In January of this year (2013) I submitted an entry entitled, “Lance and France.” I got quite a lot of commentary, enlightening and enjoyable. As a follow up I would like to report that last month, September 2013, Chris Horner, a 41-year old American won the Tour d’Espagne, an unexpected feat for a veteran cyclist. In fact, Horner was the oldest winner of any major tour in history.*
This should have made headline news in our press. But, alas it did not, as our press after having taken the wrong side in L'Affaire Armstrong would not talk about any other cyclist. If our journalists had done their homework they would have discovered that Horner had won fair and square. For twenty years Horner had been reduced to the rank of domestique because he had never been earmarked initially as a potential champion. Therefore, he had not been offered drugs like his leader, Lance Armstrong.
This should have made headline news in our press. But, alas it did not, as our press after having taken the wrong side in L'Affaire Armstrong would not talk about any other cyclist. If our journalists had done their homework they would have discovered that Horner had won fair and square. For twenty years Horner had been reduced to the rank of domestique because he had never been earmarked initially as a potential champion. Therefore, he had not been offered drugs like his leader, Lance Armstrong.
The magic portals opened for Horner when the cycling authorities succeeded in eliminating doping. Without asking anyone's permission, Horner decided to peddle his own race in the Tour d'Espagne 2013, a particularly difficult grand tour because of the many mountains that the cyclists had to climb. Lo and behold! Horner showed that he was the best. His win is all the more outstanding because he made it on bad knees. Following the advice of his son he decided to put off surgery and compete. With only steroid injections into the knees -- which are allowed -- he won against much younger, fitter cyclists. One of these was Vincenzo Nibali, 28, who won the Tour d’Italie in 2012 and 2013.
Just as we believe that the election of Obama made "race" a non-issue, we hope that Chris Horner's win will be the marker of a new era in cycling in which "doping" is also a non-issue. In light of Horner's victory we think the press should take a fresh look at a sport which is breathtaking on TV and exciting to the max.
*There are 3 big competitive races: Italy in May, France in July, Spain in September. Americans who are less interested in competitive cycling than Europeans, mostly only pay attention to the Tour de France. Maybe that should change. Ol’ JJ had a hard time finding any reporting on the daily progress of the Spanish race, but finally found Vuelta A España 2013.
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