Jean Paul Vespini on the Tour

NervexProf
NervexProf Posts: 4,202
edited August 2008 in Pro race
Interesting insights here: http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=6182

Did it all go wrong in 1998...?
Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom

Comments

  • knedlicky
    knedlicky Posts: 3,097
    NervexProf wrote:
    Did it all go wrong in 1998...?
    Depends how you judge it.
    For those who are nostalgic about the performances of many of those between Coppi and Thevenet, it all went wrong then because ‘all was revealed’. It also went wrong for the sport, because the 1998 events made some of those who were determined to win, move up levels in what they decided to use, i.e. into what couldn’t be (then) detected. Thus now Cera.

    I find Vespini fair in his judgement of Virenque – saying Virenque’s initial denial was understandable given he didn’t want to become a scapegoat when most all the other riders were likewise doping. By 2002 I think Virenque was ‘once bitten, twice shy’ and when he won the Polkadot jerseys in 2003 and 2004, he proved his 'clean' value (some of the hostility to Virenque on this forum I therefore find unwarranted).

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