Kimmage himself hints at part of the reason that respect for doping policy diminished in the peleton from the late 90s onwards in his article on Vaughters, when he wasn't alllowed to treat a bee-sting.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/26/cycling-clean-up?newsfeed=trueThat came after Chris Boardman had retired after being diagnosed with low testosterone levels, which would have led to osteoporosis.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/diets/article-1227777/CHRIS-BOARDMAN-I-cycling-32-I-bones-old-woman.htmlBoardman bowed out by taking the Hour record, the new UCI 'Sporting Hour'.
It would be interesting to examine the exact role of the riders' representatives, men such as Jens Voigt. Pro-Cycling is a sport, which should be subject to doping regulations, but it is also a very demanding job, and cyclists deserve appropriate occupational health provision. Anquetil is interesting in this regard.
Anquetil took a forthright and controversial stand on the use of performance-enhancing drugs. He never hid that he took drugs and in a debate with a government minister on French television said only a fool would imagine it was possible to ride Bordeaux–Paris on just water.
He and other cyclists had to ride through "the cold, through heatwaves, in the rain and in the mountains", and they had the right to treat themselves as they wished, he said in a television interview, before adding:
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"Leave me in peace; everybody takes dope."[29]
”
There was implied acceptance of doping right to the top of the state: the president, Charles de Gaulle, said of Anquetil:
“
"Doping? What doping? Did he or did he not make them play the Marseillaise [the national anthem] abroad?"[30]
”
He won Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 1966. An official named Collard told him once he had got changed that there would be a drugs test. "Too late", Anquetil said. "If you can collect it from the soapy water there, go ahead. I'm a human being, not a fountain." Collard said he would return half an hour later; Anquetil said he would already have left for a dinner appointment 140 km away. Two days later the Belgian cycling federation disqualified Anquetil and fined him. Anquetil responded by calling urine tests "a threat to individual liberty" and engaged a lawyer. The case was never heard, the Belgians backed down and Anquetil became the winner.
Pierre Chany said:
"Jacques had the strength - for which he was always criticised - to say out loud what others would only whisper. So, when I asked him 'What have you taken?' he didn't drop his eyes before replying. He had the strength of conviction."[31]
Anquetil argued that professional riders were workers and had the same right to treat their pains as, say, a geography teacher. But the argument found less support as more riders were reported to have died or suffered health problems through drug-related incidents, including the death of the English rider, Tom Simpson, in the Tour de France of 1967.[8]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_AnquetilWe don't know what discussions have taken place between the riders representatives, ASO and the UCI. Between the workers, the employers and the regulators. Kimmage is at his weakest here, as men such as Voigt represent dopers as well as clean riders.
Velonews rightly sought Voigt's opinion at race in the USA.
And then, there was Jens.
“(The) story’s going on for quite some time now,” said Jens Voigt. “I just hope it actually, finally, comes to an end. You’re probably not going to solve every single detail of it. But I just hope it comes to an end and we can, not start fresh, but now we draw a line — that is the past and we just let it rest in peace now. We just close that now. … And start looking forward and try to make our sport good, clean, proper in the future.”
Voigt is known for his candor and honesty. He’s the oldest rider in the race (40) and has said he hopes to leave a positive influence on the sport’s younger riders.
“Well, I hope that I’m allowed to say that I could be an example. I was cycling in the hard times. And I’m still here. I’m still alive, still able to do my job … to show the kids, ‘Look, there is no shortcut.’ It’s a sport where you need a lot of dedication. Hard work,” he said.
“And if you stick by the rules, you’re going to have a long career. People like you for that. I mean, maybe I’m not a multibillionaire, but I hope that I won the crowd. And that’s something important. Focus on the better part of our sport. Entertaining people. Be straight. You know?”
The German hard man took a beautiful win in Colorado on Thursday, when he ripped free of his breakaway companions and took advantage of a resting peloton, soloing across the day’s two summits and through the Colorado valleys into Beaver Creek. And a win like that, he said, could never be taken from him, not even years down the line.
“I know that even if they freeze it for a hundred years and test it with new methods 100 years from now, I know it’s my win,” he said of his sample given to anti-doping. “Because nothing’s going to happen. There’s nothing in my urine sample. So I’m safe.
“I can sleep and I can go with my kids — go for a swim, go for a barbecue and that I think is really worth the effort. I’m trying to teach the kids — go straight in life and you will be rewarded for that.”
Joe Dombrowski (Bontrager-Livestrong) is one of those kids in the peloton. The 21-year-old, soon to announce a pro contract, said he was looking down the road and not back at Armstrong.
“All I’ve really heard is sort of what everyone has heard, from reading VeloNews, Cyclingnews in the morning. I don’t really have anything to say,” said Dombrowski, clad in the best young rider’s jersey. “It’s sort of before my time. For me, it’s sort of about the future at this point.”
The peloton soon embarked on stage 5, from Breckenridge to Colorado Springs, and into stormy skies.
I know why the UCI refused Boardman a medical exemption for testosterone, and they would have saved themselves some trouble by refusing Armstrong medical exemptions. But the Tour was on a downward spiral before Armstrong. Armstrong gave the Tour a shot in the arm, securing contracts for the rest of the peleton.
Hopefully the success of a 'clean' team has created a platform whereby the Armstrong years can be discredited without impacting on the health of pro-cycling. The proof will come in the form of the number of teams, and the money the riders get.
Will reputational damage to Armstrong rub off onto sponsors? The spinning will be an interesting show.
Meanwhile there is still amateur cycling to follow, although the CTT results page is dominated by Funeral Arrangements for Len Grayson.
http://www.cyclingtimetrials.org.uk/http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2012/08/20/yorkshire-cyclist-killed-in-road-tragedy-86081-31656443/
