Floyd Landis’s solo Stage 17 victory at the Tour de France at Morzine-Avoriazeasily ranked as one of the most mythic comebacks in the history of cycling.This stage win and Floyd’s subsequent Tour de France victory confirmedthe vibrancy of American cycling après Lance.Of course, all that changed when Floyd’s positive test for testosteronewas revealed. Now the elation turned to horrendous disappointment and disbelief.The issue of Floyd’s Tour win is hardly a closed book; Floyd may well stillprevail and I hope that he does.Regardless of the outcome, though, the damage has been done to the goodname and the psyche of American cycling. Stories of the positive test wereheadline news over all media, and the sport of cycling has been calleda sham and compared to pro wrestling.Never had cycling received so much press in America, even after Lance’sseventh Tour de France victory. They say there is no such thing as badpublicity but perhaps this incident tested the limit of that principle.Still, we need to keep things in perspective; we have come a long waysince the seventies and the days of the Amateur Bicycle League of America(the precursor to the USCF and USA Cycling). Not only have Americans wonthe Tour de France ten (or eleven) times since Greg LeMond’s first victoryin 1986, but American cycling has become one of the sport’s premier powerhousesand, significantly, its number-one innovator.For those of us who work in the industry there is a tremendous amountof anxiety now, however, that the damage done to the sport’s reputationhere in the United States will be severe and will hurt the industry’s abilityto continue growing.On the one hand this anxiety is not without reason. While cycling hasgrown exponentially since the days Greg LeMond was winning races for asix pack of Pepsi Lite, the sport is still not nearly as established asthe major sports which have the resources and the cultural capital to weatherscandals with greater ease.The fact is, though, that the drug scandals that have rocked sportssuch as pro football, major league baseball, and U.S. track and field havebeen far more severe than anything that has ever touched American cycling.There have been a number of high-profile and well-documented deaths ofAmerican track stars and pro football players attributable to their useof performance-enhancing drugs, while virtually every power hitter at thetop of the record books in baseball in the past decade or so has eitheradmitted or is known to have used performance-enhancing substances.
So I think it’s time for all of us in cycling to make an importantpoint: While it’s true that there have been many positive drug tests incycling, the main reason is that the sport has historically been the leaderin confronting the problem.Lance Armstrong was the most tested athlete in the history of sport.But it’s not just Lance Armstrong. Drug testing in cycling began in thelate sixties after the tragic death of Tommy Simpson on the Mont Ventouxand since then cycling has always been the most aggressive and the mostpro-active at going after this problem. Drug testing takes place at theTour de France, but also at hundreds of races across the world, includingin the United States, in many minor events.They don’t do that in pro wrestling, do they?Does this mean the problem is solved? That there are no cyclists usingperformance-enhancing substances? It would be naïve to think so, ofcourse. Just imagine, though, if cycling dealt with doping the way majorleague baseball has. While baseball is finally cleaning up its act, ittook the sport well over a decade to take significant action.
So I don’t think that we in cycling need to be anxious, but I thinkwe need to be focused and persistent. We need to remind our sponsors, ourmedia outlets and our fans how much cycling has done. And when there isa positive result we need to make it clear that the overwhelming majorityof cyclists are clean.We also need to make it clear that cycling has a very public processin its drug testing procedure and that the penalties for positive testsare among the most severe of any sport.Finally, it would be a pity for one bit of bad news to derail the wonderful,innovative cycling industry in the United States. Let’s not forget thatAmericans have transformed the sport, beginning in the mid-eighties withthe ingenious invention of the mountain bike, Greg LeMond’s use of aerobars, Jim Gentes’s invention of the modern cycling helmet, Trek’s innovativeuse of space-age materials in its bicycles, to name just a few.American cycling is the best part of world cycling right now and itis, in fact, poised for a huge expansion in this post-Lance period. Salesof road bikes continue to expand as Americans continue to discover thewonderful, simple pleasure of riding. Lance himself remains a powerfuland active ambassador for the sport and we ought to be grateful to himfor that.The sport of cycling in the United States is growing, too. Tour de Georgiahas been an unqualified success, with its Brasstown Bald finish, one ofthe sport’s great legendary mountain-top venues. And Amgen Tour of Californiais poised to become U.S. cycling’s major world-class event.The momentum of all that is much greater than one potential setback.Let’s just not forget it; as they would say in major sports, we’ve gotto keep our eye on the ball.

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Kent Gordis is the six-time emmy-award-winning owner/producer ofKent Gordis Productions, the United States' leading producer of bicycleraces on television. His production credits include eight Olympic Games,six Tours de France, and the the popular Bob Roll series of commercialsand promos.