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Does anyone care about the Tour de France?
With the flurry of doping scandals that have rocked the cycling world in the last few years, sometimes it’s hard to be a cycling fan.
I’m trying, but it’s discouraging.
Most discouraging of all was Floyd Landis, whose 2006 Tour de France victory was stripped after tests showed he had elevated levels of testosterone in his blood. I wanted to believe him, to think that he could pull off that gritty come-from-behind stage victory without altering his blood.
Now I’m just mad at the cyclists who cheat, and who make us wonder about every other cyclist out there.
This year’s Tour de France is July 5-27.
HBO will air what looks like an interesting program at 9 p.m. Tuesday. It features British cyclist David Millar, who spent time in a French jail in 2004 after police found used syringes of the performance-enhancing hormone EPO in his home.
Millar eventually admitted to doping and served a two-year suspension from cycling. Now he’s riding for Slipstream Racing, a new team that boasts one of the toughest anti-doping programs in the sport.
The show airs at 9 p.m. Tuesday on HBO and will be available through HBO On Demand from June 30 to July 21.
Austin’s a cycling town. Anyone who’s ever spent a Thursday night out at The Driveway in East Austin watching the bikes whiz by, or wandered the Second Street District during the AT&T Austin Downtown Crits, knows that.
It’s a thrilling to watch up close, to think about the time the athletes spend training, to see their faces as they whirl across a course.
Cycling deserves a clean rap sheet. I hope it gets one soon.
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