“Of course there’s a difference between us,” the Belgian, now 76, said. “I won 34 Tour stages by winning sprints, in the mountains, in time trials and going on the attack on the descents. Let’s not forget the five yellow jerseys I’ve got at home plus the 96 days I wore it. Does that not seem much?”
Actually, one thing that does come to mind here, is that there is a moral difference between, on the one handthe fuss was that they had found a better chemical brew and being orders of magnitude better as chemists was considered unfair. but why?
The thing I remember about Merckx is him going onto finish a stage, coming second, after falling and breaking his jaw. I think that sets him apart from today's bunch of namby pamby crybabies.Of course, everyone knows that Merckx was better in that he was a proper tour rider and winner, whereas Cav is a specialist who is really really good at one particular aspect of the race and he's concentrated on that to win loads of stages without ever being in contention for the race itself. But, precisely cos everyone knows it, that's exactly why he doesn't need to spell it out for everyone like some kind of needy five year old demanding everyone acknowledge that HE won the egg and spoon race at the school sports day... maybe his brain is fucked from whatever primitive cocktail of amphetamines he used to win all those yellow jerseys and suchlike.
I did the same thing but really enjoyed it.Street skateboarding is a weird Olympic sport. I spent a half hour earlier watching 15 year old Chinese kids repeatedly fall on their asses doing stair rail.
In fairness, boring and pointless as it is, I would never question the hardness of TdF cyclists. It must be one of, if not the most, agonisingly gruellingly painful sports in existence - just unbelievably demanding, even now they often carry on with that sort of injury. Yes, maybe it was more fun when the pelaton had ingested more speed than the crowd of an entire gabber festival, but nowadays they are arguably even harder cos they race without that to help them.The thing I remember about Merckx is him going onto finish a stage, coming second, after falling and breaking his jaw. I think that sets him apart from today's bunch of namby pamby crybabies.
I could really bore you about cycling/Lance/doping etc forever but I’m guessing people have already seen/heard enough already but safe to say the story is so fucking sordid - the key with Lance is the sheer immensity of the bullying and viciousness he exercised is epic. Plus the biggest mistake he made was upsetting a Mennonite like Floyd Landis who has fucked Lance up so bad. He continues to do podcasts to rebuild his brand but he’s broke and persona non grata pretty much everywhere on the cycling scene whereas Big Mig has kept his mouth shut and is welcome everywhere. One example of the bullying - a bloke who had slagged Lance off was chased down from the breakaway by Lance to teach him a lesson. When he got back in the peloton the errant rider got a bolllocking from half of them for pissing Lance off. Like upsetting the school bully and everyone then suffering. Like I say I have more …Yeah he seemed like a bit of a wanker for sure, although it feels to me as though it's an almost immediate consequence, if you're gonna cheat you gotta go all in... he threatened people who tried to investigate and stuff didn't he? But if the alternative is to let them check his stuff and then he would get busted... I suppose I'm just saying "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive" - one of the few sayings that really resonates as totally true. In a way I feel kinda, not sorry for him, but I can imagine how horrible it was when he must have known it was closing in, and it took so long to happen, an agonisingly slow tearing off of the plaster that could only ever end in the total destruction of the whole of his life - who he was now but also everything he had been; the guy with testicular cancer who came back and showed he had the biggest balls of all. Great sport story, total fucking lie. And you could say he was unlucky, does anyone seriously think Indurain was clean?
The suggestion is if they are using performance enhancing substances they are more likely to be things related to enhancing concentration rather than EPO etcIn fairness, boring and pointless as it is, I would never question the hardness of TdF cyclists. It must be one of, if not the most, agonisingly gruellingly painful sports in existence - just unbelievably demanding, even now they often carry on with that sort of injury. Yes, maybe it was more fun when the pelaton had ingested more speed than the crowd of an entire gabber festival, but nowadays they are arguably even harder cos they race without that to help them.