibly win the world’s most arduous event more times than anyone else in history is surely suspicious? Nothing has ever been proved against Armstrong and he has never failed a drugs test despite being tested more than any other rider over recent years, yet still the rumours persist. I hope the history books never require a rewrite and that Armstrong’s record stands as a testament to a great mans strength and courage through adversity.
Next year will be the beginning of a new era for the Tour and its result may be the most unpredictable ever with anything up to 15 possible winners out of the 180 strong field. It will be, like this year’s race, more than just about the victor and I have every bit as much admiration for Iker Flores the Spaniard who finished 155th and last some 4h 20m 24s behind Armstrong and without whom, and riders like him, Armstrong wouldn’t have had a race to win.
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