And so it seems...

As I told you readers in an earlier post, Alejandro Valverde once a team-member of Caisse D’Epargne  and then was banned for 18 months from the sport due to doping related links to the Operation Puerto has returned.

And not to too much fanfare either.

While his new team MoviStar was to include him in the team presentation in Europe, at the last minute, his name was scratched from the list.

Why?

My theory is the possible backlash that could have faced Valverde.

Doping in cycling has had an interesting journey, there has been a general low tolerance to it but cheating in terms of doping in the early days of the Tour De France meant drinking champagne to get a boost, not blood boosters.

Again, in the 50’s and the 60’s it was a relatively innocuous affair that was occurring  ut did not garner the criticism that it does today.

But of course it was the 1998 Festina affair that sailed that ship.

Involving an entire team, it began with the Soigneur (Team Assistant) being caught with drugs in test tubes in the boot of his car. After this, a spate of arrests and police questioning  ensured during the Tour de France. Also the race had some of the bigger stars of the race threatening to continue if police did not treat those involved in the incident better.

It was a kerfuffle of a race, or, at least from what I have read in books because there were two reasons that I did not watch that year a) I was far too young and b) my cultural enjoyment was about as expansive as Playschool in a different language and that was by accident!

I think the criticism also has to be attributed to when, in 2006 Floyd Landis won the Tour after having a sensational day in the Alps (by sensational, he was described by commentators as “out of this world” and he most definitely was) then having a shocker of a day the next. Perhaps, ears should have pricked and while the tests were done, it was the media and especially the commentators who laid low on the matter, besides, after Festina the reputation of cycling was now the butt of a drug joke.  Landis,  brought up in a strict religious upbringing went onto win the race. Though it was mere days later that it was confirmed the winner of the tour had been found positive for doping after being tested after his “sensational” day in the Alps.

As a consequence, he was banned, and had the title stripped.

The year after the race did not have a defending champion, meaning there was no number 1 sticker on the back of a jersey, 2007 was an unusual circumstance for many, including our own Cadel Evans who went to claim his first podium (2^nd) finish, and the highest placing of ANY Australian rider in that race.

Fast forward a couple of years and arguably, this has been the cleanest and least questioned podium in years. With Evans on top and both of the Schleck’s is finally refreshing for the cycling fan to not have someone sniggering at the podium with the implied ‘drugs’ on the tip of their tongue.

But with this, and the past history mentioned, cycling and drugs are a mere shadow of the other, which means there will always be the criticism that you want. But getting back to Valverde’s  no show ordered by his team, with the increased criticism from the events that have transpired, to see a drug cheat waving around on the stage becomes an insult to cycling but also to fans who after seeing a clean 2011 Tour podium are beginning to wash away the perennial afterthought “he must be on drugs”.