Reflections on doping2
Guy WR posted in Doping on October 29th, 2008
So, we are now able to re-write the results from this year’s Tour de France with some certainty, erasing stage wins, rejigging the overall, and congratulating Carlos Sastre and Frank Schleck for jointly winning the KOM title following Kohl’s disgrace.
The latter may have ridden himself into a near coma on Alpe d’Huez, with an above-average performance, but it certainly was not the ‘extraterrestrial’ climbing we have seen in the past. His performance may have defied expectations, but he did not make a mockery of the peloton like Sella (at the Giro), Ricco, Piepoli, and Schumacher. (Not the mention the infringement of Dmitri Fofonov, who may have doped simply to survive all the way to Paris, rather than to actually win a major prize.)
Astute watchers of the Tour may have had their suspicions, but Kohl’s case confounded the now regularly-practised technique of outing dopers simply by scrutinizing their race-winning performances. Kohl’s watts on Alpe d’Huez were less than impressive compared to other riders, but may have been well above what he has produced before, but this would require an extensive crunching of the numbers.
Overall, though, it is very hard to claim that the doping situation is getting any better, with this slew of positive tests. The overall cleanliness of the peloton may indeed be improving, and more and more riders are speaking out against doping, but dopers are still stealing victories and ruining races with alarming regularity. (more…)
