can you smell...

[Cathryn]

Yes you are. I flatly refuse to consider it.

 

[mangaman]

Yes you are. I flatly refuse to consider it.

I hope not Cathryn as well.

It just seems a cyclist completely changing their core skill within a few months would be looked on with more suspicion if he was foreign.

We all hear all the time about the drug-free British squad and I really, really hope it's true, but I don't know.

I bet if you logged into an Italian equivalent of Cyclechat (Cyclochatto.co.it) they would be suspicious of the British track team's success in Beijing and Wiggo's sudden transformation.

If you get a chance to read his book he describes the 2008 TDF and how he found the mountains impossible and was a gauranteed member of the grupetto, it seems a big leap in 1 year to come 4th.

 

[Cathryn]

To be honest, I totally agree. If it was ANYONE else, I'd just assume he was on drugs and would be waiting for the news. I just can't bear the thought that a British cyclist would dope, but I know how naive that makes me.

I wonder if he's ever been asked that question in an interview/article and given a decent answer?

 

[mangaman]

Yes - in his book there's a lot of anti-doping stuff.

He is great friends with David Millar who he forgave for reasons I couldn't quite fathom, but he was all for stricter anti-doping rules. He even implied he was unpopular within the peloton for his outspoken views.

 

[monnet]

INteresting follow up in this today's Sunday Times. A cyclist wrote in questioning the 1500 calorie intake - stating that they use plenty more than that on a ride, the response from the editor of the section (or whoever) was that it really is 1500 as he's trying to get his weight down.

Still smells a bit to me...Get his weight down maybe (I've read he wants to be down to 4% body fat for the Tour) but going into the season on 1500 calories...

On the doping thing, curious how we are more naive when it comes to 'our' riders isn't it?

I hope he isn't but then the guys above him on the podium are far from being above suspicion. Then you look at the role call of UK/Irish cyclists of the recent past and whilst Boardman is universally regarded as clean the others have a somewhat more ambiguous history.

 

[Crackle]

It occurred to me that the last person who made a great play of his weight loss helping him was Bjarne Riis.

That's the problem with dugs in sport, it makes you cynically suspicious.

 

[lukesdad]

I think wiggins and Armstrong are out of the same mould, Obssesive and they always seem aloof and without personality, I think a lot of people don t understand it and they regard them with suspision.

 

[Cathryn]

That's the problem with dugs in sport, it makes you cynically suspicious.

That's the thing, it robs sport of everything you love about it. So when someone does something extraordinary on the tour, instead of being filled with awe and fired up with enthusiasm, instead you're left wondering when it will come out that he was using drugs.

It makes me so sad and so angry as well. If my little baby boy decides when he's a bit older that he loves cycling, is there anyone out there on the circuit who he can be sure won't betray that childish hero-worship and be worthy of his adoration? I really hope so. But I'm not confident.

 

[monnet]

I think wiggins and Armstrong are out of the same mould, Obssesive and they always seem aloof and without personality, I think a lot of people don t understand it and they regard them with suspision.

Maybe so, but we can be thankful that at least Wiggins has yet to be seen with the likes of Ferrari.

 

[mangaman]

It occurred to me that the last person who made a great play of his weight loss helping him was Bjarne Riis.

That's the problem with dugs in sport, it makes you cynically suspicious.

And Rasmussen I seem to remember

Bonkers about supposedly weighing all his food etc