The State of Bicycle Racing - Part II

by John Lieswyn
(Winner, 2002 Nature Valley Grand Prix)

(See Part I here)
So, the ASO says their Tour de France and all their other marquee events will be held outside UCI rule. Is it because the UCI's late but much vaunted doping passport system isn't viewed to be strong enough? I doubt that the French Federation (FFC) can do better. It comes down to an absolute refusal to accept the UCI's system of purchasing a license and a guaranteed entry into the Grand Tours and major events. That system forced ASO and their colleagues to allow in riders whom they suspected may be involved in illegal activities, and then they were proven right as those same riders nearly destroyed their race, their livelihoods. And now the threats are reaching the level of affairs of state and potentially will embroil and tarnish parts of the sport relatively unrelated to the ASO-UCI brouhaha. Why is this important to us "Down Under"? Because we want to see our top Aussie and Kiwi riders demolish the competition at Beijing- we don't want to see the UCI suspend some of the top competitors simply because their French compatriots showed up to work one day at a non UCI sanctioned event. There may have been lots of patriotic chest pounding when the USA walked away with half a dozen cycling golds in 1984, but as a long time teammate of two of those medalists I can say they had far less pride in having beat only half the world's best.

The State of Bicycle Racing - Part I

by John Lieswyn
(Winner, 2002 Nature Valley Grand Prix)

Ask many sports and leisure cyclists what they know of bicycle racing and their response may be limited to Sarah Ulmer and Lance Armstrong. If your interests are a bit deeper than that or you are dismissive of the sport thanks to the recent doping scandals, read on for my take on what seems like an open and shut, black and white case of innocence versus guilt.

It seems to be an especially appropriate time to consider this subject as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) accredited world governing body of cycling, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is currently on a collision course with the Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), the owners of some of the most prestigious events in the hallowed history of bicycle racing. Thousands of words have been written in hundreds of news articles about this long running conflict which has now escalated into a showdown where neither side can win, and only the cyclists and the sport stands to lose.

The Tour de France has been rocked by scandal before, with the Festina Watches team story well known and the innuendos against Lance persistent for years. The ante has been raised now with two consecutive yellow jersey wearers implicated. First Floyd's implausible testosterone positive resulting in being the first Tour de France winner in history to be stripped of his title to the subsequent year's Michael Rasmussen being dismissed by his team while in the yellow jersey and looking certain to win the overall. As a friend and former colleague of Floyd I simply cannot reconcile the faulty "proof" with the simple reality check- why would a man who knew he was going to be tested, and had been tested day in and day out, take something so easily detected as a steroid? Many people point to his seemingly impossible recovery of ten minutes the day after losing eight...but let me just say that there were many a day when I hit the wall (ran out of energy) and couldn't pedal another stroke, only to come back the following fully refueled and feeling unstoppable. When the human body is tuned to such cardiovascular peak performance it reacts with incredible speed to whatever is put in the bloodstream. If there is no glycogen then boom, no muscle contraction - complete failure. Pour in some sugary Coke and a Snickers bar and zoom within seconds you can ride 50 km/h. So where was his team car with the Coke? When the peloton is shattered over ten minutes on a steep and twisting narrow climb, the team cars can be completely out of reach. All Floyd's men were long dropped and the bonk had hit him when he was isolated against the world's best riders. None of them were about to whip out an energy gel for him. (By the way, Leppin doesn't exist outside of Australia and New Zealand- so don't believe the hype) The most remarkable memory I have of the body's sensitivity to exertion and fluid/energy intake was at the completion of the USA Professional Criterium Championship... it's one of the few countries in the world with such an event but let me say that while it's nowhere near as physiologically depleting as seven hours in the saddle at Paris-Roubaix, it is one hell of a tough two and half hour war on wheels. This particular year I rode my heart out in an ultimately doomed breakaway during the final thirty minutes, out of fluids and sprinting around a course shimmering with forty degree summer heat. After crossing the finish line I grabbed a bottle in the feed zone and downed it like a rescued Saharan desert survivor. My eyes bugged out wide as the dry skin on my arms were drenched in beaded sweat before the bottle held in my hands was empty- less than thirty seconds. I went from so woozy that I couldn't stand up without the tripod of my two wheels supporting my weight to feeling nearly normal- in less than sixty seconds. In short, the body is capable of physical feats that to most of us seem impossible without artificial help.

Rolling back a little further in cycle racing history, I recall when I was trying to make it onto a European pro team in the early 90s. Word in the locker rooms and team buses was about a new super drug - absolutely undetectable by any testing protocol. It was years and several amateur rider deaths before we knew it as EPO. But we knew something was going on. I went from straight up wheel to wheel battle with Lance Armstrong in 1990 to a support role in '91 and '92 before we went our separate ways- he as a euro-pro and myself taking what I could get as a USA domestic pro. I still harbored dreams of the Tour and relished opportunities my US team could afford, such as Italy's 1993 Settimana Bergamasca (won by Lance in 1991). Given my recent history and strong form, I thought that I should be in the top ten no worries. How wrong I was was spectacularly showcased in a epic mountain time trial. Without special equipment, follow cars or hoopla I set off to prove my worth. Earplugs in to block the sound of the wind (a mental trick to make you feel faster) I climbed a gradual 3% narrow gorge road, an eye on the monster climb approaching. Suddenly a horn tooted and I instinctively pulled right to make way. Phwoosh, an Italian rider SHOT by me as if propelled by a circus cannon. He wasn't breathing hard and he looked at me with a smile as he pounded a massive gear at a speed in the high 40s - uphill. I'll never know if he had been holding on to the team car, he was hopped up on Pot Belge, or was just that much better than me. But that really took a lot of steam out of my boilers and it got worse from there. I had to turn to the third page of results to find my name that night. Even today I can sympathise with the thoughts going through Eric Zabel's mind as he sat dejected on the curb with a teammate after getting absolutely pummelled in yet another race... wondering what to do. Give up one's dreams, career, income and sacrifices or join the cheaters. To so many of them, it wasn't cheating if everyone was doing it. But to me... it was absolutely wrong. They snaked me out of potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars and their actions have cost many people their jobs and dreams over the past decade.

(to be continued - stay tuned!)