Evidently, French riders do not take performance enhancing drugs because they’re, well, French:
French professional Jean-Cyril Robin (FDJeux.com) has taken a shot at the international cycling community, declaring that a great difference exists between French and foreign professionals in that the majority of French cyclists do not resort to doping in competition.
Whereas the majority of others, like Americans, Australians, Eastern European riders, and maybe even the Italians do? Exactly how does Robin explain this?
In an interview with France Soir, Robin explained his belief that a suspicion is aroused within the French peloton when riders from other countries put in "an incredible number" in a race.
And who’s fault is this? Is it the individual riders who decide to cheat? Non!
Robin, like others before him, places part of the blame on race organisers and team managers for mounting the pressure on riders for results.
My employer expects me to perform at a high level at all times. Do I resort to unethical tactics to do so? No. It is ultimately up to the individual to decide what is more important: his “performance,” or his health, ethics and self-respect. It is reasonable for a team’s management and sponsors to expect performance for the money that they pay an athlete. This is true in any preofession, not just sports.
Jean-Cyril Robin: "We talk amongst ourselves and are suspicious anytime we see a non-French rider turn in an incredible performance."
It seems to me that what Robin has an issue with is that French cyclists, for some reason, cannot compete with their international counterparts in what is seen as a “French” sport. This of course ignores the fact of athletes like Florian Rousseau (a dominant track sprinter / kilo rider). Is Florian doping, Jean-Cyril? Because for a long time he sure was pounding the heck out of a lot of other track riders. Is Francois Pervis? He just had a rather nice kilo in the Moscow World Cup. What’s he on? By the way: 1998 tour – Festina. Weren’t they mainly a French team? Let’s see:
Festina Tour Roster, 1998 Richard Virenque (Fr) Laurent Brochard (Fr) Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Pascal Herve (Fr) Armin Meier (Swi) Christophe Moreau (Fr) Didier Rous (Fr) Neil Stephens (Aus) Alex Zuelle (Swi)
Seems like a lot of French riders to me. Let’s also not forget that the team currently in the doping news is Cofidis. I don’t think that they are Argentinian.
French riding has been weak because, other than (maybe) Laurent Jalabert, French cyclists haven’t worked as hard, trained as hard, or been as genetically predisposed towards greatness, at least until lately. Sylvain Chavanel, on the other hand, looks pretty promising. I hope that it’s because he’s a good cyclist, and not because of drugs. I do not suffer from the nationalistic blinders that Robin seems to.
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