After all the scandal over recent years it appears that many will need some time before they are convinced the majority of professional cycling is clean. That's fine, trust has to be earned.
The Tour de France and other professional events still provide a great spectacle. Thousands of spectators line the streets. There is still lots of commercial interest and this will continue to grow as teams and the sport continues to prove that the riders are competing clean.
However some of you are way too pessimistic about the sport. Especially as over recent years a great deal of progress has been made in regards to doping and cleaning up the sport.
The authorities are trying to change a culture and that will take time. The idea that cycling only pays lip service to doping is a lie — it does more than most sports to catch cheats. There is no longer the code of silence, some individuals will try to cheat and for them it is getting harder and harder. The days of the systematic, organised team doping appear to be over.
Cycling has taken decisive action once and for all (a real challenge considering the culture which was once so ingrained in the sport) and has paid the highest financial penalty for it.
It is only recently major sponsors like Columbia Clothing, Saxo Bank and Garmin have started to come back to the sport. No coincidence that these teams have strong ethical commitments and the tough, stringent independent anti doping programs.
In fact most of the pro teams now have strong anti-doping policies and make their riders take compulsory tests outside of those organised by the official authorities. CSC - Saxo Bank even publishes the results of these on their website.
Not all the cheats have been caught, no doubt there will be more out there, but it is a damn sight better than the 90s and there is GENUINE reason for hope and optimism.
Apparently to do the speeds they do, its not physically possible to expend that much energy day in day out without assistance from drugs.
This is a lie. There are plenty of clean riders who suffer like hell and get through it. More now than there used to be.
Having said all that I am deeply saddened and suspicious about this Schumacher.
Looking at his record it appears he:
[1] Rode for T Mobile in 2002 before they released him.
[2] Won a series of minor races in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany in the years that followed.
[3] Then he signed for Gerolsteiner in 2006 and he suddenly finished first overall Eneco Tour and won two stages in the Giro. Last year he wins Amstel Gold Classic and then culminates the season by finishing 3rd in the World Championships.
[4] Today he puts 33 seconds into Fabian Cancellara (the world no. 1) over just 29KM in a time trial.
Doesn't smell right to me. Maybe he has just been training hard? But anyone who gets that good that fast in the current climate is bound raise suspicions.
Especially if they have had amphetamines found in their blood stream on two previous occasions (albeit once “on his way home from a Disco”).
His answers (I appreciate not in his mother tongue) were guarded, contradictory and inaccurate. It all sounded like something we had seen and heard from others before.
Yet without proof it is hard to speak out. Bradley Wiggins was apparently deeply troubled that Vinokurov could have beaten him by such a margin and be clean, but felt it was inappropriate and unprofessional to say anything to the press. He would only have been portrayed a sore loser. So I think it is quite telling to see what fellow professionals are not saying about Stefan Schumacher, rather than what they are saying.
