Recently, it came to light that Laurent Fignon, the professorial French rider who served as Greg Lemond’s foil in the late 80s and early 90s, doped during his racing career. He admitted as much when he also admitted that he had cancer, and that perhaps there was a link between the dope and his disease. This has lead some to wonder, hmmm, how many times did Greg Lemond beat Fignon? How do you beat a doper? Additionally, others have written that if the Alps destroyed mean like Bernard Hinault, how could the current Tour contenders drive over them?

Now, before I go any further, let me say that I think much of PRO cycling is dirty. That much is true, and we’ll see the usual story lines play out during the Grand Tours this year. I also think, however, that the rampant doping has made everyone cynical about the sport, and the possibility of a rider being genuinely strong without the aid of pharmaceuticals. To make my point, I want to pull a page or two from climbing history.

In the late mid to late 80s, the bar for purely difficult climbing at the crags was rising rapidly. Britons like Ben Moon and Jerry Moffat established severe routes both in England and in France (the epicenter of rock climbing then). Both also lived in caves, hitch-hiked to the crag, and ate bread with ketchup for dinner. They pushed limits by approaching hard climbing in a whole new way, both through specific training (the School Room is their lasting legacy) and a willingness to push the limits. To think that they could even afford dope is ridiculous (read that line about bread and ketchup again). Around the same time, a German climber, Wolfgang Gullich, set about rethinking training, and through the creation of the campus board (among other things), he ushered in the Ninth grade with his route Action Directe. Much like Moffat and Moon, Gullich lived simply, though he allowed himself such niceties as a house.

In the mid 90s, Gullich was invited to be Sylvester Stallone’s stunt double for the fantastically horrible film Cliffhanger. In his biography, Gullich admitted there was pressure to use steroids to bulk up and gain strength (remember it was Stallone’s flick). He and Ron Kauk both turned aside the offers, and still managed to impress the bodybuilders who worked with Stallone (Gullich could do a pull-up off one pinkie finger. No, really).

What’s my point? Well, don’t dismiss success so quickly as the product of doping. Again, nothing surprises me about cycling, and if I read tomorrow that Carlos Sastre and Denis Menchov both doped last year, I’d shrug my shoulders and move on. But don’t necessarily believe that means that everyone who has beaten them in the past is a doper, too.

Posted on 22 March 2010