NYVelocity - David Walsh Interview

[Hont]

it's seriously f*cked up in some places, that needs bringing to light.

I completely agree, but there is a difference between "lets clean the sport up" and "the sport is dirty". Walsh in particular seems to have no love for cycling, which means he alienates those who do.

 

[Chuffy]

Need some new angles they do, investigative are not, repetitive they are, ignore people will. /yoda

Heh.
I agree that they need new angles (and have argued such for a long time) but there are people who, so it seems, would prefer to stick their fingers in their ears rather than hear that cycling still has a serious problem.

 

[Chuffy]

I completely agree, but there is a difference between "lets clean the sport up" and "the sport is dirty". Walsh in particular seems to have no love for cycling, which means he alienates those who do.

Walsh and Kimmage are a big part of the reason that we know that cycling is f*cked up. Without that knowledge, what pressure would there be to clean it up?

 

[Hont]

focussing on him is logical, even if you think it's wrong.

I don't think that it's necessarily wrong - it just comes across as a witch hunt rather than a impartial journalistic investigation, which severely weakens his case.

Yeah, cycling really cleaned it's act up after both of those and anyone who points out otherwise is just slagging off the sport. B'stards, can't they see that everything in the garden is rosy?

Again that's not the point I'm making. I'm saying that if they showed some love for the sport, they'd have a lot more people on their side. I listen to Greg Lemond (despite the fact that he's not always right) because he loves the sport. I tend to ignore Walsh and Kimmage because, rightly or wrongly, I consider that they have an agenda.

 

[John the Monkey]

Crackle, if the problem remains the same, it's hard to see how reporting it could not be repetitive, really. Some of the names are changing, is that enough?

 

[Crackle]

Crackle, if the problem remains the same, it's hard to see how reporting it could not be repetitive, really. Some of the names are changing, is that enough?

Good question. What you do if it was you investigating. Well some angles on EPO design and masking, who's doing it and how, some angles on how it's distributed to the riders, some cloak and dagger monitoring of some key suspects, some in-depth uncomfortable coverage of the various attitudes of race bodies, coach exposes, lots of stuff really. We get it in part, not from Walsh and Kimmage though but imagine if this was a political situation, there'd be people hiding under beds, it's all a bit half-arsed and the reason is, everyone has got a vested interest in painting over the rot and no country can solve it because it's a world wide problem.

 

[John the Monkey]

Kohl is probably as close as we've got.

And then he clams up and says L'Equipe got it all wrong.

 

[Hont]

Walsh and Kimmage are a big part of the reason that we know that cycling is f*cked up. Without that knowledge, what pressure would there be to clean it up?

Well that's a point for debate . They didn't break Festina, and they didn't break Operation Puerto. We know far more from riders confessing after being caught than we do from two people picking fights with Armstrong.

 

[mangaman]

Chuffy

In your post number 3 on Page 1, you quoted yello's post number 4

That wasn't posted till 1 minute after yours

That's freaked me out

Can you predict the next post?

 

[Chuffy]

Well that's a point for debate . They didn't break Festina, and they didn't break Operation Puerto. We know far more from riders confessing after being caught than we do from two people picking fights with Armstrong.

Rough Ride is a seminal work in revealing how prevalent drug taking was at the top level and Walsh (and Ballester, let's not forget) pulled together a hell of a lot of info showing how how dodgy Team LA were/are.

I don't think that it's necessarily wrong - it just comes across as a witch hunt rather than a impartial journalistic investigation, which severely weakens his case.

That's exactly what I've been saying. Other people take the illogical view that because it seems personal, everything he says is spun out of all proportion. I don't agree with that.

 

[yello]

All Walsh has done is slag our sport off without making anything better.

I think he'd say he's trying to make it better.

I'm not quite sure what people want of Walsh. He's 'banging on' about LA because he believes him to have been a doper and, further, emblemic of the problem in cycling. He wants to take out the kingpin to collapse the deck of cards (if you'll give me mixed metaphor!).

I don't think it matters that it's personal. Walsh is out to get LA; that's true. Because he believes in what he is doing and believes LA to be a liar and a hypocrite to the point of personal hatred does not, imo, devalue the investigative work that he does. Yes, he has an agenda. So? Who doesn't?

Walsh paints a bleak bleak picture of cycling. I want it not to be true. But Kohl's words, before he recanted, point to a similar dark underbelly. That is, ASO/UCI are aware of broad scale doping but do not what to do too much about it because that will bring the whole thing down.

Something Walsh mentions in that interview is chilling. That decent, cycling loving journalists gave up on the sport because they saw it had become a circus. Walsh (and Ballesters) want their sport back.

I'm paraphrasing Walsh btw, I personally don't believe it's quite the conspiracy that he alludes to. I hope not anyway.

 

[Chuffy]

I'm not quite sure what people want of Walsh.

I think some people would prefer that he shut up and never mentioned cycling or Team LA ever again.

Personally I agree 100% with pretty much everything you said there. I read the Walsh interview after I'd read Kohl's comments. Interesting to see how Kohl's comments about UCI/ASO not pursuing the big boys tied in with what Walsh had to say about the big riders being given an easy ride...

<McQuaid>But hey, Kohl is a doper, so lets all put our fingers in our ears and pretend we can't hear him!</McQuaid>

 

[Hont]

Rough Ride is a seminal work in revealing how prevalent drug taking was at the top level

Indeed but it was written from his experiences as a rider not the campaigning journalist he is now. And unfortunately it didn't change anything. It was 8 years until the Festina affair.

And if his major contribution to the problem is 19 years ago...

Walsh (and Ballester, let's not forget) pulled together a hell of a lot of info showing how how dodgy Team LA were/are.

Unfortunately they had no hard evidence so nothing stuck.

 

[Hont]

Walsh paints a bleak bleak picture of cycling.

Exactly. He does not appear to recognise that the sport is getting cleaner and that many people are working to make it so.

I don't think it matters that it's personal.

Unfortunately it does. When emotions become involved you lose credibility.

He wants to take out the kingpin to collapse the deck of cards (if you'll give me mixed metaphor!).

Which would be fine if that were truly the case. But he didn't write a book about Contador in the 3 years that Lance was retired did he?

 

[Chuffy]

Exactly. He does not appear to recognise that the sport is getting cleaner and that many people are working to make it so.

See my comments about the two previous big pushes to clean up pro cycling. The historical evidence doesn't inspire confidence, does it?

Unfortunately it does. When emotions become involved you lose credibility.

In terms of public perception, yes, sadly.

Which would be fine if that were truly the case. But he didn't write a book about Contador in the 3 years that Lance was retired did he?

Hmmm, this Contador chappy. Won 7 Tours, dominated pro-cycling for almost a decade, practically redefined Grand Tour level cycling and got a history of being a chippy bully has he?
No. There's no comparison and I don't know what point you're trying to make. Why would anyone waste ink looking at Contador, other than as a A N Other cyclist who has a few question marks over them? Walsh is going for the biggest cheese out there, he's not going to bother with a mere Babybel like Contador. Personally I'd prefer it if he investigated Bertie, Rasmussen, the Telekom saga etc etc and laid off Team LA for the moment but you can't fault his logic in gunning for Team LA.