15 Years

Regardless of what you choose to believe, what fight you are fighting right now with your cycling buddies and bike mechanics, these are the sad remnants of 15 years of rampant cheating, as demonstrated in the podium results of the Tour de France. I chose the word cheating, because somehow “doping” has become open to interpretation. Cheating is not. And regardless of why, when, or how rampant it was, the fact is that there is no honour in cheating. There is even less honour in lying about it.

I have read so many articles about Lancegate I am starting to go blind. There is no mistake that opinions about this topic run as hot as Cippolini in a zebra skinsuit. Do I have an opinion? Yes I do. Does it matter? Not at all. So please, if you have comments (and I hope you do), do not make them about Lance. This post is not about Lance Armstrong, the USDA, UCI, WADA or YM fucking CA. It is about something bigger. It is about fighting the good fight for our beautiful, wonderful sport.

2012 marks the first year in a very long time that the podium has no x’s. At least not so far. Perhaps this is the start of a new era – an era where there is all the excitement and drama we have come to expect from the Grandest of the Grand Tours, but all of the honour as well.

Infographic by Tétro Design