Doping -- Le Monde editorial

"Clovis Lark" wrote in message
...
Ed-D wrote:
"AMG" wrote in message
...
The French journal Le Monde ran an editorial (July 27) suggesting that
the
TdF may not be free of doping, despite the extensive urine and blood
testing
that is now performed under the direction of the UCI. While not an
accusation, the article notes that the average speed of stage winners
this
year is the fastest on record, even faster than in 1997, the year
preceding
the Festina affair, when EPO use was presumably widespread.

The piece goes on to suggest two possible reasons: (1) Climate conditions
were ideal this year, and the riders also benefited from tailwinds, or
(2)
New techniques for evading the chemical controls have been put into play.
The official TdF line is apparently (1). The speeds themselves are not
disputed, since they are essentially a public record.

For perspective, Le Monde is something along the lines of the New York
Times -- a fairly well-respected middle-of-the-political-spectrum
newspaper

actually Le Monde is pretty left wing. So too is the NY Times.

Actually, not.

well if you say so....


(rather than a tabloid, for example), but not particularly a sports rag.

That is true.

I
don't know its history well enough to know whether it has any axes to
grind
with the TdF.


I don't know about this either but I do know that Le Monde has numerous
axes
to grind with the U.S. government, U.S. private sector companies, and
Americans in general. If I'm not mistaken, they were one of the main
forces
behind some of the allegations surrounding Lance Armstrong.

What has this to do with the content of the article?


Besides the fact that it is hardly unusual for Le Monde to try to taint the
achievements of Americans everywhere? Well, nothing I guess....

The article (in French) is available by going to www.lemonde.fr. In the
box
at upper left entitled Rechercher, type in "dopage" (no quotes needed)
and
click the arrow. On the list of articles that comes up, look for "Un Tour
trop vite?" Right now it seems to be the second article listed, and for
the
moment, at least, it is available for free. I don't know of an English
version, but I know there are at least a few francophones out there who
might find this of interest...

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In article ,
"Ed-D" wrote:

"Rico X. Partay" wrote in message
et...
"Ed-D" wrote in message
...

actually Le Monde is pretty left wing.
So too is the NY Times.


The NY Times left wing? Bwahahaha! Left of Genghis Kahn, you
mean.


Not sure what that is supposed to mean, but it's common knowledge that the
Times is left-of-center.

Pretty much any organization the uses reason will end up being
left-of-center.

KP

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"Ken Prager" wrote in message
...

Pretty much any organization the uses reason will end up being
left-of-center.




You know what's funny?


NASCAR only turns left.





Dat durn Dail Urnhard shore was fast.

place hand over heart

hang head


Where one a dem durn syclists? I gots to run won a dem off da rode!

Sponsors pay big bucks and want a stage win or their name mentions 100s of
times in a breakaway. I'd like to see a chart of when the number and
distance of breakaways in the last 30 years. The get away from kilometer 0.

Le Monde has several articles recently insinuating doping with absolutely no
links to back it up other than this idea that they're going so fast that
they must be doping (overlooking about 20 other cumulative effects that
could explain faster speeds.) It's quite tiresome.


"Ilan Vardi" a écrit dans le message de
om...
Le Monde is the "intellectual" newspaper, in the sense that French society
is extremely polarised: people either read Le Monde or L'Equipe but
not both. As far as I can tell, the only interest Le Monde has in bike
racing is to continually insinuate that all bike racers are dopers,
including completely erroneous reasoning, such as finishing articles
with: "Armstrong's cancer, whose presence has still not been explained."
Or course, anyone with any knowledge of epidemeology knows that you
can't explain any one single cancer, except for a few exceptions like
the one you get from asbestos or plutonium.

As for the increased racing speed compared to previous years, it's
clear that, apart from good weather, the UCI rankings,
internationalisation
of the race, and no more "patrons" are all responsable. In particular,
in the old Hinault day you went 30 kph at the start, or else Hinault
would seek you out and make sure you got dropped. Also, riders realise
that winning a stage will make their whole career, so you now see
the race starting from the gun, which almost never happened, even in
1999. The first mountain stage this year literally started this way,
with an attack as soon as the start was given, whereas in 1999, it
was a procession for the first climb, with Cipollini at the front
for the whole climb.
I bet that they didn't mention any of this in the article.

I've having to say all this stuff all the time recently, and I'm
getting pretty annoyed by it.

-ilan


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In article ,
"Kurgan Gringioni" wrote:

"Ken Prager" wrote in message
...

Pretty much any organization the uses reason will end up being
left-of-center.




You know what's funny?


NASCAR only turns left.





Dat durn Dail Urnhard shore was fast.

place hand over heart

hang head


Where one a dem durn syclists? I gots to run won a dem off da rode!



I have a friend who is reasonably intelligent (he has an MD) but
strangely enough is a NASCAR fan. I asked him once what was up with
the "3" sticker and here was his reply...


KP,

Actually, the 3 sticker you have been seeing represents the car number of the
late Dale Earnhardt. In NASCAR vernacular drivers and teams are often
discussed by simply using the number of the car as a description for the
driver, the racin' team and even for a lifestyle. For example, a conversation
at the Talledega Alabama speedway might go something like this:

"You know BillyBob that 3 car used to ride up under that wimp 24 car harder
than granpa used to ride into your cracker ass in the trailer"

Well known for his aggressive style of driving, Earnhardt was nicknamed the
"Intimidator". It is not surprising that you have been nearly run down by
fans with 3 car stickers. This type of Earnhardt fan is no doubt expressing
loyalty to his fallen hero by displaying the aggressive style of driving
which made Dale famous.

A bike is meant to have horsepower and make a lot of noise, if it does not,
then it is insulting to everthing that makes this country great (ie. Bud,
Ford Chevy or Dodge, Harley Davidson, Smith and Wesson). Upon encountering
anything that is "counterculture", like pedaling a bike, the 3 car fan should
immediately "put the hammer down" and rid the country of another sissy
californian like that wimp Gordon.

I hope this has been helpful to explain some of these close encounters you
have had.

Best Regards,

JS

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Ilan Vardi wrote:

As for the increased racing speed compared to previous years, it's
clear that, apart from good weather, the UCI rankings, internationalisation
of the race, and no more "patrons" are all responsable.

Yeah. I think there are more early breaks by obscure riders on the
flat stages in an effort to gain publicity and perhaps a stage win.
The publicity value of a stage win has gone up dramatically in recent
years, which makes more riders and managers willing to risk it. As
a result the leading teams are riding more tempo early in the
race to control gaps, and the pack really kicks into gear in the
last 50 km as several sprinter teams chase to catch breaks
before the finish and set up their guy.

It's not so much that the maximum performance has increased as
that the riders are working harder for more of the race.

"Ken Prager" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Ed-D" wrote:

"Rico X. Partay" wrote in message
et...
"Ed-D" wrote in message
...

actually Le Monde is pretty left wing.
So too is the NY Times.


The NY Times left wing? Bwahahaha! Left of Genghis Kahn, you
mean.


Not sure what that is supposed to mean, but it's common knowledge that the
Times is left-of-center.

Pretty much any organization the uses reason will end up being
left-of-center.


Oh great. The insinuation being that only liberals use reason. I get it.

KP

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"Arthur Ogus" wrote in message
...
In article , Ed-D
wrote:

"Rico X. Partay" wrote in message
et...
"Ed-D" wrote in message
...

actually Le Monde is pretty left wing.




Not sure what that is supposed to mean, but it's common knowledge that the
Times is left-of-center.


"Well-known" thanks to the relentness campaign of the right-wing.

uh, no actually that's not why. Paris has something like six or seven daily
newspapers, ranging from Le Figaro (which is considered conservative) to
l'Humanite (Communist). Le Monde is definitely on the left of that spectrum.

Meaningless nonetheless.

"Ken Prager" wrote in message
...

Pretty much any organization the uses reason will end up being
left-of-center.

Somebody here is pretty off-center. And stupid as well.

On Wed, 30 Jul 2003 17:18:25 -0700, Ken Prager
wrote:

Well known for his aggressive style of driving, Earnhardt was nicknamed the
"Intimidator". It is not surprising that you have been nearly run down by
fans with 3 car stickers. This type of Earnhardt fan is no doubt expressing
loyalty to his fallen hero by displaying the aggressive style of driving
which made Dale famous.

Dale died pulling an idiot move trying to block someone who was in
third place to ensure they would not come in second. Dumbass Dale
owned the cars that were in 1st and 2nd place at the time.

Dumbass Dale died.

Lindsay
----------------------------
"One of the annoying things about believing in free
will and individual responsibility is the difficulty
of finding somebody to blame your problems on. And
when you do find somebody, it's remarkable how often
his picture turns up on your driver's license."

P.J. O'Rourke