Who will be high on Sunday’s flat stage?
2004 Tour de France finale
Every morning before leaving my apartment, I buy a newspaper from the kiosque on the opposite side of the road. It seems the French have fallen ill to Tour de France fever. Everyone is high on disappointment. Sipping my very own drug à la caféine, hallucinations of newspaper cartoons mimicking a bunch of druggie cyclists climbing up the Alps make me chuckle to myself. Then, while scraping the last dregs from my espresso I take a look at the morning’s newspaper, L’équipe. It unapologetically tries to ignore the event’s drug ridden demise in an attempt to make this year’s Tour de France an intoxicated sporting success. Today’s headline, "Le Tour en Marche", is a mere stab in the dark at pumping up the events deflated tyres.
The race leader, Michael Rasmussen, and three other competitors including this year's favourite, Alexandre Vinokourov, have all been sent packing their bags after failing drug tests. Suddenly the world’s largest and most famous cycling race is in disarray. How dare those pill popping, syringe pricking foreigners put our national pastime into disrepute, I hear the inner voice of the French murmuring.
On the one hand, the fact so many cyclists seem to be drug abusing highlights the ‘win at all costs’ type philosophy which stems from the enormous amount of prestige the race still manages to retain. On the other hand, these peddle-fast drug users are turning this year’s Tour into a two-wheeled farce. There is frankly a serious lack of respect for the rules and regulations of the event; not to mention a despicable absence of sporting professionalism shown towards all those riders who choose to fuel their tanks with bananas as opposed to testosterone supplements.
The year 2007 and its ‘Tour de Farce’, as the BBC have called it, will cross the finishing line having severely jeopardised its integrity. The man who sold me today’s paper is truly upset that the sport has been reduced to levels of such indecent morality. Behind closed doors, the sport has developed a culture of needles, pills and performance enhancing chemicals.
I say give them all a shot of full-strength absinthe and send them on their way. The drink was rife in Paris at the end of the nineteenth century and was said to make you feel like you had wings.
I’m not surprised the French feel such disappointment with regards to this year’s Tour de France. The French authorities need to stick to what they know best. That means revolutionising the sport. Come on lads…up with the barricades!
Formula 1
The Social Centre
I suppose its better that every rider gets drunk on hallucinigenic alcohol as opposed to every second rider jacking themselves to the eyeball with horse steroids.
It would make for an interesting pelaton.
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
one for the drugged up freaks, who HAVE to have performance enhancing drugs to win, and the 'old way', by food and spirit....the non alcoholic kind!
it is found in the swimming pool too, as Ian Thorpe lamented at the Sydney Olympics, when he said that the drug testing was being compromised by the way in which the cheats were taking the drugs, (orally instead of intravenously and at what time they were taken before the race) which he believed was causing them not to be detected...not sure of the science in that assumption, but, who knows what he found out?
anyway, these days it seems to be expected that countries would be trying to find new drugs that were undetectable.
it is pathetic, ludicrous and depressing that nations cannot play fairly with each other, even in a pastime meant to be fun!...well ok...the "Tour" is not what anyone would do for fun, but you know what I mean!
how hollow would one of those medals feel, hanging from your neck, knowing it was gained by cheating?
maybe they should rename them the,
"Drug Olympics",
or the bicycle race as the,
"Tour de France, a la Pharmaceutique",
and call the medals;
"Fools Gold",
"Silver Plate"
"Brass"!!
and all the drug companies could be their sponsors...
a terribly cynical sense of humour....no!!??!!.....tee hee!!!
cheers, beers and fears
fog
Froggy Views and French News
Froggy News
Ian Thorpe must have had growth supplements looking at the size of his feet.
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
However, is it not interesting that a German fellow has come out claiming he has evidence that the Spaniard who won the Tour has been taking a raft of different drugs!!
The Spaniard has refused to comment...if he is proved to have cheated, then our little Aussie battler, who came second, will be declared the winner...not bad huh?
I can, however, see that a huge amount of resistance will be put in the way of that happening, not the least of which is a European phobia of Australian sports people encroaching on their turf....as we seem, as a nation, to have success way beyond what one would statistically expect of a nation our size.
anyhoo, we will see what happens!
cheers and tears!
fog
Froggy Views and French News
Froggy News