Rolland has some neck
Rolland Rat!
Well feck it anyway. Gilbert 4th. Stopped sprinting when he couldn’t get passed Sagan. Does he not know people have money on this!
Bradley Wiggins wrote this piece for The Guardian earlier in the week.
There have been a couple of questions asked about doping this week and I don’t feel I’ve been able to give a full answer. I understand why I get asked those questions given the recent history of the sport, but it still annoys me. It’s hard to know what to say, half an hour after finishing one of the hardest races you’ve ridden, when you’re knackered. The insinuations make me angry, because I thought people would look back into my history, the things I’ve said in the past, such as at the start of the 2006 Tour when I turned up for a first go at the race and Operación Puerto kicked off, what I said when Floyd Landis went positive, and what I said when I was chucked out with Cofidis after Cristian Moreni tested positive in 2007.
On the way home after that, I put my Cofidis kit in a dustbin at Pau airport because I didn’t want to be seen in it, and swore I would never race in it again, because I was so sick at what had happened. Those things I said then stand true today. Nothing has changed. I still feel those emotions and I stand by those statements now.
To understand me, I think people need to look at the bigger picture, where I have come from, in the context of how the sport has changed, and how I’ve progressed. They see me put in a great time trial like I did on Monday: I can do it because I’ve worked hard to close the gap between me and Fabian Cancellara and Tony Martin. What seems to be forgotten is that the margin between me and the best guys wasn’t that large in the past, even when I wasn’t putting in anything like the effort I have in the past couple of years.
I do think that over the years I’ve laid down a few markers as to what I could do. I was fifth in the time trial in Albi in the 2007 Tour, behind Alexandr Vinokourov, Andrey Kashechkin, Cadel Evans and Andreas Klöden. The first two later tested positive for blood doping so I was effectively third, two weeks into the Tour, at a time when I wasn’t concentrating on the race.
I had the engine already, and it showed that year when I won the prologues in the Dauphiné and the Four Days of Dunkirk. As early as 2005 I was seventh in the world time trial championships in Madrid: two of the riders in front of me, “Vino” and Kashechkin, were again, later, done for doping; a third, Rubén Plaza, was implicated in Operación Puerto. That year, I won a mountain stage in the Tour de l’Avenir.
When I look back, we now have an idea of what was going on in the sport back then, and it was a different era. Personally, I used to find it difficult. You’d be trying to negotiate a contract – say £50,000 – I had two kids to worry about, a livelihood to earn in the face of what was going on, and people beating me because they were doping. I had a chip on my shoulder as a result, and I wasn’t shy of saying what I thought about doping because it directly affected me and the lives of my family.
Since then, drug tests have begun to work better, the blood passport has come in, so it’s harder for people to dope. The chances of getting caught are far higher than they were. I do believe the sport is changing, if you look at what Ryder Hesjedal did at the Giro and what Chris Froome did at the Vuelta. As that change has happened, my performances have gone up, and at the same time I’ve begun to work far harder than I did before.
I’m not claiming the sport is out of the woods but doping in the sport is less of a worry to me personally, it’s less at the forefront of my mind, because I’m no longer getting beaten by people who then go on and test positive or whatever. If there is a difference in my attitude now compared to back then, it’s that I’m more focused on what I am doing, I pay less attention to what’s going on outside my bubble because I’m not coming second to riders who dope.
It affects me less, in terms of my worrying about it, but the important thing is that nothing has changed in how I stand morally. Nothing has changed about the reasons why I would never dope. In fact, the reasons why I would never use drugs have become more important. It comes down to my family, and the life I have built for myself and how I would feel about living with the possibility of getting caught. I wrote it all in my autobiography back in 2008 and I still feel the same now. It’s just I say it less. There is more attention on me, which makes me more withdrawn, and I don’t feel easy in a leader’s role, as [the cycling author] Richard Moore correctly wrote in his book.
The question that needs to be asked is not why wouldn’t I take drugs, but why would I? I know exactly why I wouldn’t dope. To start with, I come to professional road-racing from a different background to a lot of guys. There is a different culture in British cycling. Britain is a country where doping is not morally acceptable. I was born in Belgium but I grew up in the British environment, with the Olympic side of the sport as well as the Tour de France. I don’t care what people say, the attitude to doping in the UK is different to in Italy or France maybe, where a rider like Richard Virenque can dope, be caught, be banned, come back and be a national hero.
If I doped I would potentially stand to lose everything. It’s a long list. My reputation, my livelihood, my marriage, my family, my house. Everything I have achieved, my Olympic medals, my world titles, the CBE I was given. I would have to take my children to the school gates in a small Lancashire village with everyone looking at me, knowing I had cheated, knowing I had, perhaps, won the Tour de France, but then been caught. I remember in 2007 throwing that Cofidis kit in the bin at that small airport, where no one knew me, because I didn’t want any chance of being associated with doping. Then I imagine how it would be in a tiny community where everyone knows everyone.
It’s not just about me. I’ve always lived in the UK. All my friends in cycling are here, and my extended family. Cycling isn’t just about me and the Tour de France. My wife organises races in Lancashire. I have my own sportif, with people coming and paying £40 each to ride. If all that was built on sand, if I was deceiving all those people, I would have to live with the knowledge it could all disappear just like that. My father-in-law works at British Cycling and would never be able to show his face there again. Their family have been in cycling for 50 years, and I would bring shame and embarrassment on them. It’s not just about me: if I doped it would jeopardise Sky – who sponsor the entire sport in the UK – Dave Brailsford and all he has done, and Tim Kerrison, my trainer. I would not want to end up sitting in a room with all that hanging on me, thinking: “Shit, I don’t want anyone to find out.”
That is not something I wish to live with. Doping would simply be not worth it. This is only sport we are talking about. Sport does not mean more to me than all those other things I have. Winning the Tour de France at any cost is not worth the possibility of losing all that.
I am not willing to risk all those things I’ve got in my life. I do it because I love it. I don’t do it for a power trip: at the end of the day, I’m a shy bloke looking forward to taking my son to summer rugby camp after the Tour, where he could maybe bump into his hero, Sam Tomkins. That’s what’s keeping me going here. What I love is doing my best and working hard. If I felt I had to take drugs, I would rather stop tomorrow, go and ride club 10-mile time trials, ride to the cafe on Sundays, and work in Tesco stacking shelves.
Why would somebody put tacks on the road? Where did Roche and Martin finish?
Wiggins said this after the stage:
“But we’re out there, quite vulnerable at times, very close to the public on climbs. We’re just the riders at the end of the day and we’re there to be shot at, literally.”
Never really struck me before, but if terrorists wanted to attack a high profile sporting event then they could probably relatively easily (when compared to attacking other events) lob a couple of hand grenades into the peleton or something.
Roche was with the leaders. Martin lost a couple of minutes I think
One for the sprinters today. Greipel has the best train so will go with him.
This is clever tactics from Saxo Bank. Will it work though?
Brilliant stuff from Saxo Bank. The breakaway eventually allows Sorenson to join them.
Funny how Kelly had to explain it to commentator what happened
Just in the door.update please Scrunchie.
Sorry Larry - I was doing a bit of work there.
There was lots of activity early on but eventually 5 got in a break: Voeckler, Federigo, Van de Velde, Devenyns & Dumoulin. They got about 30 seconds up the road and the Peloton knocked it off deciding to let them go. Niki Sorenson tried to bridege the gap and while the Breakaway got out to near 7 minutes, Sorenson was burstiong himself in no mans land still 30 odd seconds behind. The breakaway were working really well. Then Sorenson called the team car and started remonstrating with his team car. Within seconds Saxo Bank took the front of the Peloton and started chasing hard, immediately dropping breakawy to under 4 minutes. Instructions came from the teams involved in the breakaway to sit up, which they did. Sorenson joined lead group and Saxo Bank knocked oof the pace in the peloton. Very very clever tactics.
Thats the only thing worth reporting on. The 6 now have a 10 minute lead and one of them will win the stage.
Interesting tactic that. Clever thinking. Thanks.
Fedrigo finished that well. Voeklar blowing hard here in interview afterwards. Good stage
Is there any possibility thatWiggins can lose from here?
Only if he is forced to retire. There is another Time Trial to come where he will extend his lead further. There’s one huge stage on Wednesday and his form indicates that he and his team will be ready for any attacks.
Although if teammate Froome was allowed to attack him I have a feeling he coud crack Wiggins
The only way I can see Wiggins getting bet is if someone goes on a suicidal early attack a la Marco Pantani on the Les Deux Alpes stage in 1998. But does Nibali or Van Den Broek have the balls to attack on the Col d’Aubisque?
I think it would be madness for Nibali to attack so early. They need to put Sky under pressure and get rid of Rogers and Porte as early as possible. This means getting Lotto, Liquigas, BMC to drive it at high tempo early and not let Sky just dictate matters all day. Bit of cooperation between non Sky GC guys would be nice. Big time can be lost tomorrow and Thursday. If Sky have four or five guys at foot of Peyresounde though they will be sorted.
Looking forward to next couple of days anyway. British Eurosport are even doing outside broadcast for it. There goes their budget for the next year anyway.
http://cdn2.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net/2012/06/12/2/tdf12.st16.profile16_600.jpg
Frank Schleck has tested positive for a banned substance.
Just read that now. Never liked the guy, awful news for the sport though.