Eddie Merckx - perhaps greatest cyclist ever
But ZERO credibility on doping. And now a hypocrite to boot.
Merckx himself was busted for doping on three different occasions, so it's pretty ironic hearing talking about "no mercy" for other dopers. Equally ironic hearing him try and differentiate between different kinds of doping.
Here again we see the really twisted mental machinations of the old-school mindset:
(1) It's not doping unless there's a positive doping test
(2) It's not doping if you can con the officials into giving you an exemption
(3) Even if you violate the conditions of the exemption, it's still not doping because it's something legal, just a matter of degree
(4) The kind of doping the other guy does is cheating, the kind of doping I do is just for recovery.
(5) It is o.k. to trash-talk those who are retired, or have been caught by the doping tests, but it is verbotten to say a word about those who are riding and have not failed a test.
(6) If you must talk about doping, it's marginally acceptable to talk about someone on a rival team or from a rival nationality or ethnicity, but absolutely unacceptable to talk negatively about teammates, former teammates, fellow countrymen, and racers who use the same doctors or trainers.
Regrettably, we must remember this is the same Eddie Merckx who endorsed and assisted Lance Armstrong in his work with Michele Ferrari.
Petacchi, of course, was doping up on Salbuterol to gain a competitive advantage. How did he pull that off? Like many others in the peloton, he conspired with a doctor to make a bogus claim about being an asthmatic, so got a get out of jail free card for taking the stuff. That he had a medical certificate doesn't obscure the fact (a) he lied/cheated to get one (and therefore was in violation of the anti-doping rules), and (b) even then, he wanted a dose more than even the other cheaters could get via the bogus medical certificate game.
Ironically, Eddie betrays himself straight from the top with the characterization/rationalization that "there is doping and doping".
It's o.k. to cheat, just don't get caught. It's o.k. to cheat, just not too blatantly. It's o.k. to cheat, but not outside the bounds of the p.r. blanket and rationalizable defense.
