Anyone else watching "Tour de France" 2014

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It looked like the classic biking injury- resulting in a shattered clavicle (collage bone). When I saw the fall in slo-mo, I knew he would be lucky to come out with a bad AC joint sprain (shoulder separation).

Sad to see, he is one of the exciting racers to watch.
 
So Cavendish is back to his old tricks.
He has had points deducted, fines imposed on him and even fellow riders protesting against his dangerous riding.
This time he broke his own bones rather than those of others, hopefully that will teach him the error of his ways.
 
Doping in cycling predates the TdF.
In 1924 a french journalist reporting on the TdF coined the phrase 'convicts of the road' because the entire field was running on a mixture of cocaine, strychnine, chloroform and nitroglycerine.
In '66 Raymond Poulidor was the first rider to be tested. The next day all riders went on strike by getting off their bikes after a few miles.
It was the very public death of Tony Simpson on the slopes of Mont Ventoux in the '67 edition of the TdF which caused authorities to actually start testing riders more regularly. Up until then (and after) the attitude of racers and officials was 'no doping, no Tour' as doping was seen to be absolutely essential to be able to finish.
 
Remember the '88 Olympics 100m which Ben Johnson won but was later disqualified for a failed drug test?

The guy who implemented those tests kept the samples. A few years ago he retested them all using modern tests. Turns out not only Johnson was doping but also Carl Lewis, Linford Christie, Calvin Smith and Dennis Mitchell. Robson da Silva was the highest placed clean competitor.
 
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