RecapToday's stage was 122 miles from Marseille to La Grand-Motte. Mark Cavendish phones it in at the end (sorry couldn't resist) with another handy sprint finish. Fabian Cancellara retains the maillot jaune while Lance Armstrong moves up to third in the individuals standings! Where is Contador? This should make for some interesting dynamics for Team Astana on Tuesday.
Selected standings:
1. Fabian Cancellara
2. Tony Martin
3. Lance Armstrong
4. Alberto Contador
8. Cadel Evans
10. Levi Leipheimer
Bienvenue a la Grande-Motte!Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Cheating looms large in major sports of late, especially in professional cycling. How about before, in the early days of the Tour, before modern doping (there were plenty of drugs used back then too, and those were legal, but that's for another post)?
Maurice Garin was the winner of the first Tour de France in 1903. He won again in 1904 but was later stripped of his title for cheating. He wasn't injecting himself with anything, but was accused of hanging onto or riding in cars and even taking trains to get ahead of other riders! He was in fact one among a number of cyclists who were accused of this. (1)
Maurice Garin
Modern day riders certainly couldn't get away with this what with live broadcasts (but wouldn't it be fun to see?). The modern day cheater is a doper. This can mean many things, but when I first started to learn about the subject, I was astonished to discover this was often in reference to blood doping. Blood doping boosts the number of red blood cells in the bloodstream in order to enhance athletic performance. Red blood cells are the vehicle for oxygen that the lungs and muscles need, so you can see how a marked increase in red blood cells would improve an athlete's aerobic capacity and endurance. Earlier dopers would get a transfusion of their own stored blood (or someone else's blood- eww) just before an event.
More recently, boosting red blood cells is achieved with the hormone erythropoietin (EPO). EPO stimulates the production of red blood cells, is easy to inject, and can boost the blood cell count for weeks.
While I don't support cheating, I would take the old-school cheaters over these modern guys any day, seeing them hopping in and out of cars that probably drove slower than modern cyclists can ride, like some farcical silent movie.
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