Does professional cycling need a new hero?

The sport of professional cycling has taken a bit of a battering over the last few years thanks to the seemingly endless controversy over drugs.  Most of us mortal cyclist and cycling fans eagerly await the highlight of the cycling year, the Tour de France, and collectively hold our breath and keep our fingers crossed that no-one will be caught using performance enhancing drugs.  Some of us even plan for years to travel on a great cycling pilgramage such as to the slopes of Alp d' Huez so that we can see our heros in the flesh on the most hallowed of cycling ground.

I usually buy the DVD of the Tour de France and it is a bit tragic to look back over some the recent years races when you remember who was subsequently caught either blood doping or using drugs.   Some of the recent my heros like Jan Ullrich, Eric Zabel and Alexandra Vinokurov have been busted and in doing so taking away a little bit of my respect for the sport.

The cycling season kicks off in earnest this weekend with the first of the big one-day races, the Milan-San Remo.  I will eagerly await the story and results to see who has overcome the distance (more that I sometime ride in a week), the famous Poggio climb and the long list of contenders.  I am looking forward to seeing a new generation of heros emerge from the recent controversy and help legitimise the future of the sport. 

Lance Armstrong is back and, despite years of allegations, he is always tested clean.  He is still a bit of a hero of mine and give we are nearly the same age I am pretty inspired by his return to the sport.   There are also some reliable Australian favourites such as Stuart O'Grady, Cadel Evans, Robbie McEwen and Alan Davis in the peloton and it will be great to see one of them have a Classics win.  At the same time, some emerging riders such as Heinrich Haussler (Aussie born German) are riding well and cannot be far from a big win.

Meanwhile, I will continue to following the racing and, as usual, counting down to each of the three big tours, all the while (in the words of Bonnie Tyler.....I'll be "holding out for a hero".

Damo