{"id":5763,"date":"2015-02-24T02:20:47","date_gmt":"2015-02-24T02:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crankpunk.com\/?p=5763"},"modified":"2015-02-24T07:27:42","modified_gmt":"2015-02-24T07:27:42","slug":"where-does-froome-vs-contador-rank-in-the-list-of-cycling-rivalries-or-this-sport-is-a-fg-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2015\/02\/24\/where-does-froome-vs-contador-rank-in-the-list-of-cycling-rivalries-or-this-sport-is-a-fg-joke\/","title":{"rendered":"Where does Froome vs Contador rank in the list of cycling rivalries?"},"content":{"rendered":"

if you’re coming to find the original version of this article you are out of luck. it’s disappeared. here is the article as best as i can remember it. <\/em><\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

Coppi and Bartali, Anquetil and Poulidor, Anquetil and the lock on his stepdaughter’s bedroom door<\/a>, Hinault and Lemond, Lemond and Lance, Cipollini and Soul Glo, Lance and The Truth, Verbruggen & MacQuaid raging against common decency as ‘up to 100’ (Phil Liggett’s words<\/a>) riders died in the first decade of EPO, cycling has seen some cracking rivalries over the years, epic battles that remain threaded through the tattered, grubby tapestry that is professional cycling and all its dystopian ‘glory’.<\/p>\n

\"soul-glo\"<\/p>\n

versus<\/p>\n

\"Mario-Cipollini-thumb\"<\/p>\n

As I was sat not riveted to the telly last week as Chris Froome and Alberto Contador smashed ten bells out of each other in the hills of Andalucia, I listened to the commentators gushing bukkake-like all over ‘this enthralling rivalry’ and I wondered if it was really that enthralling and even if it was a rivalry at all, and then concluded that I don’t care that much anymore anyway.<\/p>\n

Contador has 6 Grand Tours under his belt and is hailed as the finest climber of his generation and one of the finest in the history of the sport. He took that natural climbing ability and then added to it a truckload of TT work to become one of the foremost riders against the clock in multi-day races, and he showed in the 2009 Tour that he has some serious mettle, as he withstood the barrage from the twin barrels of Bruyneel and Armstrong.<\/p>\n

After that race, Contador said that “Armstrong is a great rider and did a great Tour, but on a personal level I have never admired him and never will”, with Armstrong responding that “a champion is also measured on how much he respects his teammates and opponents.”<\/p>\n

So, Conty knows a thing or two about reading\u00a0 folk (though to be fair Armstrong is not exactly<\/em> a book, more an ingredients list on the back of a packet of Fruit Loops – brief, uninspiring and full of chemicals), and Armstrong’s quote?<\/p>\n

Well, another classic from the non-winner of 7 Tours.<\/p>\n

But I’m wandering. Froome is not exactly a pushover, has to be said. He’s won one Tour and just about every other race he entered in 2013 and many feel he should have claimed the 2012 Tour also, had it not been for team orders and a certain Sir Wiggins being team leader.<\/p>\n

Froome’s miraculous upturn in fortune seems to have coincided with the surgery to remove his biceps. I guess the loss of .00257 grams can make all the difference.<\/p>\n

\"Pins
Pins he can manage, shoelaces are another matter, but since he got rid of the biceps Froome is .0000000012784 watts better off. Win!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you’d heard the commentators gushing and frothing all over their mics as Conty dropped Froomey and then the reverse happened that day after, you’d have thought that all the bad things that have happened in our sport just never did.<\/p>\n

Now, I’m not saying Froome is not clean, nor that Conty isn’t either. Anything, as they say, is possible.<\/p>\n

However as I sit there non-entranced to the screen listening to the gooiness oozing from these guys mouths, I’m reminded that we’ve heard it all before. Liggett was all over Lance back in the day, we heard it with Landis, Hamilton, Valverde, Basso, on and on and on.
\nHere we have a guy that was busted for Clenbuterol who carried on riding and bringing the sport into disrepute (a la Kreuziger) when he should have done the right thing and stepped away until his case was cleared being led out by a guy (Basso) who was himself suspended for dodginess on a team started by a confessed doper (Riis) and now run by one of the seediest guys in the sport (and that is saying something) and staffed by an LA apologist (Yates) and riding bikes supplied by a brand with a healthy record of sponsoring dopers competing against a guy from a team that empolyed Leinders even though the word was out that he was about as clean as a poodle’s arse hair and had a teammate (JTL) that half the world and my Gran suspected of doping way before Sky signed him, and STILL you ask me to stand and holler and whoop and get excited?<\/p>\n

I feel sorry for the genuinely clean riders, I really do, because they have a crap time of it, but they have to take responsibility and stop letting riders like Mark Cavendish reinvigorate the Omerta once again. I’ve been saying this for years, they have got to unite and to find a voice to make the work of the authorities that really do want to beat back the dopers easier, to find a way to demand true transparency and to accept that yes, crap as it may be, the son bears the guilt of the father.<\/p>\n

No longer can the excuse that they may lose their jobs for speaking out be valid as there are plenty of companies that would like to sponsor a truly clean team – and I don’t mean a Jonathan Vaughters-style clean team, a hey-we’re-clean-well-if-you’re-gonna-threaten-us-with-perjury-and-prison-then-ok-we’re-not-really-clean-but-we’re-sorry-we-had-to-cheat-our-way-to-wins-medals-cash-and-fame kind of clean, but seriously<\/em> clean.<\/p>\n

And not like a Sky ‘clean’ either, not with questionable staff and suddenly improved new signings and the like, with TUE kerfuffles and rumors of ‘special’ bidons containing opiates. <\/a><\/p>\n

Magazines and websites continue to run endless articles on Armstrong, giving voice to his defenders, Astana continue to churn out a doper a month, the old boy network\u00a0 of former dopers still reigns, the guys commenting on TV continue to overflow with sycophantic adulation that spews out like bilge from a busted sceptic tank, and the fans, a huge chunk of them, still remain rapt.<\/p>\n

Last week I heard someone saying how awesome the action was when EPO use was truly rampant in the peloton, and I just sighed.<\/p>\n

Here’s an article from Outside Magazine <\/a>about doping, featuring the former head of WADA, Dick Pound, and an epidemiologist and expert in sports doping from Penn State, Charles Yesalis:<\/p>\n

It may be impossible to ever know the true pervasiveness of the problem, or the guilt or innocence of riders. Further, gene doping, a science that would render current tests irrelevant, looms on the horizon. Throw in an event like the Tour de France\u2014and the dollars at stake\u2014and an immensely challenging picture emerges. <\/em><\/p>\n

“It’s an elephant,” sighs Dick Pound, president of WADA. “There are very heavily entrenched entities in this, and a lot of economics involved.” <\/em><\/p>\n

The two realities of the Tour\u2014its enormous popularity and the specter of corruption\u2014persist side by side. “If there was a large boycott\u2014no one watching on TV, no one cheering along the side of the road\u2014then maybe things would change,” says Yesalis. “But I don’t think the fans really care.”<\/em><\/p>\n

This is from an article from 2004.<\/p>\n

Some things, it seems, never change.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

if you’re coming to find the original version of this article you are out of luck. it’s disappeared. here is the article as best as i can remember it. _____________________ Coppi and Bartali, Anquetil and Poulidor, Anquetil and the lock on his stepdaughter’s bedroom door, Hinault and Lemond, Lemond and Lance, Cipollini and Soul Glo, Lance and The Truth, Verbruggen & MacQuaid raging against common decency as ‘up to 100’ (Phil Liggett’s words) riders died in the first decade of EPO, cycling has seen some cracking rivalries over the years, epic battles that remain threaded through the tattered, grubby tapestry that is professional cycling and all its dystopian ‘glory’. versus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40955418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","wpupg_custom_link":[],"wpupg_custom_link_behaviour":[],"wpupg_custom_link_nofollow":[],"wpupg_custom_image":[],"wpupg_custom_image_id":[],"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[119818829,159546164],"tags":[767233535,77823],"class_list":["post-5763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dopepunk","category-punkopinion","tag-cycling","tag-doping"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2OfoS-1uX","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2419,"url":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2013\/06\/27\/best-and-worst-tour-kits-of-all-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":5763,"position":0},"title":"best and worst Tour kits of all time","author":"Lee Rodgers","date":"6\u6708 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cSon, you\u2019ve done it. The call came through while you were out \u2013 you got a World Tour contract!\u201d \u201cNo! You mean it? Which team?!\u201d \u201cAg2r.\u201d \u201c\u2026Oh\u2026\u201d Yup. That\u2019s right lad. You\u2019ve made the big time, amazing, but, at the same time humiliating. You\u2019re going to have to wear one\u2026","rel":"","context":"punkopinion","block_context":{"text":"punkopinion","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/category\/punkopinion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/20090527-santini-la-vie-claire-wonder-look-retro-cycling-jersey.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/20090527-santini-la-vie-claire-wonder-look-retro-cycling-jersey.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/20090527-santini-la-vie-claire-wonder-look-retro-cycling-jersey.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7542,"url":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2020\/07\/13\/the-badgers-betrayal-tour-de-france-86\/","url_meta":{"origin":5763,"position":1},"title":"The Badger’s Betrayal, Tour de France ’86","author":"Lee Rodgers","date":"7\u6708 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cIn the midst of competition, Hinault attempted to snatch victory like a furious, clawing rodent\u2026 he acted not only for himself but for a nation horrified that its great race might be hijacked by an American outlaw.\u201d\u00a0 Rolling Stone, 1986 Stage 11, 1986 Tour de France. It has been a\u2026","rel":"","context":"Tour de Frane","block_context":{"text":"Tour de Frane","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/category\/tour-de-frane\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/screenshot-2020-07-13-at-21.02.40.png?fit=928%2C616&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/screenshot-2020-07-13-at-21.02.40.png?fit=928%2C616&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/screenshot-2020-07-13-at-21.02.40.png?fit=928%2C616&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/screenshot-2020-07-13-at-21.02.40.png?fit=928%2C616&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5581,"url":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2015\/01\/26\/landis-lemond-lance-and-leinders-why-it-has-to-be-all-or-nothing\/","url_meta":{"origin":5763,"position":2},"title":"Landis, Lemond, Lance and Leinders: Why it has to be all or nothing","author":"Lee Rodgers","date":"1\u6708 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Floyd Landis talks sense sometimes. (Note the sometimes). He's one of the former EPOlogists that actually has something worth listening to. Sometimes. Yep, he denied his arse off when he got busted, denied it for way too long and messed around with a lot of people who supported him, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"dopepunk","block_context":{"text":"dopepunk","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/category\/dopepunk\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/watson_00001362-286-659x440.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/watson_00001362-286-659x440.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/watson_00001362-286-659x440.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1116,"url":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2012\/12\/04\/lemond-throws-his-stetson-into-the-ring\/","url_meta":{"origin":5763,"position":3},"title":"Lemond throws his stetson into the ring","author":"Lee Rodgers","date":"12\u6708 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Greg Lemond for UCI president? is somebody scripting this? as a rider he was the first (and now only - ah, the irony) American winner of the Tour de France, the man who returned from death's door after being shot in the heart to win a second and third Tour,\u2026","rel":"","context":"dopepunk","block_context":{"text":"dopepunk","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/category\/dopepunk\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/th.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7553,"url":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2020\/07\/14\/tales-from-the-tour\/","url_meta":{"origin":5763,"position":4},"title":"Tales from the Tour","author":"Lee Rodgers","date":"7\u6708 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A few select moments from the Tour, which first appeared in Bicycle Club Taiwan magazine.\u00a0 _________ The History of the Tour de France It\u2019s the world\u2019s most famous bicycle race, the idea of a man some said was crazy, a publicity stunt to sell newspapers, a grand tour that is\u2026","rel":"","context":"history of cycling","block_context":{"text":"history of cycling","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/category\/history-of-cycling\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/screenshot-2020-07-14-at-10.53.35.png?fit=891%2C590&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/screenshot-2020-07-14-at-10.53.35.png?fit=891%2C590&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/screenshot-2020-07-14-at-10.53.35.png?fit=891%2C590&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/screenshot-2020-07-14-at-10.53.35.png?fit=891%2C590&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4444,"url":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2014\/07\/30\/uci-aso-need-to-ban-riis-and-vino-the-rest-from-le-tour\/","url_meta":{"origin":5763,"position":5},"title":"UCI & ASO need to ban Riis and Vino (& the rest) from Le Tour","author":"Lee Rodgers","date":"7\u6708 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"this article originally appeared on The Roar \u00a0 Eurosport\u2019s coverage of the 2014 Tour de France had a section at the end of each stage that was entitled \u2018LeMond on Tour\u2019. This featured the combustible-looking, three-time Tour winner Greg LeMond chatting to a host of the Tour\u2019s personalities. One day\u2026","rel":"","context":"dopepunk","block_context":{"text":"dopepunk","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/category\/dopepunk\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/ntsZcWhNoZs\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Lee Rodgers","author_link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/author\/crankpunk\/"},"rttpg_comment":7,"rttpg_category":"dopepunk<\/a> punkopinion<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"if you’re coming to find the original version of this article you are out of luck. it’s disappeared. here is the article as best as i can remember it. _____________________ Coppi and Bartali, Anquetil and Poulidor, Anquetil and the lock on his stepdaughter’s bedroom door, Hinault and Lemond, Lemond and Lance, Cipollini and Soul Glo,…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40955418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5763"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17358,"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5763\/revisions\/17358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}