There are also heroes and they need you to believe
Now it feels like the Tour de France, a big rider has been caught doping. Funnily enough, we were talking this morning about how the positives that had been revealed to date (Beltran and Duenas) had been handled objectively by the press and hadn’t been over dramatized. We also noted to each other that wouldn’t be the case if a big rider went down. So it was somewhat odd timing that following this conversation, Marya (our lovely PR lady) came to the bus before the start of today’s stage and gave us a heads up that there was a rumour Ricco had gone positive. Obviously Saunier Duval were parked right next to us, as Liquigas had been the morning the Beltran news was released. So we didn’t have to wait long to see the police arriving at their bus to kill the rumour with fact.
How did we feel about this? It’s hard to go over individual feelings but the general buzz in the bus was one of good news shrouded in contempt. It was a little surreal and disheartening watching the police and dozens of media surrounding the Saunier Duval bus. But at the same time it was gratifying to see him get caught and taken away by the police. Well, I had a feeling the snake’s move on the Aspin was too good to be true. And unfortunately of late, when I have that feeling, doping is involved.
Now he’ll disappear from the world of cycling and hopefully from the dreams of any young cycling fans. Only it’s not that simple is it? Marco Pantani was Ricco’s idol. He wanted to be like him and climb like him, much of his riding style was based on him. When he would attack on the climbs, he would attack in the drops because that is what Pantani did. He wanted to win on L’Alpe d’Huez because that’s where Pantani won. He wanted to win the Giro by attacking the most, because that’s what Pantani did. He had forgotten that Pantani doped and cheated. In fact most of Italy has forgotten that I think, which is sad because his memory can serve a much more powerful purpose than that of a winning cyclist.
Maybe this will remind people that there is still a lot of work to be done in our sport. The start of this Tour seemed too good to be true, and now we know the truth. It wasn’t all true. There are still dopers out there.
But there are also heroes. Christian Vande Velde is one, Mark Cavendish is another. And there are many others, some whose names you will know and others whose names you will never hear or see but who will be on their own heroic journey through the hardest race in the world. These men, and boys, are the biggest victims of the dopers because their names are sullied simply because they are sharing the same profession and taking part in the same event. That is not fair.
And something else that is not fair: I’ve just returned to my room after doing an interview that was broadcast live across Belgium. I sat at a table next to Mark Cavendish who has just won his third Tour de France stage and fifth Grand Tour stage of the year. He is 23 years old. He is a phenomenon who is destined to reign for the next decade. This is the dawn of his career and he has never doped and never seen doping. How do I know this? Because I know Mark and I believe in him and I know where he has come from and where he is now. I trust him and I trust his team. And yet this young man who is doing everything right and is as far from the world of doping as is imaginable has to deal with all the shit kicked up by guys like Ricco. I don’t think that is fair.
And as for Christian, well in the bus this morning when we saw and heard everything going on about Ricco, he was the one person with the least to say about it. He was angry. Christian has had a long career and seen many things. He’s been one of the most relied upon team riders in the world and counted upon by some of the biggest names in cycling of this last generation. When he started his road career he was a great hope of American cycling. Injuries slowed down his progress and people forgot about Christian. He found his niche and worked harder than anybody to make sure he did what was expected of him in every race. He figured that was where his career was. Jonathan saw more, and I have seen more than anybody this last week. He is a leader and his natural habitat is at the front amongst the best in the world, racing them, not helping them. Christian is clean. I was pissed off when Christian wasn’t on the cover of an American cycling publication after wearing the maglia rosa. I thought it was disrespectful. They didn’t believe in him. Christian deserves everybody’s trust and support and belief. He has spent many years being doubted and forgotten. And who gets feted, Riccos, that’s who. So I can understand why Christian was angry. I didn’t say anything to him. I couldn’t say anything to him.
If you’re close to giving up on cycling, I can understand that. I almost did after all; but please don’t give up on us. And when I say us, I mean them. Because I am an ex-doper, I have to earn my right to be believed and trusted. But there are many who don’t. They need to be believed in. Christian is going to need every ounce of his being to pass the Alps. I believe he will do it. I hope you believe he can and will and that he is doing it with our dreams in his hands. Vive Le Tour.
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on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 5:17 pm and is filed under Garmin Web Site, Rider Diaries and tagged with Christian Vande Velde, David Millar, doping, Tour de France.
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Well, supposedly, Saunier Duval is also leaving the sport.
Phonak, check
Barloworld, check
Saunier Duval, check
Gerolsteiner and CSC are leaving (who knows why), Disco left, and Astana was excluded wholesale from the Tour.
Do the dopers *get* *it* yet?
I’m very happy that Garmin, Chipotle, and Columbia stepped up. No doubt the team programs had a lot to do with that.
David,
Your tour diaries are fantastic and you have a talent with words. I’ve always been a fan and I’m glad you have used your bad experiences with doping to do some good and try to turn the sport around. All sports, not just cycling, need voices like yours. I’ve gotten so jaded by other pro sports that I can’t even watch anymore. Teams like Garmin-Chipotle are the saving grace of cycling and I’ve enjoyed this year’s Tour and Giro more than I have any other sporting events in a very long time. Christian has been amazing and it is sad that he’s so under-rated, but then most American publications can only focus on doping and scandal in cycling. Keep up the great work.
David,
Glad to see the American Teams leading the way in the fight against doping by just going out and being clean. Didn’t know alot about you David before you were announced on the team and wasn’t sure how I felt. After the way your team members talk about you in thier posts and interviews,reading your post and seeing you talk about your past I think you’re one of the best things that has happened to cycling with your honest and the example you set each and everyday. I’m just going to cheer for the teams that are trying to make the sport better with the self testing. The media points to the riders that test positvie, not to all the one that don’t(the majority). What they seem to miss is that in every other sport the league is the one testing, you don’t see a team self testing or someone fired for a positvie test, that make cycling the leader in righting the wrong and other sports should follow the example cycling is setting.
Cycling teams should see that the sponsors want clean teams, Garmin, Cloumbia and Saxo Bank all signed with the teams that have started extensive testing.
Kudos tothe whole team, Christain what an awesome ride keep it up. Special shout to Danny and Will no 1st time jitters there two inspiring rides.
I went to my 1st race to watch Discovery in the Tour of Missouri but came away a fan of the Argyle. Will, Danny, Michael and Steven will alway be favorites. Next year more Argyle on the kits, please!
Will be back for another TOM this fall best of luck in all endeavers till then. Way to go Garmin/Chipotle keep up the pressure and show the world what the sport should be.
Love reading all the teams posts please keep writing.
Theresa
With the likes of the Riccos of the sport, it really brings to focus the importance of Team Garmin-Chipotle and Team Columbia at the Tour. You guys have been up in the overall classification, wearing leaders jerseys, getting in the breakaways, and winning stages…..and you have done it clean. I think that speaks to the talent, courage, determination, and integrity of the riders of those 2 teams.
Looking forward to watching the rest of the Tour….and we will of course continue to cheer for the Garmin-Chipotle riders all the way to Paris!
David -
Your support of your teammate is admirable and respectable, including your decision to race through your past transgressions (which need not to be mentioned any further by you – you paid your price).
I agree – Christian has a right to be angry and he can channel that anger and determination into something special. He has a shot to win this thing and Garmin-Chipotle is a team to be reckoned with now and in the future.
However, without your support and leadership, he wouldn’t have the chance he has now. It’s good that you are there to guide him and the team forward.
David,
Thank for stating what has been on my mind since the first time I heard Ricco tell of his hero.
I have always loved Christian, was sad when he left Postal – and as they say when a door closes a window opens . . . He is showing what I think his fans (and family) knew all along. Christian you are a winner.
David you are turning into a person I can respect, which hasn’t always been. People can and do change and I’m glad to see for the better.
Go Argyle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wow, great words mr. millar!! i love following the team and its story.
I just wanted to take a moment and say thank you so much for this. I’m new to following the sport — I turned on the Tour this year to watch stage eight on a whim, knowing next to nothing about the world of cycling — but then I was hooked. I’ve been doing my best to learn what I can from watching and reading and pestering my boyfriend the cyclist, and in that process I can’t help but come across all of the scandalous bits about doping, and they’re disheartening. I was stunned when Beltran and Duenas and then Ricco were caught. Who wants to cheer for riders when it feels like most of the main contenders are cheaters? But since then I’ve come to learn more about Christian Vande Velde and Mark Cavendish and everyone else on the Garmin-Chipotle and Columbia teams, and to a lesser extent members of CSC and Silence-Lotto, and it just feels like you all have such heart, and that’s refreshing, and it’s restoring my hope and excitement and my new love for the world of cycling.
My best to you and to the rest of the team!
Wow, thank you Dave! We do believe!!!
Hi David:
Well, I just read every comment so far……
I trust you feel the love….
Many of us still believe and will be cheering for you and you team today and tomorrow in Paris…. and at the races yet to come…..
Good on you, mate!
Please keep posting. You have a very special gift!
~Qwacker
David,
The more that I read your diary enteries, the more that I respect you, where you have been and what you are doing right now for the sport.
The last paragraph in your entery struck home with me. You are using your experience as an ex-doper to make sure that the sport gets cleaned up and that it returns to the glory it once was. You don’t see that in too many sports. I don’t see one athlete in another major sport that has admited that he took performance enhancing drugs and now is trying to help clean up the sport.
There is no other sport that does more testing on its athletes than cycling does. What would you think would happen to baseball or football (American or Euro) if they adapted the same testing and penalties that cycling has? Half of the teams probably couldn’t survive….
I am so glad that riders like Christian V, Mark Cavendish, Levi Leipheimer and their teams are so dedicated to the cleaning up of their sport, it gives me hope for the future.
Thanks David, for continuing the fight and being an honest, stand-up guy.
OK, we need a name to call the guys who knowingly dope, deny and flaunt, and those who require the doping. OR we need to tie flaunter’s names to something they’d cringe from.
In the vein of “santorum” in honor of (now former) Sen. Rick Santorum (google it!!!–but not for children), I nominate “ricco” to mean that special combination of jackass, bastard, snake, liar, cheat, amoral idiot that you would never want your sister to date or your boss to hire. (And calling them a snake, etc. is insulting to snakes, jackasses, bastards, etc. Unfortunately, it sounds like the Spanish ‘rico.’)
Those in the know will likely have a better honoree, and better definition.
The word ’santorum’ is spreading (sorry, definition is not for PG audiences), and helped bring an end to Rick Santorum’s political career. May something similar here work similar magic!
The nominations are open! Have fun!
David,
It might surprise you to hear that you and Paul Kimmage have so much in common. Both pro-cyclists (although obviously he’s retired), both reformed dopers, both passionate about the sport and both damn good at translating all that into the written word.
All in the name of fighting the good fight!