Bike Intelligencer » alejandro valverde

This Day in Doping: Why denial is so insidious

Paul Andrews, BI editor — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:51:56 +0000

While Alejandro Valverde fusses ‘n fumes over being suspended from Italian competition for two years, a kid tries to take his life after testing positive for EPO.

As long as the top pros refuse to take responsibility for their actions … as long as they continue to deny, obfuscate, deceive and dissemble … as long as they maintain pretense in the sport’s charade of ersatz crackdowns and bogus claims of clean competition …

As long as the sad and ugly and tawdry and corrupt mentality of beat-the-system prevails, as long as Big Money and Corrupt Sponsorship continue to suck talent, honesty and respectability out of cycling — well, folks, this story will go on forever.

This Day in Doping is baacck! Shimano, Valverde

Paul Andrews, BI editor — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:41:02 +0000

Shimano says 1 strike yer out! Anyone caught doping is automatically expelled.

That’s all well and good, but again, the problem here is with the UCI governing body. If its tests selectively, and if it looks the other way when it finds irregularities, cyclists have nothing to fear from Shimano.

The Shimano policy is a step forward, but it’s mostly symbolic.

Case in point: Alejandro Valverde, who won the Tour of Spain despite being banned by Italy for doping (Valverde is disputing the allegations). Technically, Valverde is entitled. But you also have to wonder how aggressively cycling governance is going to pursue one of the sport’s top stars — especially a Spaniard in his home country’s premier event. It’s a real dilemma, because huge volumes of money are at stake.

Free Missy! Save California! Solve the deficit!

Paul Andrews, BI editor — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:33:10 +0000

You hate to see this: Former world downhill champion Missy Giove arrested on pot charges. On the other hand, this is just one more high-profile reason to legalize pot, tax that sucker, and make big bucks for economic stimulus and state budgets, free law enforcement for more serious and pressing matters, end the moronic War on Drugs and start America making sense again…as well as head off senseless tragedies like that of mtb wizard Sam Brown.

No one familiar with the sport of mountain biking in general, and La Missile in particular, can be surprised at Giove’s arrest. But listen: This is a country that smokes dope. Prohibition does not work any better for marijuana than it did for alcohol. When my right-wingnut friends carp about weed I come back with, OK, let’s be consistent then and ban alcohol. People are dying in the streets from DUI.

Here in NorCal, where I’m biking and visiting, all the talk is of the state facing bankruptcy over a $24 billion budget deficit. Legalizing/taxing dope is one of two primary strategies being discussed to ameliorate the shortcoming (a higher gas tax being the other). Even Gov. Schwarzenegger seems receptive to the idea.

At the pinnacle of her sport, Missy was always edgy, funny, outrageous and pharmaceutically aware. Let her out on condition she help lobby for national marijuana legalization. Now there you’d have a loud ‘n proud spokesperson we could get behind!

And in other drug news: Alejandro Valverde is banned from the Tour de France, starting July 4.