Seven Years Bad Luck?

By now you’ve heard of Amaury Sports Organization’s highlight reel at the announcement of the 2007 Tour de France route on Thursday, October 26 and how they addressed the doping allegations against the winner. As has been reported in many places (with this quote coming from VeloNews):

[A]n image of the American [Floyd Landis], standing in yellow atop the podium in Paris, cracks like a broken mirror and shatters off the screen.

From VeloNews’ description of the video, it appears that some of the riders implicated (and subsequently cleared) of involvement in the Operacion Puerto investigation get their moment in the sun during the beginning of the show. In a comment on my previous post, reader Olyroller asks, “What’s with these guys?”

Good question, Oly. Wish I knew. From the way it appears to me, the whole Tour organization seems to be making known their displeasure at the way their race has been “disgraced” by the behavior of certain athletes.

Using the broken mirror/broken glass effect certainly makes it plain how they feel. They don’t like the way these scandals reflect on the Tour. Funny thing, though, is that so far no one has been proven guilty of anything, and virtually all of the riders in the Puerto scandal have been cleared. Jan Ullrich apparently has even given a DNA sample to prove his innocence.

And the Landis case is far from over — except the trial by media phase, which has left a whole lot of people convinced he’s as guilty as the day is long despite the fact that the process is not even close to finished and he hasn’t even had a formal hearing yet. Yes, on the surface the evidence looks bad, but closer scrutiny shows that the case is far murkier than the Tour organization, the UCI, WADA or LNDD would lead you to believe.

Mostly, the people who’ve been casting a negative reflection on the sport are the very ones who are proclaiming the loudest that the sport has been tainted by scandals. Yes, it has. And mostly due to the behavior of the likes of Dick Pound, Pat McQuaid, Christian Prudhomme and the folks over at LNDD.

Showing Floyd Landis’ image as a mirror cracking is more than a little ironic, given that it’s the whole anti-doping system that’s cracked. Landis, to his credit, is working towards an open process. Going straight at those accusing him is a gutsy move. Just the fact that he’s willing to do so and risk even greater public humiliation if he loses suggests to me that he and his advisors think they have a good case to prove his innocence.

The system has failed Landis and so many others, not least due to the fact that these allegations were made public before the proper processes had run their course. Contrast this behavior with the way the track and field authorities handled the Justin Gatlin case. No information about his situation leaked until well after both the A and B samples had been tested.

At the point the story came to light, it was up to Gatlin to decide whether to fight the charges or to admit he’d been caught with his hands in the proverbial cookie jar. Gatlin chose the latter. Whether it was true or not is another matter, and since we don’t have the data to look at, we can only take him at his word.

Landis was fingered before the authorities had even forwarded the results of his first test, and through leaks of information, trial by media had pretty much found him guilty before the B sample was even tested. Those results merely “proved” to most people that he was guilty. Never mind the fact that no data was passed on to Landis until more than 3 weeks later — and never mind the fact that the media received no proof, other than the official announcements from UCI, WADA and LNDD.

Meanwhile, since word first broke, Landis has maintained his innocence. He’s even gone so far as to put out the lab results for the whole world to see. But once he did that, some of the folks in the anti-doping world complained that the anti-doping authorities were barred, by the rules, from discussing the case before it is heard by the arbitration panel. Really? Coulda fooled me.

The rules didn’t stop someone leaking Landis’ A sample results. They didn’t stop Dick Pound, head of WADA, from pronouncing judgment. They didn’t stop Christian Prudhomme from declaring that Landis was no longer considered the Tour winner. And they didn’t stop officials at LNDD from discussing the case, either.

Pretty convincing evidence to me that it’s the system what’s cracked and not the champion.

Throughout all of this, one thing has been conspicuously absent: An organization that stands up for the rights of the athletes. Dare I say it: A union. Or better put, a union with teeth.

There’s organizations looking out for the Pro Tour teams’ interests. There’s the UCI looking after their own interests. WADA. The anti-doping lab, too. But no one seems to be standing up for the athletes and demanding that rules be followed and that fair play be applied here, too. If anti-doping rules are meant to ensure that competition is conducted in a sporting matter, doesn’t it follow that the rules and processes to enforce those rules also be conducted in a sporting manner?

It seems to me that the UCI — the International Cycling Union — might be the voice of the athletes. But that is apparently not the case. They’re all too happy to collect money from the organizations that are members, like USA Cycling, but when it comes to looking after the riders’ interests, they’re nowhere to be found.

Francesco Moser heads up the Association of Professional Cyclists. Perhaps they should stand up for cyclists rights? But where is Moser in the midst of all of this scandal? In the wings? Hiding? I haven’t seen or heard much from him over the last few months.

I think it’s time that an organization be formed that will actually fight for pro cyclists the way that the UAW fought for the rights of autoworkers in the first half of the 20th century. Without the unions, workers would not have been guaranteed health care, pensions or safe working conditions. Their power came from the fact that if the unions struck the companies would be shut down. No product being made. No income. Nothing.

Imagine a strong union fighting for the rights of professional cyclists. Perhaps they could wield the same kind of power. Don’t treat us with respect, we’ll shut you down. Imagine the Tour de France being cancelled because the riders were so disgusted with how the TdF organization (or the UCI or WADA or L’Equipe) was treating them that they refused to race.

Now, American unions have at times gone to excess and some of the rules in the workplace have been (and are) downright silly. And in the last 30 years or so they haven’t proved to be the most effective advocates for their workers. But there was a time when they were highly effective in terms of providing better, safer, more respectful working conditions for the average industrial worker. It seems to me that professional cyclists are in need.

Somebody’s got to stand up for the professional cyclists. And I think it’s going to have to be the cyclists themselves, by forming a powerful union to counter race organizers, national federations and anti-doping agencies. Perhaps Moser can turn his Association of Professional Cyclists into a union with bark and bite. The cyclists can certainly use all the help they can get.

I’ll finish up tonight by circling back to the broken mirror effect in that highlights reel. If the old saying is true — breaking a mirror brings seven years bad luck — one has to wonder what’s in store over the next seven years for Amaury Sports Organization, the organizers of the Tour.