the point is that during the era that doping was at it’s height non of the journalists blew the whistle (probably because they would lose their accreditation)

example: coverage of the entire PDM team leaving the tour one year danced around the whole issue

they bothered to get out of the press room and find the real story and also expose the other sports that are doping systematically as well

the self same journalists wait for the climate to change to write their exposee’s of the situation and to take a moral stance they never had at the time

leeches and cowards…

ahem, it “Put Me Back on My Bike (In search of Tom Simpson)” 🙂

Given the grief that Kimmage got at the time, and subsequently, from both the cycling establishment and shamefully, from cycling ‘fans’, it’s no surprise that journalists whose careers depended on cycling were loathe to dig deeper.

The rubbish talked about Pantani before and after his death by those who blinded themselves to his obvious performance enhancement was a case in point; finding out your heroes have feet of clay and blood like syrup is a wake-up call…

The PDM fiasco was about the use (and incorrect storage, ie put it in the fridge…) of intravenous feeding, still perfectly legal today, so a bit of a red herring.

Rough Ride by Kimmage.
A Piepers Tale by Allan Pieper.
Bad Blood by Jeremy Whittle.

You should read both Bad Blood and Armstrongs books at the same time and make your own mind up :0)

Plenty of Journos and riders try and blow the whistle but get ignored, bullied and lose their livelihood.
See Italian National Champs team not making the Giro for the repucussions of what happened years ago.

French Revolutions by Tim Moore – one of the only books that made me laugh out loud.

Dog In A Hat by Joe Parkin – Good insight into what it takes to become a pro rider in Europe, and what they have to do to survive when they’re not one of the Peleton’s superstars.

In Search Of Robert Millar by Richard Moore – Very interesting book, about a very interesting character.

The Full Cycle by Vin Denson – Denson wasn’t a superstar of the peleton, but he worked for some of the biggest names in the sport. Very interesting read.