Strange Ad Campaign...

BiknBen

Well-Known Member
I was watching Cyclism Sunday on the Vs network over the weekend. They were running ads for the upcoming Tour de France in July.

The 30 second spot showed clips of footage from the last ten years or so. It grabbed my attention because all the footage was running in reverse. In each clip, the cyclists were moving backwards. Most clips were close-ups of individual riders.

As I continued watching, I began to notice a theme. All the riders in the clips had been involved in some type of doping scandal. Riders such as Riis, Miller, Landis, Rasmusen, Ullrich, etc. At the end of the ad, they displayed the start date of the tour and a message saying "Take back the Tour".

My initial reaction was, "Damn, that's gonna ruffle a few feathers". I am disappointed that no matter happens in the world of pro road racing, the media only highlights the doping controversies and pending investigations. I was especially surprised that they put David Miller in the ad. He was the only riding among them that was still riding. He is now an self-appointed ambassador for a cleaner spot. I doubt he would be very happy seeing this ad.

http://www.takebackthetour.com/

I'll be watching most of the tour stages in July. It would be refreshing to just be able to enjoy the action instead of see it marred in controversy.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I'm not someone who follows the tour, not even a little bit. I probably represent a fair average perspective. I couldn't name a single pro rider right now. That's my setup.

To me, I simply don't believe any of the top riders (all riders?) who line up are drug free. So to me, it's always marred in controversy because that's part of the fabric of the sport. Doping is pro riding. Now this may not be true, or it may be entirely true. But that's my perspectiev either way, and I think I probably represent a fair cross-section of bikers out there.

It also begs the question of trying to market the sport. You are going to watch either way. I would not have paid any attention. Now with this reply, I'm paying more attention than I would have, even if I tune out right after I hit subimt. So their marketing is working.

They key to this marketing approach would be to now convince me that the sport is really drug free. That's a pretty big challenge to overcome.
 

MEAN IRISH GUY

Horse-faced space dog
no matter what you are watching. let it be pro cycling or baseball or shit, maybe even pro ping-pong... theres ALWAYS going o be somebody using a "compeditive edge". granted nobody likes a cheater but they are always going to be there. and even if the better man(non-doper) is infact a better compeditor and places second to the guy who is "doping", he will know that he earned that medal or trophy at the end of the day. mr. doper will look at his trophy on his shelf years later and realize it was built on drugs and cheating. i say let these guys do what they want. shit, let them inject horse steroids and see if they can go 80 mph. and when the obviously non-dopers come in second ill be cheering them on as if they got there first.
 

dualfisted

Member
what he said.....

Don't you dare drag ping pong down.
Ping pong is red, white and blue to the core,,,, don't even go there MAAAANNNNNN!
As for the tour, I don't think most of these riders know a damn thing about what's being put into their body, and team physicians and nutitionists do whatever they want to a rider in an attempt to stay one step ahead of the testing system.
That being said, I'm gonna watch as much Tour Day France (as Bobke Roll calls it) as I can and be amazed at these riders killing it thru the mountain stages, dope or no dope, just finishing the race is an accomplishment.
 

RNG1

Well-Known Member
Well...let's be honest it is really more Asian. At the risk of getting too far off track, come winter time I will do a thread to get some serious ping pong action going. Is that allowed or do I have to start PPNJ.com?:)
Just to keep it relevant to the topic, I also like watching the climbing sections of the tour. Drugs or not that is unbelievable what those guys do day after day.
 

BiknBen

Well-Known Member
i say let these guys do what they want. shit, let them inject horse steroids and see if they can go 80 mph.

That's how things began. Guys were putting everything and anything into their system to get an edge.

Tom Simpson died during the TdF. He was found to have a bizarre concoction of products including amphetamines in his blood. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Simpson In the mid-90's, a dozen or more riders didn't wake up in the morning. It was found their red blood cell count was so high that their blood was thickened. Combine that with a ridiculously low resting heart rate and their hearts just stopped beating while they slept.

One rider told a story of taking EPO which thickens the blood, with a blood thinner to offset the effects. After a race crash, doctors had trouble stopping his internal bleeding and he nearly died. He wouldn't tell the docs about his doping for fear of being caught. Kinda messed up!

These types of stories were turning the sport into a mockery. This is why they now test as much as they do.
 
Top Bottom