I'm at a loss for words about this one. Reading the "Reasoned Decision" released by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency is jaw-dropping stuff. It's over 200 pages not including all of the supplemental material and reads like a fictional conspiracy novel that had me on the edge of my seat. But this isn't fiction and it's about a sport that I've come to love. It's really shocking.
I've never been a big fan of Lance Armstrong and the fact that he still remains unrepentant makes me dislike him all the more. I know that he represents hope to a lot of people but to me, Lance is the worst kind of cheater. He won't own up even after he is caught. Talk about burying your head in the sand.
But enough about Lance. Cycling as a whole is in trouble. The implication in this report is that the UCI covered for him. If that's the case, the sport of cycling has lost all credibility. If the world governing body is setting it up so the person they want to win or lose does, that's a big deal. A bigger deal than just Lance. This has to be the beginning of the investigations. There are still more questions than answers. The amount of corruption at the highest level of the sport is astounding and surely this report only scratches the surface. They say that this was all in the past. That the sport is the cleanest it's ever been. But I have a hard time believing that. The same people are still in the UCI. The same people that once where the doping riders of that "ugly" time are now the team managers of this "cleaner" time. There is still the code of silence.
I'm impressed George Hincapie is coming clean but still, it's only after he retired this year. He kept the code of silence up until now. I'm more impressed with those who are coming clean with this report and are still trying to have a career riding. Not only are they going to have the stigma of being past dopers but even worse, they will have the stigma of being riders who broke the code. They have now put their careers on the line and that's still just the way it is in cycling.
It's a pivotal point for the sport. I'll be interested to see what happens next. My guess this that not much will really happen. There might some new rules put in place or a committee set up, but I doubt that the people in power will step aside. That would be real change. From the top all the way down, from the President of the UCI to the managers, to the trainers and doctors, to the team owners and managers. People have to step aside, get out, or be forced out for the culture of doping to stop in cycling.
