a cleaner, brighter tour

I always get the post Tour blues. No matter that I spend much of the year telling non-cycling friends that there are indeed OTHER races worthy of their intention, when the final lap around the Champs is complete and the jerseys are presented I'm already looking towards next's years race. Maybe it's just the blanket TV coverage, the constant web updates and actually seeing bike racing in the newspapers that makes withdrawal symptoms a natural response to the conclusion of the race. Or perhaps it's just the magnitude of the race itself. Of course their are other races, and sometimes they are more exciting but there is nothing remotely like the Tour de France in terms of sheer scale, both real and imagined. Watching the human bouillabaisse that threatened to swamp the slopes of Ventoux was to witness the power and the pull of the Tour in all its glory. Anyone who has attended a mountain stage knows that the seething mass of humanity teetering on the brink of chaos defines the Tour as much as the courage and the suffering of the riders that they have climbed, camped and clambered to see. Fifty thousand plus clinging to every available space on Ventoux was a beautiful confirmation that bike racing's demise has been greatly exaggerated. Doping scandal after doping scandal may have filled column inches, may have encouraged those who thrive on the negative to ready their pens for an obituary of a sport that is rarely understood by those who watch from afar. But for those of us who cared bike racing wasn't going anywhere and this year's Tour is reason for more optimism. As I write this there have been no positive tests among this year's riders. This may change of course. I sat enthralled by the performance of Di Luca in this year's Giro only to have to stomach that feeling again when his positive results were announced. But unlike the darker years, when suspicion clouded entire races and entire teams, I have confidence that the riders who cheat now, cheat alone and will get caught. It's not bike racing that is sick, just a few individuals who chose to disrespect a sport that has given them so much. That professional cycling does more than any other sport to weed out those who dope means that the spotlight will always shine brighter on it and that sometimes the glare will unfairly incriminate those who are only guilty of working hard and making sacrifices. But as I watched Armstrong, the Schelcks, Wiggins and Contador climb Ventoux I saw thousands of believers cheering them to the summit. And more importantly I saw believers who now have a real reason to be just so.