You could plan your calendar around it … One month before the Tour de France gets underway and you just know it is going to happen … It has been happening for a number of years now — A doping scandal that gets the sport into the mainstream media followed by a number of top riders getting a suspension just in time for the start of the big race in July, to get the UCI looking like the good guys fighting the good fight in the eyes of the un-educated media. It is true that the UCI are fighting the good fight and more so than pretty much every other sport, but the publicity to be gained by releasing reports of positive drug tests at the crucial time is absolutely key.

So what is this all about? Well today Bernhard Kohl who came third in last years Tour only to be later disqualified for a positive drug test, put his head above the proverbial parapet with prefect timing to reveal that Blood Doping is rife within the sport. Reading what he had to say did not leave me asking, “How on earth can this still be happening”, but rather “How much was he paid for this exclusive?” With his career in tatters he has to make an income in some form or another and going by his photo a career as a male stripper isn’t likely to come along soon. I would put it down to all them steroids.

Read More»