Yeah I was pissed to have to stand on an awards stage next to Jalabert.

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
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I hear this sentiment but my belief, with triathlon, is that somebody without a ton of natural talent can get quite good at the sport by putting the hours in. Triathlon seems to reward the you get what you put in mindset more than a lot of other sports. I really believe that someone with average talent can put in the work required to turn pro. So that's why it irks me if someone with above average talent doped. Clearly someone without a lot of talent could dope too & could climb to a decently high level in this sport. Plus you reap the benefits of doping for years after. I don't think we should be tolerant to dopers. There are claims that there is a good amount of AG doping in the sport. I think sentiments like this normalizes it. I would like to see a more strict policy for those who are caught. The age group categories are large and diverse. There's always going to be people competing with varying levels of talent. Fine. What separates it for me is someone who decides to cheat. The clean talented person should win. The first clean talented or average talented person that finishes right behind one of these cheaters will never know if they actually would have been beaten if they had both done things the right way. The margins are thin in AG racing. Doping for years on the bike sets you up well in a sport where you spend a ton of time in the saddle.

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I think there are a couple of reasons that Strasser gets accepted so easily, the first being TransCon is in Europe and the Euro's don't seem care as much about star power,associated media that comes with it.The cycling culture,all cycling,is ingrained in their culture so they have a different mindset.Strasser is seen also "as one of us" by the Ultra-cycling community and I liken him to Yiannis Kouros in ultra-running running where he is just in his own world and so different "rules" apply.You just have to say "Strasser" and the cycling world knows and adjusts the conversation accordingly.

In the USA and Canada (and to some extent here in Oz) all that stuff is more frowned upon and Lael Wilcox felt the ire of the purists when she had her film crew follow her for the Tour Divide a few years ago.It got pretty silly and you could see it play out in her documentary. Just stupid for my mind.

People get all tribal about their chosen sport,niche in that sport and/or their favourite athlete (think Lionel) and they will defend their "Tribe". You can see that it the undercurrent of comments when TransAm Bikepackers take on RAAM and vice versa. All this talk about one couldn't do the other. It is silly and is why I love that Strasser and Morton are doing what they are. The level of competition is rising dramatically with the inclusion of these guys in Bikepacking and the "old ways" of doing things in the Mike Hall era are coming to an end. We punters who are following the development of Bikepacking can learn a hell of a lot from what the elite cyclists are bringing in all aspects of that niche of unsupported cycle races.

To the topic at hand concerning Vino and Jalabert,during the coverage of La Vuelta here in Oz last night, Simon Gerrans was talking up Vino's recent Ironman age group win in Nice and told of training with him in the past. He mentioned that going for the "morning run" with Vino was hard as he left nothing out there and always pushed the pace,putting the hurt into everyone.He spoke very fondly of that time.I would be interested to know if, in triathlon, the Euro's are more "forgiving" of past dopers and Pro Tour guys in the age group ranks than the folks from the USA/Canada.

France & Jalabert situation :
1/ As a former worshipped champion, Jalabert is sort of untouchable in France and still receives tons of support and praise. He's still commenting the Tour de France every year on public TV. During triathlons, he's cheered like a half-god, gets a lot of positive attention from the speaker and the public, and you can hear "allez Jaja" everywhere along the run.
2/ There has been actually more coverage in the general media about Jalabert being "Ironman world champion" (of his amateur age group, not always mentioned) than about Sam Laidlow being the 1st french pro world champion.

Most people seem to be happy such a celebrity is racing alongside them. Some triathletes (me included) are uncomfortable with him winning his AG, but I think we are a minority. He doped, got caught, denied (using the "they doped me without me knowing, i didn't do it" strategy), lied, never apologized, said he doesn't regret anything, and of course never became a clear advocate of anti-doping.

Given how serious he is currently, why would you think he is not currently taking blood bags? Obviously he has the experience and expertise at it, and the Astana team medical resources at his disposal, and there is zero chance that autologous blood bag doping would get caught by WTC, so why would anyone think he is not currently doping? His morals have changed? He clearly is intensely serious about the competition, so I certainly wouldn't give him the benefit of the doubt that he has suddenly decided to abstain from performance enhancing techniques that he has known his whole career.

Separately, whatever came of the Spanish cyclist who was caught doping and came over to triathlon and quite quickly became top of amateur field. He seemed to disappear as quickly as he came onto the scene. I remember at one Kona podium the second place finisher wore a DOPERS SUCK white t-shirt next to him. Who was that doper and what happened to him? Why'd he vacate the scene so suddenly?

Let's just say I'm not nominating him as a candidate for sainthood.

Here's a little background on that story:

https://www.slowtwitch.com/..._his_point_4440.html

And Sam had to respond to some journalist putting them in the same basket:
https://www.trimes.org/2023/09/sam-laidlow-vs-jalabert/


Sam (translated by me): 'I appreciate the publication, but I don't want to be associated with someone who cheated in sport. I've worked way too hard for this to happen. He may be a great athlete, but we clearly don't have the same values'


Most of the comments I've seen following Sam's response are in support of him, and critisizing the media who try to 'ride' Jalabert's public notoriety, but also Jalabert for not being vocal about the smaller status of his win (age group, not overall) and having a big ego that he needs to feed.