Alex Grewal letter re Landis; interesting

[creekster]

This is a letter tot he editor of velonews written by Alex Grewal, who us old guys will remeber as one of the early Americans that raced in Europe and was the Olympic gold medalist in '84. An interesting read. Link at the end.




Dear Editor,
Never having the occasion of doping with anything other than caffeine and ephedrine I cannot actually attest to what it might feel like to supplement testosterone. (I reckon it works good however).

But having twenty years in the "game" I do recognize there were days of complete emptiness followed certain times by a day of unreal strength. In the 1982 Milk Race in England I lost 20 minutes on the critical G.C. stage. It was as if my entire body had no hormones. The next day protecting Matt Eaton's newly acquired Leaders Jersey I was a veritable freight train, putting everyone on the ropes all day riding tempo.

I had several days like that in my career. And allegations of doping by fellow members of the peloton always followed. Who knows? Maybe some 29 years of pent up ambition all came into play on one fateful day.

It is also a mistake to compare Landis's win in stage 17 to Eddy Merckx's 1968 solo. Merckx was chased in earnest by guys like Gimondi et all. There was no real tempo behind Landis until just before Cluse. The thirty kilometers of desperation chase that ensued before the foot of the Joux Plane probably hurt almost as much as it helped the other climbers. It was a great calculated and courageous ride, but nothing near as superhuman as everyone is pretending it was. If Armstrong, Ulrich, and Basso were personally distanced by such an effort, then it would have been in the "legendary" ballpark. As it stands Hinault's breakaways in the 1986 Tour were likely more exploits than what Landis's did.
As good as it was, it was quite believable to me.
Alexi Grewal - 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist
Loveland, Colorado

http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/10638.0.html