2
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The following graph shows average speeds of the race over the years. There’s obviously a lot of factors (other than drugs) that affect the average speed of the race, but it makes for interesting viewing, even if it doesn’t manage to prove or disprove Lemond’s argument.
I think your opinions and ideas surrounding LeMond are justified for you given your perspective.
That said, might I suggest that prhaps your perspective is somewhat limited. Here’s what I mean:
If you knew a more about LeMond’s history in greater detail it may change your opinions and perspective. You can’t be held accountable for your opinions without a complete view of the issue- so I see where your post is originating from.
I think LeMond is a very decent and honest man with a highly developed sense of right and wrong but a relatively undeveloped sense of politics and diplomacy. That can also be said of his former teammate and arch-rival Bernard Hinault.
Remember that one man’s whiner is another man’s activist. I believe LeMond views himself as being at the front of an effort to eradicate drug use from cycling. Whether or not that is actually the case has yet to be determined.
I’m just confused as to why he didn’t say anything about it when he was riding. If he had such high morales. its hard to do the right thing, when you could be punished for it.
getting rid of drugs seems pretty easy. make the punishment so great that you wouldn’t want to risk it.
If you get caught, no more racing–ever.
simple to me. He should just come out and say it.
If you knew a more about LeMond’s history in greater detail it may change your opinions and perspective.
I think most people thought highly of LeMond until he spoke out against Lance, and with the hero status Lance enjoys, it means Greg will always be attacked.
LeMond is also trying to do something very unpopular in the cycling world and that is clean it up. There is a lot at stake, money and reputations, and those in the cycling community will continue to attack LeMond, to protect their sport.
When people start making personal attacks on him (ie. his weight, jealousy etc.) it is my first clue that he is hitting a soft spot and probably close to the truth.
When people start making personal attacks on him (ie. his weight, jealousy etc.) it is my first clue that he is hitting a soft spot and probably close to the truth.
I agree with you the personal attackes are uncalled for. The hard part for me is that degree to which Lemond is guilty of this himself of slinging personal attacks against riders in cases where it is not clear that he has anymore information than the general public.
If he has evidence that Lance doped, he should come forward. He shouldn’t sling accusation and inuendo. As I mention above, I have always liked Lemond and I don’t think Lance is without fault. But you gotta have a little evidence before you go launching attacks.
But you gotta have a little evidence before you go launching attacks.
Yeah, I guess they are both guilty of the same thing.
Lemond made a blanket accusation against the ENTIRE PELETON when he couldn’t keep up any more…
Tom…
What I don’t understand about Lemond’s accusations is his implication that during his time, the peloton was clean, then all of sudden, EPO hits the scene and everybody is dirty. What about Pedro Delgado, who got off on a technicality? IIRC, there were several riders accused of doping during the 80s when Lemond was riding. It doesn’t take much research to find articles on doping during the 1980s:(http://www.cyclingnews.com/results/2000/jan00/jan6news.shtml)
If Lemond was beating those who admit now to doping, does that mean he was doping as well? Isn’t that the standard he is holding Lance up to?
I find his accusations these days sort of like I view Frankie Andreu’s…where were they when this was happening, and they could have made a real difference? Silent is what they were. It sounds hollow to me from someone who made a mint off of his cycling career and then his bicycle business, and is now making these accusations. I also note that at the time he was getting dropped in the mountains, he was saying it was due to issues brought on by being shot…was he lying then? Is he implying that Indurain was doping?
Maybe Lemond is really trying to make things better, but my guess is that he would have been much more influential if he had spoken up in 1993 vice 2006.
Spot
Oh for the love of Christ!
Go change your kid’s diaper or something, maybe graph the mass and viscosity of her poop, do a regression analysis and chi-square, maybe a tau-sigma-mu-epsilon test or something, and graph that against the average speed for Paris-Tours over the history of the race.
You appear to have the time…
Heh heh…