Tym Glaser The wheels are falling off the sport of cycling.
Just a month away from its showcase event - the Tour de France - confessions, allegations and raids revolving around doping are shaking the sport to its core.
Following last year's pre-Tour bombshell in which a Spanish investigation sent nine riders, including former champion Jan Ullrich, packing from the event before even a pedal had been pushed, and then eventual champion Floyd Landis tested positive after a miraculous stage win, cycling just seems to be hitting one huge pothole after another nowadays.
Landis, who pulled off a greater comeback than Lazarus by absolutely annihilating his rivals one day after looking a beaten rider and out of the 2006 event, was told not to turn up for this year's start in London on July 7.
He's the first champion to basically be banned from defending his title, but 'Floyd the Boy' has hardly been idle as he had to front up to an arbitration hearing in the United States to see if he could keep the title.
Terribly seedy
That all got terribly seedy a few weeks back when three-time Tour champion Greg Lemond took the witness stand and accused the Landis camp of harassment. Apparently, Landis' business manager, knowing Lemond had been abused as a child, called the American legend the night before he was due to give his testimony and pretended to be Lemond's uncle and said they could talk about what they "used to do".
That earned Landis and his cadre of defenders absolutely no public sympathy and cost the business manager his job.
The 1997 winner Ullrich, who retired last year in shame while protesting his innocence, and Italian star Ivan Basso remain under investigation.
Ullrich's predecessor on the dais in Paris, Belgian Bjarne Riis, admitted last month he used performance-enhancing drugs in '96 and his title will not be recognised now - whatever that means.
Champion German sprinter Eric Zabel also fessed up a couple of days ago that he got some synthetic help to put some pep in his step in '96 as well.
Raids
On Wednesday and Thursday, Belgian authorities raided places left, right and centre in that country and found enough drugs and associated paraphernalia to keep a team's legs pumping to the top of Everest.
Throw in the continual 'did-he-didn't-he' argument which swirls around seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong and you've got the makings of a sporting disaster - or a damn good mystery novel.
Of course, maybe all this sordidness will ultimately be good for the sport. At least outside authorities are trying to clean cycling up - even if the venerable Tour itself seems keen to turn a blind eye to it all.
And at least some of the riders are willing to take responsibility for their actions instead of hiding behind lawyers and lame excuses of the dog-ate-my-homework variety.
Maybe, like West Indies cricket, cycling needs to bottom out before it can ascend the French Alps and Pyrenees with integrity again.
I'll be watching next month when the peloton wheels off in London for its three weeks of agony because the Tour de France is still one of the world's ultimate endurance contests in both team and individual form, and the scenery is stunning.
The problem is, I still won't know who's clean and who's not. Still, that's the same problem I have whenever I watch track and field!
tym.glaser@gleanerjm.com
