Cycling. Doping. For many, inside and outside the sport, fan and non fans the two subjects/activities go hand in hand.
I have been following cycling avidly since I was in my early teens, and the events of the 92 Olympics and the infamous Lotus bike that Chris Boardman rode to Olympic Gold in the Individual Pursuit grabbed me completely. The design and the look of the bike along with the atmosphere in the velodrome and the speed they could achieve just consumed me. I began to learn more about road cycling and attended the Wincanton Classic in Leeds when it first hosted it in 1992, and attended each year until it moved to Rochester in 1997.
This was an unbelievable experience for me, I got to be up close to the teams, chatting to the riders, getting autographs, even discussing bikes in later years - Sean Yates and Max Sciandri complemented me on my Raleigh Team Banana bike because of its colour scheme!
I chatted to Max and Sean and other Team Motorola riders at the Wincanton Classic in 1992 (which became the Leeds International from 1994-96 if I remember rightly). One of these other riders was a fresh faced, cocky, brash and chatty 21 year old American by the name of Lance Armstrong.
Following this interaction with these British and American riders who were so at ease with the public, they became the idols of the skinny and awkward 15 year old Jamie Strachan. I hadn't learnt to ride a bike yet (after having hearing issues when I was younger, I had a gromit put into my ear which affected my balance, meaning I didn't learn to ride a bike at the same age as everyone else). Following meeting these guys and seeing them race I began watching road racing when it was shown - this was primarily 30 minutes of highlights on Channel 4 when the Tour de France occurred in July each year. The Tour de France became my inspiration to learn to ride. I decided one summer that by the time Lance, Sean, Max and the rest came down the Chance Elysee I would be able to ride. And I was.
My affection for cycling grew and my idolisation of Lance became even greater. I remember his stage wins in 1993 and 1995. I cheered him on. I cried when his team mate Fabio Casertelli died on a decent on stage 15 in 1995 and cried again on stage 18 when Lance won and dedicated the win to Fabio.
I was amazed and delighted to see him come back from cancer and win seven tours on the trot. I had seen Miguel Indurain win 5 on the trot and I wasn't a big fan, but here was MY idol, who had fought cancer and returned and won 7 in a row!
Following some of the rumours that followed about Armstrong doping, especially after Floyd Landis, I put it down to a bitter ex team mate who never had the potential or ability to be as good as Lance. This man had beaten cancer, who would he dope? As he said "he had never tested positive".
But when more and more issues arise, more and more people come out with statements, you HAVE to look into it further.
Doping and cycling and not easy bed fellows. From such a long history, you would imagine they would be very comfortable around each other, but like any difficult break up with addictive elements, it is an awkward situation. Cycling as a whole is trying to distance itself and become a clean sport, but issues keep arising to drag it back into the debate.
The two major incidents in recent years being the Festina Affair (when a team employee driving a team car was stopped by Police, and found to have hundreds of doses of doping products along with doping paraphernalia such as syringes, tourniquets etc) and Operacion Puerto (a Spanish Police operation investigating the doping network of a Dr Fuentes).
Operacion Puerto is an interesting one. There is too much content and detail to go into here but the main element is that he helped athletes dope and also performed blood transfusions on these (removing their own blood at particularly beneficial times such as following a key training phase) and transfusing these back when a rider was fatigued during a major race. I say athletes very specifically as athletes from other sports were implicated, such as Spanish footballers and tennis players. Yet neither of these sports carried out in depth investigations and in the case of tennis, the governing bodies never even reviewed the evidence. Yet cycling is the worst sport apparently.
This is my biggest issue. I am passionate about cycling. And passionate about CLEAN cycling. I despise doping, primarily for two simple reasons - it is destroying the sport I love and is cheating.
Riders such as David Millar are rare. Someone who doped and is now an advocate for clean riding. Hypocritical you may say. However, no other current, or retired pro rider discusses so openly about their involvement with doping, and this is where cycling does have a problem. There is an issue referred to as Omerta. It is the silent code of secrets that goes on. Unfortunately the sport has to deal with the likes of Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde and Alexandr Vinokourov who have been convicted of doping, banned yet still claim they are innocent and have never apologised for their actions. Vinokourov, is one of the worst in my opinion. I have significant doubt over his ability. In the 2011 Tour de France, he broke a leg. He retired. He therefore, became exempt from doping controls. Then this year, a couple of months into the season he announces he is returning to the sport and wins an Olympic gold medal. After breaking a leg less than a year ago. And being past the prime ago for cyclists. That period of 'retirement' would have been an excellent chance to go off and 'prepare' ('prepare' is the term dopers use for the period they dope and prepare for a race) for his return and remain exempt from doping controls. Handy eh?!
For a long time I too was in denial about how big the situation was, and how deep it went. And who was involved. I recently read David Millar's book which was eye opening, but not as much as Bad Blood by Jeremy Whittle. It was a hard read, as much as for the fact that it shattered some of the illusions I had about my favourite sport. Including Lance Armstrong. Jeremy covers some disturbing issues including the way Lance dealt with whistle-blowers who tried to raise the issue of doping, including public humiliation and bullying. Not traits you look for in an idol.
Then to top it all off, Tyler Hamilton released his new book last month. I haven't read it yet but apparently it blows the lid right off Armstrong's involvement with doping and its use to help him win.
I find it heart breaking how people who make a living from a sport can treat it so badly - I don't think people around me who don't love cycling the way I do get how much Lance's behaviour has affected me, its a type of betrayal - my hero and idol has destroyed all perception I had. I lost blood sweat and tears learning to ride - inspired by him, and his achievements, when he was most likely doping to win.
I believe the sport, beginning with its slack arsed governing body the UCI needs to get its house in order. Implement life bans for dopers, or if you are going to let them back after a ban, a) make them serve a full length ban - not like Alberto Contador (who funnily enough was linked to the Operacion Puerto affair) who was given a two year ban but only served six months; and b) relegate them to a low level team to rehabilitate and work their way back up allowing smaller teams to benefit from their ability, and c) force them to undertake a rehab programming including owning up to doping and giving full information about their involvement in doping, who supplied it etc.
I don't know if cycling will ever be completely clean - and that makes me sad. However, knowing that cycling is more open about its doping history, and works to deal with it publicly (even though it could do more) makes me proud, at least it isn't swept under the carpet like other sports do.
I am still proud to be a cycling fan, and passionate about my favourite sport. I hope the inspiration of clean athletes like Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish, Laura Trott, Lizzie Armitstead and Sir Chris Hoy can inspire a younger generation to come through the sport - clean.
If you have read this far thank you! And sorry for the rant. And talking so much. But you can't say I didn't warn you!
