Emma suggested that someone could review whether there is something about the Big Tours, which, apart from sheer greed, may make some riders feel the need for performance enhancing substances. I wondered if that day after day slog or the crafty routing of the hill climbs might be too much for some, but our young Geraint Thomas was there at the head of the peleton in Paris, wasnt that great?
On the same programme Jonathon Vaughters from Slipstream was interviewed. Now there is a guy who knows his cycling. He was full of ideas on how to run clean tours, such as to keep the selected team all together as a unit both in the runup and during the event. All the managers would then have the chance to advise and report back on all the racers and any potential deviant moods would be discussed. He said he'd also be prepared to have an observer from one of the testing agencies travel with the team and act as some sort of warden.
They also discussed the proposal to have several National Teams in the 2008 TdeF replacing trade teams. How do you feel about that?
I wondered if that day after day slog or the crafty routing of the hill climbs might be too much for some
IIRC tour is about 1000km shorter it used to be.
I'm guessing that the people that dope are more likely to be those in with a chance of winning. They've more incentive to cheat - the rewards are bigger, whereas a domestic doesn't really gain much from moving up a few places in the rankings.
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They also discussed the proposal to have several National Teams in the 2008 TdeF replacing trade teams. How do you feel about that?
Heh, it's just a way to get more French winners. It also has the problems of unbalanced teams, 'lesser' athletes being chosen, the best athletes not being in the national team (guessing national teams will have less money than some of the corporate teams) and possibly less money for the riders.
