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Just Another Jim

Just Another Essay



Le Tour de France

Or, “Can We Put Some Lipstick on this Pig?”

Essay Posted July 8, 2008 by James E. Nelson

I suppose if I’m going to write about sports this week, I should write about Wimbledon. The men’s final between Federer and Nadal was an instant classic and may mark a changing of the guard on the men’s side. But I don’t care much for tennis and the Tour de France got started on Saturday, so I’ll stick with what I know.

It’s been a tough year for “le Tour.” Many of the formerly great riders have been banned for a year or two, or in a couple of cases, for life, because of various forms of suspected blood doping. A huge cloud still hangs over the sport. European professional bicycling has also been beset by political squabbles and a level of pettiness that is hard to imagine. As a result some of the best teams and riders are ineligible to ride in the Tour, disqualified, not by their own doing, but because of the machinations of arrogant men sitting behind a desk.

And all the controversy has had a profound effect on the competition. The third stage, in any normal year, would have been a blowout stage. There was a very strong cross wind, so the riders were spread out in an echelon to overcome the wind. (If you don’t know what that looks like, think of geese flying in a V high overhead.) It’s the sort of day where a strong team inevitably makes a break and tears the peleton (the main body of riders) apart. But no team was strong enough (or didn’t have the will) to do it. This lack of competition would have been unimaginable back in the days of Lance Armstrong and the U.S. Postal team or Jan Ullrich and his T-Mobile team.

To put it politely, this is a rebuilding year for professional cycling. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t bright spots. The brightest is where the sport stands in relation to doping and all other sorts of pharmacological cheating. Of course the cycling authorities have been working hard to bring the cheating under control, but their efforts seem too little too late. The bright spot is what certain teams are doing and how the riders are responding.

For over a decade the primary American presence in European cycling was the U.S. Postal team (which became Discovery Channel team for a couple of years). After Lance Armstrong’s retirement, no sponsor could be found and the team was disbanded. It happened rather quickly and it left both organizers and riders scrambling.

To make a long and intriguing story short, two American teams rose out of the wreck that European cycling had become. Team Highroad (which found a sponsor 48 hours before the start of the Tour de France, and became Team Columbia, literally overnight) features long time Lance Armstrong domestique George Hincappie. Team Garmin-Chipotle (which two years ago was a Boulder, CO based development squad sponsored by TIAA-Creft, and last year became Slipstream—a team that could barely compete in the United States) features Americans David Zabriski and Christian VandeVelde.

But the real story of these two teams is not their American “stars” (who, other than Hincappie, are really only average on the world scene) but rather their ability to attract an international cast of world-class racers. The poster boy for these two teams’ success has to be David Millar.

Millar came onto the racing scene in the mid 90s and immediately proved himself to be one of the best riders in the world and easily the best time trialer in the world. (Armstrong was the only cyclist who could compete with him on a time trial back then.) But then he was arrested for doping and was banned from the sport for two years. He’s now back and has become one of the most outspoken critics of doping.

Columbia and Garmin-Chipotle have developed state-of-the-art drug testing procedures that go far beyond anyting the international cycling federation (or any other sport, for that matter) is doing. Along with regular testing for every substance imaginable, these two teams develop a baseline for each rider. The procedure allows for developing a baseline which shows just how much each rider’s blood can change from day to day (particularly oxygen and testosterone levels, which naturally vary).

The reason for this in-depth analysis goes back to the Floyd Landis debacle. Landis was caught red handed with very high levels of testosterone in his blood. He claimed it was a natural variation in his blood. The claim was ridiculous, but it was impossible to disprove because there had been no definitive studies about how much testosterone levels vary. The new American testing procedures will establish such baselines for every rider, making it nearly impossible for any of these riders to cheat.

Furthermore, all these blood testing results (for the Garmin-Chipotle team) are available for the general public to see on the internet. The plan is to have no secrets so that there can be no controversy.

One would think this lack of trust and privacy would put off professional cyclists. One might think they would want to be bothered by all the hassle involved with constant testing and the inconvenience of having to show up at a moments notice to provide blood or to pee in a cup. But in fact, cyclists are very excited about it and world-class cyclists flocked to both teams because of the transparency. Specifically, David Millar asked if he could join Garmin-Chipotle precisely because of their testing policy. He said he was seduced by doping several years ago but now wants nothing to do with it. Riding for a team like Garmin-Chipotle allows him to prove that he's clean.

The last few years it seemed that every great cyclist was cheating. It turns out that not only David Millar, but nearly all the great cyclists are tired of the questions that surround their own abilities, and they very much want (like Millar) the hassle of in-depth testing in order to prove that they're clean.

The competition at this year’s “le Tour” may not be compelling, but the attitude of the riders points to a very bright future. In the end, that makes for a good year as we tour around France.