Amidst all the glory of Olympic Golds, these are some of the worst cycling Moments.
Tony Rominger with the runs.
Miguel Indurain was asked his worst moment of his procycling career. You might have thought he would have replied suffering in the mountains, getting dropped by Bjarne Riis – No, Miguel Indurain replied the worst moment was riding in lead group with Tony Rominger. Rominger had dreadful diarrohea but was so committed he never got off his bike during the stage. Indurain said the smell was appauling. Makes Paula Radcliffe’s marathon experience with dodgy bowels look innocuous.
(Apologies in advance if you are eating a snack whilst reading this)
UCI – not Legal
Graeme Obree was a remarkable cycling story. Coming from nowhere, he built bikes out of old bmx parts, washing machines and set 2 new hour records. You might have thought the UCI would have welcomed such a romantic cycling story, but, they did everything they could to prevent this innovation. If the UCI want to bring in rule changes to limit technology – fair enough. But, to introduce a new rule – 12 hours before the final of the 4Km pursuit, was the most blatant attempt to hurt the outsider. Obree won the sympathy of the European cycling press, but, at the end of the day he was still disqualified. The good news is that he came back to win the event next year.
Lance Armstrong Chasing Down Fillipo Simeoni
It was another low key stage in the Tour de France. A rider 2 hours behind Armstrong went to join a breakaway. Despite absolutely no threat to his overall lead, Armstrong chased him down, forcing Simeoni to have to leave the break. It was a remarkable display of bullying from the patron of the peloton. Simeoni’s crime was to testify against the doctor Michael Ferrari for giving advice about doping products. Ferrari had a reputation for being one of the leading exponents on doping products. The problem was Armstrong was a client of Ferrari. Ferrari was later convicted of giving advice about doping. more on Armstrong and Ferrari
more to come
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