It has been some time since I have posted, for which I must apologise. I have been very busy over the Christmas break, then was overseas in the United States on holidays, which made posting very difficult.
Much has come and gone in the world but I'd like to take a step away from cycling for a moment and consider the world as a whole. Rarely has so much happened at the beginning of one year. Predictably, the weather has been of greatest concern. Floods covering more than half of Queensland, followed by more in New South Wales and Victoria have caused billions of dollars in damage. Now Cyclone Yasi has gone tearing through northern Queensland, particularly Innisfail, which was also largely destroyed just 5 years ago due to Cyclone Larry.
I wouldn't trade anything for being in Queensland right about now but I think it would be quite interesting and exciting to be in the middle of a cyclone, just for the experience. Its an amazing country that we live in. For the last 15 years, the east coast of Australia has suffered from debilitating droughts. Yet, in just a year, it can turn into a veritable lake. I have family who live in Brisbane, who were affected by the floods. The entire of Brisbane was shut down for days before the clean-up began.
In other areas, Australia inevitably were trounced in the Ashes losing by an innings three times. We are extracting our revenge, thankfully, in the meaningless one day series. Cricket is a sport in this country that is suffering from Twenty20-itis, which is blighting a great game, victim of the relentless pursuit of TV ratings and ticket sales. Hopefully, the ICC and Cricket Australia will see the tremendous crowds that attended the Ashes this year, despite a desperately hopeless Aussie team, and consider that we still like to watch Test cricket, not crappy Twenty20.
Back to cycling and justice has been served. Alberto Contador has been banned, provisionally for one year. However, as my fellow blogger, Cycling Tips, alluded to, it seems like the UCI has lacked the balls to make a proper call. One year really isn’t long enough to deter people like Contador from repeat offending. I share CT’s view on this: either ban him for 2 or don’t ban him at all. Both have their complications. Banning him for 2 years would have a severe negative impact on cycling. One of the greatest mountain climbers ever and a drawcard of the sport will be sitting out for a long time. However, not banning him raises the issue of an athlete’s control on what goes into their body.
Current regulations and rules state that the athlete is responsible for any substances that enter their system. Hence, Contador’s argument about contaminated meat is irrelevant. Yet Contador and his team have been able to spin enough doubt and stall long enough the the UCI couldn’t summon up the cajones to kick him out. So they went the half way route which is the worst action of all.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing because it lets you criticise everything after the fact but surely the UCI has taken the wrong approach to this. A case against a three-times Tour de France and five-times Grand Tour winner needs to be handled properly, not swept under the carpet and forgotten for so many months. Contador’s positive test came just after the Tour de France concluded and it took until mid-January for a verdict to be handed down. Surely, once the B-sample comes back positive, an automatic two year ban should be handed down for a first offender with an appeals hearing to be held promptly afterwards.
In any case, at least we will be less another doper for a year. I’ll be looking forward to travelling to the Tour de France in July, knowing that Contador won’t be winning it.
I will be blogging a bit more from now on, thanks to me being back near a computer, so stay tuned. Once again, my thoughts, along with everyone else’s in Australia I’m sure, are with the victimes of Cyclone Yasi. We all hope you get back on your feet (and your bike) soon.
DB
Much has come and gone in the world but I'd like to take a step away from cycling for a moment and consider the world as a whole. Rarely has so much happened at the beginning of one year. Predictably, the weather has been of greatest concern. Floods covering more than half of Queensland, followed by more in New South Wales and Victoria have caused billions of dollars in damage. Now Cyclone Yasi has gone tearing through northern Queensland, particularly Innisfail, which was also largely destroyed just 5 years ago due to Cyclone Larry.
I wouldn't trade anything for being in Queensland right about now but I think it would be quite interesting and exciting to be in the middle of a cyclone, just for the experience. Its an amazing country that we live in. For the last 15 years, the east coast of Australia has suffered from debilitating droughts. Yet, in just a year, it can turn into a veritable lake. I have family who live in Brisbane, who were affected by the floods. The entire of Brisbane was shut down for days before the clean-up began.
In other areas, Australia inevitably were trounced in the Ashes losing by an innings three times. We are extracting our revenge, thankfully, in the meaningless one day series. Cricket is a sport in this country that is suffering from Twenty20-itis, which is blighting a great game, victim of the relentless pursuit of TV ratings and ticket sales. Hopefully, the ICC and Cricket Australia will see the tremendous crowds that attended the Ashes this year, despite a desperately hopeless Aussie team, and consider that we still like to watch Test cricket, not crappy Twenty20.
Back to cycling and justice has been served. Alberto Contador has been banned, provisionally for one year. However, as my fellow blogger, Cycling Tips, alluded to, it seems like the UCI has lacked the balls to make a proper call. One year really isn’t long enough to deter people like Contador from repeat offending. I share CT’s view on this: either ban him for 2 or don’t ban him at all. Both have their complications. Banning him for 2 years would have a severe negative impact on cycling. One of the greatest mountain climbers ever and a drawcard of the sport will be sitting out for a long time. However, not banning him raises the issue of an athlete’s control on what goes into their body.
Current regulations and rules state that the athlete is responsible for any substances that enter their system. Hence, Contador’s argument about contaminated meat is irrelevant. Yet Contador and his team have been able to spin enough doubt and stall long enough the the UCI couldn’t summon up the cajones to kick him out. So they went the half way route which is the worst action of all.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing because it lets you criticise everything after the fact but surely the UCI has taken the wrong approach to this. A case against a three-times Tour de France and five-times Grand Tour winner needs to be handled properly, not swept under the carpet and forgotten for so many months. Contador’s positive test came just after the Tour de France concluded and it took until mid-January for a verdict to be handed down. Surely, once the B-sample comes back positive, an automatic two year ban should be handed down for a first offender with an appeals hearing to be held promptly afterwards.
In any case, at least we will be less another doper for a year. I’ll be looking forward to travelling to the Tour de France in July, knowing that Contador won’t be winning it.
I will be blogging a bit more from now on, thanks to me being back near a computer, so stay tuned. Once again, my thoughts, along with everyone else’s in Australia I’m sure, are with the victimes of Cyclone Yasi. We all hope you get back on your feet (and your bike) soon.
DB
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