The Tour de France is massively important for cyclists. Though the 2007 Tour was blighted by doping scandals, it may still signal light at the end of the tunnel.
You may well ask why I’m writing about the Tour de France when these aren’t Suite’s Cycle Racing pages. But the Tour de France is unique: not just the world’s greatest bike raced, but its greatest sporting event of any kind. It’s a huge flagship not just for cycle sport but for cycling more generally. For those of us who believe that cycling has a vital role to play in dealing with some of the world’s most pressing problems - climate change, congestion, health, and so on - then it has an importance that extends beyond mere sport.
A good Tour de France will inspire people to get on their bikes, so presumably a tainted Tour can have the opposite effect. It’s therefore worth considering, as the dust begins to settle a bit, just how badly tainted the 2007 Tour really has been.
Out of 189 riders who started the Tour, just two failed dope tests during the race. Of course that’s still two too many, but it hardly constitutes evidence of wholesale doping. And perhaps more significantly, the reaction of the majority of other riders, and of teams and sponsors, shows a major shift in the climate of opinion. No longer is there any tendency to close ranks or to regard doping as a regrettable but minor misdemeanor.
The ‘Rasmussen affair’ is more opaque. In fairness it must be said that Michael Rasmussen has been dope-tested many times, both during this Tour and on previous occasions, and has never been found positive for any banned substance. But in the new climate, where zero tolerance rules, his failure to be open and honest about his whereabouts, which caused him to miss several out-of-season dope tests, is - to say the least - highly suspicious.
It’s tragic, because Rasmussen looked like a worthy Tour winner, especially in the final stage in the Pyrenees; outnumbered two to one by Discovery Channel's Contador and Leipheimer, he took all that they could throw at him, and then rode away from them in the final couple of kilometres of the Col de l’Aubisque. The decision of his Rabobank team to withdraw him must have been incredibly painful, most of all for those team-mates who had ridden themselves into the ground in support, but it was a courageous and correct decision that helps to restore the credibility of the event.
For all the traumas, the support of the public at the roadside never wavered; if anything they seemed to be more fervent than ever in cheering the remaining riders. Let’s take that memory away too, along with the grandeur of the mountains, the greatest sporting arena on the planet, and above all the magnificent drama of the time trial on the penultimate day. At the end of the Tour, after more than 91 hours of racing, just 31 seconds separated the top three overall (Contador, Evans and Leipheimer). If riders, teams and organisers continue to bear down hard on doping, it could be an awesome race next year.
