Thursday, July 26, 2007

today : 2 wheels good


The media has jumped all over the fact that yet again the Tour De France has descended into farce (suggested headline : 'Tour de Farce!'). In some ways they are right to do so because the leaders have yet again been found doping or breaking the rules. The argument put up by cycling and its supporters is that the doping control in the sport is so rigorous that they pretty much catch every cheat, whereas other sports only catch cheats by chance, if at all.

There is no doubt that Le Tour is a monumental thing. Mile after mile of punishing roads; day after day. Most of the time up hills that your car might struggle on. But if the only way to win it is to have a freaky physiology (Miguel Indurain - the Spanish cycling legend and five time winner did it because his heart was 50% bigger than the rest of us), or to dope, then there is only one conclusion. The Tour is just too bloody hard.

Trop difficile.

I'm sure that they could cut out a few of the killer hills and replace them with nice gentle flat country roads. Maybe they could spend some more time in Holland. Then all the riders would be on -ahem - a level playing field.

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