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Tour de France = Tour de Fraud = Deaths and Suicides
There are much sadder cycling tales
- Gwen Knapp Sunday, August 6, 2006 Saturday was a sad day for cycling. It might even rank in the top 25. That all depends on how many Dutch and Belgian cyclists died young about 15 years ago because their hearts stopped in the middle of the night. Nobody knows the exact figure, since the media can't track all of the wannabes whose drug experimentation fatally thickened their blood before they became recognizable names. Floyd Landis' name, barely recognizable a month ago, will now be known and tainted forever. Barring a legal performance that scales mountains bigger than any rider has ever conquered, he will become the first Tour de France champion stripped of his title. The great tragedy of Landis' positive drug test, which a second sample confirmed Saturday, is that it doesn't qualify as the greatest doping tragedy tied to a man who wore the yellow jersey. Marco Pantani, who won the race in 1998, died in a hotel in the Italian coastal town of Rimini in 2004. He had overdosed on cocaine in a room that contained a large stash of drugs and crazed notes that suggested suicide. Pantani, a wildly colorful figure who once wore a blond wig during a race, had been implicated in doping more than once after his 1998 Tour win. He was under investigation for much of the last four years of his life, and organizers booted him from the 1999 Giro d'Italia because of a failed blood test. The notes in his hotel room reportedly railed against the officials who had investigated him. It's not clear whether doping accusations or doping itself fueled the breakdown that led to Pantani's death. But performance-enhancing drugs, especially stimulants and hormones, can work like lighter fluid on an unstable or addictive personality. Pantani's death wasn't exactly an aberration among Tour riders. Since the event started in 1903, war stoppages and repeat winners have limited the list of champions to 54 names. Four have taken their own lives. Consider this disturbing passage from the book "Lance Armstrong's War'' by Daniel Coyle. Pantani's name would be listed alongside other Tour de France champions who had killed themselves. ... Poor Rene Pottier, who won in 1906 and hanged himself from his bike hook in his garage a year later. The handsome Luis Ocana, who won in 1973 and shot himself in 1994. Elegant Hugo Koblet, who won in 1951 and intentionally drove his car into a pear tree in 1961. Not to mention sad-eyed Thierry Claveyrolt, who won the king-of-the-mountains competition in 1990 (but not the Tour itself) and shot himself in 1999. There are all sorts of background stories here. A marriage gone bad. A financial crash. But why is it that many other people survive such things, and some of the toughest men on the planet can't recover emotionally? No doubt, the sport attracts the eccentric and obsessive-compulsive. Who else would ride the 2,100 miles in 20 days for the Tour de France? Landis, who rode on a decaying hip, fits the profile perfectly. In addition to debating whether his off-the-chart testosterone levels say about the validity of his win, we might want to consider what the excess hormone could do to him physically and psychologically. Testosterone is powerful stuff, an upper when it's abundant, and a big downer when it disappears. Using it synthetically can cause the body to stop producing the natural kind. To help him cope with the devastating news of his failed drug test, Landis has hired prominent lawyers, who have aggressively started spin-doctoring on his behalf. He could probably use a plain old physician even more. Landis' win was seen as a movement toward a cleaner sport. Anti-doping reforms had already swept seven fishy contenders out of the Tour. A new blood-doping test had knocked Olympic champion Tyler Hamilton, an endearing personality, out of the game. Fans wanted someone they could believe in. That's why Saturday and the test results were so hard to take. But Dec. 6, 2003, was much worse. Jose Maria Jimenez, a 32-year-old former Spanish cyclist, died of a heart attack that day, just like more than a dozen Dutch and Belgian cyclists in the late '80s and early '90s. He was in a psychiatric hospital at the time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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#2
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Tour de France = Tour de Fraud = Deaths and Suicides
wilhelm wrote:
That all depends on how many Dutch and Belgian cyclists died young about 15 years ago because their hearts stopped in the middle of the night. Nobody knows the exact figure, since the media can't track all of the wannabes whose drug experimentation fatally thickened their blood before they became recognizable names. All those Dutch cyclists? Who then? Ever heard of Brugada's syndrome btw? Derk |
#3
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Tour de France = Tour de Fraud = Deaths and Suicides
Some antidotal evidence that cycling mirrors America
Three of the top club teams in this state are sponsored by law firms who field fast masters racers. A few of these riders are lawyers by profession. I heard one these masters racers the other day talking about "getting off the juice". All rumors aside about who is juicing and not, I find the lawyer/cyclist comparison interesting. My opinion is the following: Lawyers a highly competitive, image conscious, elitist, willing to break rules behind the scenes to win, will deny wrong doing to save their careers. Cyclists a (see lawyers!) -- rpm120 wilhelm wrote: There are much sadder cycling tales - Gwen Knapp Sunday, August 6, 2006 Saturday was a sad day for cycling. It might even rank in the top 25. That all depends on how many Dutch and Belgian cyclists died young about 15 years ago because their hearts stopped in the middle of the night. Nobody knows the exact figure, since the media can't track all of the wannabes whose drug experimentation fatally thickened their blood before they became recognizable names. Floyd Landis' name, barely recognizable a month ago, will now be known and tainted forever. Barring a legal performance that scales mountains bigger than any rider has ever conquered, he will become the first Tour de France champion stripped of his title. The great tragedy of Landis' positive drug test, which a second sample confirmed Saturday, is that it doesn't qualify as the greatest doping tragedy tied to a man who wore the yellow jersey. Marco Pantani, who won the race in 1998, died in a hotel in the Italian coastal town of Rimini in 2004. He had overdosed on cocaine in a room that contained a large stash of drugs and crazed notes that suggested suicide. Pantani, a wildly colorful figure who once wore a blond wig during a race, had been implicated in doping more than once after his 1998 Tour win. He was under investigation for much of the last four years of his life, and organizers booted him from the 1999 Giro d'Italia because of a failed blood test. The notes in his hotel room reportedly railed against the officials who had investigated him. It's not clear whether doping accusations or doping itself fueled the breakdown that led to Pantani's death. But performance-enhancing drugs, especially stimulants and hormones, can work like lighter fluid on an unstable or addictive personality. Pantani's death wasn't exactly an aberration among Tour riders. Since the event started in 1903, war stoppages and repeat winners have limited the list of champions to 54 names. Four have taken their own lives. Consider this disturbing passage from the book "Lance Armstrong's War'' by Daniel Coyle. Pantani's name would be listed alongside other Tour de France champions who had killed themselves. ... Poor Rene Pottier, who won in 1906 and hanged himself from his bike hook in his garage a year later. The handsome Luis Ocana, who won in 1973 and shot himself in 1994. Elegant Hugo Koblet, who won in 1951 and intentionally drove his car into a pear tree in 1961. Not to mention sad-eyed Thierry Claveyrolt, who won the king-of-the-mountains competition in 1990 (but not the Tour itself) and shot himself in 1999. There are all sorts of background stories here. A marriage gone bad. A financial crash. But why is it that many other people survive such things, and some of the toughest men on the planet can't recover emotionally? No doubt, the sport attracts the eccentric and obsessive-compulsive. Who else would ride the 2,100 miles in 20 days for the Tour de France? Landis, who rode on a decaying hip, fits the profile perfectly. In addition to debating whether his off-the-chart testosterone levels say about the validity of his win, we might want to consider what the excess hormone could do to him physically and psychologically. Testosterone is powerful stuff, an upper when it's abundant, and a big downer when it disappears. Using it synthetically can cause the body to stop producing the natural kind. To help him cope with the devastating news of his failed drug test, Landis has hired prominent lawyers, who have aggressively started spin-doctoring on his behalf. He could probably use a plain old physician even more. Landis' win was seen as a movement toward a cleaner sport. Anti-doping reforms had already swept seven fishy contenders out of the Tour. A new blood-doping test had knocked Olympic champion Tyler Hamilton, an endearing personality, out of the game. Fans wanted someone they could believe in. That's why Saturday and the test results were so hard to take. But Dec. 6, 2003, was much worse. Jose Maria Jimenez, a 32-year-old former Spanish cyclist, died of a heart attack that day, just like more than a dozen Dutch and Belgian cyclists in the late '80s and early '90s. He was in a psychiatric hospital at the time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
#4
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Tour de France = Tour de Fraud = Deaths and Suicides
rpm120 wrote:
Three of the top club teams in this state are sponsored by law firms who field fast masters racers. A few of these riders are lawyers by profession. I heard one these masters racers the other day talking about "getting off the juice". Do you have any inside info on what Lafferty is on ? |
#5
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Tour de France = Tour de Fraud = Deaths and Suicides
Donald Munro wrote:
rpm120 wrote: Three of the top club teams in this state are sponsored by law firms who field fast masters racers. A few of these riders are lawyers by profession. I heard one these masters racers the other day talking about "getting off the juice". Do you have any inside info on what Lafferty is on ? Double secret probation. Don't tell him. R |
#6
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Tour de France = Tour de Fraud = Deaths and Suicides
wilhelm wrote:
Not to mention sad-eyed Thierry Claveyrolt, Thierry Claveyrolat - the eagle of Vizille. Vizille is not a bad town but living there all year round could be enough to drive anyone over the edge! Also the home of Paul Kimmage during his racing career. Paul being the brother of sucessful Irish cyclist Raphael and a bit of a dabbler in the "Pot Belge" himself. FYI: Geoffrey Wheatcroft wrote a similar article to the above in the Trib in 2004: http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/02/21/edwheat_ed3_.php |
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