Robert Winder

The great white hope looks to be going down in flames. Bob Stapletons appearance as our sports saviour looks short lived after Patrik Sinkewitz failed a drug test pre-Le Tour.

Sinkewitz has been suspended pending the B test results.

Dope - run into a spectator, lose your teeth, break your nose…

Not as easy as the sound bites, eh Bob?

Update: I was still half asleep when I first wrote this post, my pre-tea & coffee, two fingered typing leaves much to be desired.

We move on:

The fact is that Stapleton and his Model Pro Team has been held up by many as a way to defeat drug taking in cycling, but its clear that it’ll take a lot more than signing a couple of pieces of paper in this corrupt system to defeat it. I believe drug taking is endemic to our sport, pro or amateur, the rank doesn’t distinguish. Finding out who is responsible for it is only half the problem. Banning riders isn’t enough of a punishment to prevent other riders from taking drugs, nor is being kicked off a team.

I’ve got no answers, and I don’t even know all the questions to ask (do I sound like Donald Rumsfeld?), but I know that I want our sport to succeed. The question isn’t "who" is taking the drugs, but "why" do they take them… to answer that you need look no further than the system in which riders live.

Live and die by your results: what starts as a passion for most ends with a realisation of massive talent for a few, which then gets tainted by the need to show continuous improvement, and leads to the taking of drugs to match the others already in the system. Being talented isn’t enough, and I doubt whether it has been enough for a long time. Simpson, et al, were great riders, they are still "hero’s" today, but their drug induced wins and completions of amazing human feats mean that todays riders have to engage in the underground habit that kills off the natural talent. It is a vicious cirle.

One thing is clear, Stapleton, (reformed) Riis and the others are not enough, none of the current managers/owners are brave enough to act. They’re part of the system too, the pressure for results to sustain sponsorship means a blind eye is always available. Pound is another brick in the wall, he claims to want to rid our sport of drugs, but for what purpose: he’s a typical big fish in a small pond. He can take the predatory actions of crucifying some to show that he’s doing a good job, but he’s really a big mouth and a political player. He doesn’t share the passion, he’s just hired hand, you or me could do the same thing - the difference is our motivation would be to enhance the beauty of our sport - not drag it through the mire.

Our sport is beautiful in so many ways and yet ugly in so many others.  Let’s not get ahead of ourselves by predicting the future is safe with a Stapleton - he’s clearly not the answer.  We in our roles as mentors to the young are the ones who can help… if we start at the grass roots it will take longer, but the effect will be more gratifying and certainly be an outlet for our passion.