TRUST ISSUES
If we can’t enjoy the spectacle of professional cycling, what is the point in any of it, asks John Whitney
Pro cycling’s EPO era of the nineties and noughties left much destruction in its wake, but it’s clear by now that the ultimate thing we’ve lost is trust. Too many people just don’t believe what they’re seeing anymore. It’s unclear right now if pro cycling will ever win trust back, but we need it, and fast. The sport remaining a going concern might be at stake.
Chris Froome’s Giro d’Italia win might well be the crescendo - or nadir - of the problem. Granted, some of the mistrust and displeasure in Froome’s result and performance stems from the fact he was competing at the Giro under the cloud of his adverse analytical finding for asthma drug salbutamol at last summer’s Vuelta a España. But let’s not kid ourselves - he has been hounded about his performances since he burst onto the scene at the 2011 Vuelta.
Like global politics in 2018, opinions of Froome have lurched to the extremes. It appears you’re either a sceptic who’s never believed his sudden 2011 breakthrough was above board or a Team Sky fan who will follow them to the ends of the Earth. Twitter, never a place for tolerating moderate, centrist opinion, is the breeding ground for much of this polarisation, but we’ve observed it in real life too.
Such is it that anyone who dominates a sport as difficult - and with as difficult a history - as cycling, as Froome has done over the past year in particular does need to be asked questions. In fact, that should be the bare minimum, to get them on record and to hold them to account if at any point in the future performances are called into question. Investigate deeper, if there are grounds.
Some of the post-Giro chat, both in the media and among fans, left plenty to be desired, filled with innuendo and suspicion without any real substance. To just say you’re struggling to believe what happened simply isn’t sufficient. From a journalistic perspective it needs to go deeper, if that’s the direction you’re heading.
Froome’s solo win at the Giro wasn’t something we see every day, but to use this as proof of it being dodgy, again, isn’t sufficient. Every single professional sport sees freakish performances - indeed, it’s the very reason we tune in, to watch something that hasn’t been done before by athletes at the top of their profession. So we can only hope we get to that point again in pro cycling, because there should be room to witness and enjoy such performances. Otherwise, why bother watching at all, if all it does is give rise to feelings of suspicion and rage? Enjoyment, fun, satisfaction should be allowed!
We say ‘again’, but does anyone really remember a time when this sport, with its unique ability to cannibalise itself, wasn’t dogged by this problem? Riders have always been on something or another since day one. Maybe it’s forever doomed to be like this. If so, we may as well at least try to enjoy it.
Every professional sport sees freakish performances-indeed, it’s the very reason we tune in