jbank wrote:
Seems like there are lots of possibilities perspectives/explanations for a former doper like this. Two of the more extreme ends might be:
1.) Guy is a psychopath/asshole willing to cheat in any and every way. He got caught doping as a pro cyclist and has moved on to easier pickings in triathlon where he is still cheating but hasn't been caught yet.
2.) Guy was a naive young man put in a tough situation with a sport/team that was dirty and made some poor decisions that he regrets. After being caught he decided to move on to a sport with fewer temptations to cheat and is trying to re-create himself there as a clean athlete.
I'm amazed that so many people seem to immediately assume something close to scenario #1. I don't know this particular guy at all and maybe that scenario is closest to the truth, but I'm inclined to think the story is more nuanced than that the guy is essentially just "evil".
There was a really interesting discussion on Universal during the Vuelta coverage yesterday. The commentator said that Frank Schleck had been "struggling since his return to competition and was not able to reach his former abilities".
I thought "Really? Frank was doped to the gills in his glory days and now maybe he is racing cleaner." Maybe Frank wants to see what he can do "less doped" (maybe even clean...who knows).
I actually found it fun watching a human Frank Schleck winning that insane stage at the Vuelta.
I don't know, maybe these guys are less evil than we assume. Maybe they get caught up as young men chasing their chilldhoodd protour dreams. It would be no different than a high school football superstar getting recruited for Div 1 football and being subtly told by coaches and trainers that the only way he is making the starting line up is get on the program, improve his squat 20 percent, improve his bench press, beef up 40 lbs and shave O.5 seconds off his 40 yard dash. Serious question...how many college kids are not going to get on the plan. Next step NFL or next step bench warmer in Arena football.
If I look at what it would take Antonio Colom to win the Mortirolo in the Giro 2008 vs. Have the top bike split at the Mallorca 70.3 or the 70.3 World's the delta would be in line with being relatively clean now.
But coming back to Rapp's point, if WTC, or Challeng or the organizers of Gerardmer won't close their races to these guys, then shaming them would only go so far (and they may truly regret their past). Better maybe to put pressure on race organizers not the former dopers directly.
On Jonnyo's point about the effects lasting a long time, in Tyler's book he was talking about the strength not being in the legs, but in the blood. When the blood values return to normal natural ranges, it seems that the performances of these guys becomes human again. A few examples I can think of include David Miller, Frank Schleck, Nina Kraft and even a "more human" Contador because, I suppose you could say the "human version" of these athletes is a higher level than what they would have been.