12/3/12 10:59 PM

From Cyclingnews:

Change Cycling Now calls for LeMond to replace McQuaid

It would be great to see this shake out for the best.

12/5/12 1:37 AM

I doubt they will select an American now, we are the dirty ones remember.

12/5/12 6:28 AM

...that we need to break the Verbruggen-McQuaid stranglehold on the UCI, replacing one self-important jerk (McQuaid) with another (Lemond) doesn't seem like the best idea.

I do like CCN's goals and I truly hope they succeed, but I'm not wild about their chances.

12/5/12 6:44 PM

I don't know how you label LeMond as a "self-important jerk" at all.

Just because he appears to have used the only available forum (i.e. public media events) available to confront Lance, might that be because LA ignored his attempts at communication? I would bet on it.
LeMond went after LA when it was un-popular to do so, not the kind of confrontation that a self-absorbed attention-getter usually pursues imo.

If you ask me, LeMond's character is reflected in his consistent efforts to rid cycling of cheats and of corruption.

Maybe just get rid of UCI altogether?

12/6/12 6:01 AM

...would probably be the best thing that could happen to cycling. Perhaps we could replace it with an organization run by cyclists who actually have a clue about the sport, the industry, the cycling public and the fan base. The UCI has been a fiefdom for small-minded bureaucrats for far too long. It appears to be mainly a power trip for those at the top, who don't seem to give a damn about the sport. They're just in it for the ego massage and the money (legal and illegal).

With the UCI in it's present fragile state, perhaps the pro teams will renew their efforts to create their own organization and just make the UCI irrelevant.

12/6/12 6:06 PM

It will only go away if the races go outside of The UCI for sanctioning. I don't see that as happening soon unless they all jump ship.

12/7/12 12:57 AM

I have always believed LeMond's immaculate time trail win over Fignon was not heavenly sent.
Fignon admitted to doping the year that LeMond made up almost a minute on him on the final time trial as did a number of riders who were beaten by LeMond in the fastest time trail to date in the history of the TdF.
Or maybe it was Fig's flapping pony tail that did him in as some suggest!
Watch the replay of LeMond's winning ride after he crossed the line....he looked fresh enough to do it all over again.
Suspect his "secret" was more than a stick of deodorant.

12/9/12 6:15 PM

..."he doth protest too much." The drugs may have been different, but there's little doubt that doping was at least as rampant back then as it was in the 90's and 2000's. Lemond was probably as dirty as any of the top riders of his day. It wouldn't surprise me if his exit from the sport had more to do with the effects of doping than with the lead shot left in his body by his accident.

12/11/12 4:33 PM

quote:

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Lemond was probably as dirty as any of the top riders of his day

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12/11/12 4:54 PM

Doping in sports, by no means limited to bike racing, has had a long and dishonorable history and the story is not complete by any means.

I just wish the same scrutiny that has been applied to bike racers would be used on soccer, tennis, and other players of international sports.

I always wondered about LeMond. Was he mad that the drugs he had available weren't as effective as later ones?

12/11/12 5:19 PM

" Was he mad that the drugs he had available weren't as effective as later ones?"


Or maybe that he drew the line at EOP and transfusions and is pissed everyone else got away with it for the next decade+ ?

12/11/12 9:17 PM

I know for sake of argument you want to limit the "what about" investigation to international sports, but tonight while I was driving home ESPN was commenting on the Saints' Bountygate . Somehow they said asterisks would follow the players' records like Bonds and Clemens.

What I'm getting at is the double standard: those examples are getting *s in the permanent record and as of today, CyclingNews says Lance has 21 days to appeal his TDF record being wiped off the books. But you know, it's my sport and I'd rather see it clean physically and morally.

12/12/12 5:27 PM

It would have to be good for Lance, and for everybody (and the sport) if Lance were to come out with the truth.
Dig out from the hole instead of digging it deeper.
Maybe he still just needs time to put together a plan or timetable to deal with that possibility, but I think it was Floyd or one of his earlier teammates who was recently quoted as saying that Lance would NEVER do that.

12/13/12 6:11 AM

The difference is that Lemond was running around pointing fingers at people before there was any evidence against them, just based on their performance. To me that smacks of someone with first-hand knowledge of the advantages gained by doping. He rants and raves that everyone else should come clean, now it's his turn.

Come on Greg, admit it! ;-)

12/13/12 9:43 AM

Those injections he was taking were B12...just like he said in the interviews at the time? And Barry Bonds was using Flaxseed oil

12/13/12 3:16 PM

"The difference is that Lemond was running around pointing fingers at people before there was any evidence against them"

Can you give an example of this?
Are you saying that Dr Ferrari wasn't already known as a 1st class doping doctor?
And weren't we U.S. fans perhaps a bit too dismissive of the slew of circumstantial evidence of doping and corruption that were covered for years in the Euro sports press? I would be guilty of that, but LeMond got me thinking more realistically by presenting facts (and pressing questions that got Greg pilloried) about Lance and Dr Ferrari, just as Lance's teammates were coming foreward one by one.