Cyclismag a choisi de fermer ses portes le dimanche 30 janvier 2011, le jour de son septième anniversaire.
Communiqué - Par Pierre Carrey, co-fondateur de Cyclismag
Plus de deux mille Faits du jour et plus de quinze mille brèves sont passées par-là. Tout en s'efforçant de ne rien laisser paraître, le site a souffert ces derniers mois de l'usure profonde de ses principaux contributeurs. Une situation paradoxale puisque les lecteurs et les bons retours continuaient d'affluer. Comme cette issue s'est peu à peu imposée pendant l'hiver, Cyclismag arrête avant d'entrer dans une situation interne précaire et une qualité de ses articles trop aléatoire. Désormais, il restera ouvert comme une boîte à archives.
On avait fini par l'oublier mais les sites meurent aussi. Jusqu'au bout les rédacteurs ont œuvré dans un esprit collectif exemplaire, attachés à l'histoire du site, à ses valeurs, à ses lecteurs. Les prénoms de tous (toutes) ces bénévoles et passionné(e)s figurent au bas de ce communiqué. Leur profonde loyauté les uns envers les autres force le respect des membres fondateurs. Aujourd'hui, tous veulent rappeler les beaux moments passés ensemble et la fidélité à un cap éditorial fixé : l'indépendance, la quête de sens.
Quand Cyclismag est né début 2004, Lance Armstrong était à son firmament, Marco Pantani, Frank Vandenbroucke et Hein Verbruggen encore en vie, Floyd Landis n'avait pas encore ébranlé le Tour dans ses fondations marketing et Damien Ressiot faisait des mots-croisés dans son bureau.
Cyclismag a décliné des offres d'achat et a toujours vécu sans politique publicitaire ni ces stéroïdes à audience appelés "réseaux sociaux". Il était condamné à ne durer que deux mois. Ses "amis" lui prédisaient qu'il se heurterait à une famille consanguine : il a trouvé des brèches multiples. Le site devait être interdit d'accréditation sur les épreuves : les organisateurs ont tous accepté de l'inviter. Il lui fallait aussi céder aux mails de menaces et de pressions : ceux-ci n'ont fait perdre de temps qu'à leurs auteurs. Enfin, il devait essuyer un déluge de procès : il n'en eut qu'un seul, et le gagna.
Pendant sept ans, Cyclismag a exploré un cyclisme en mouvement, rencontré quelques personnalités ouvertes, attachantes, sincères. Loin du "tous pourris" ou du "tous héroïques". On ne dira jamais à quel point le vélo a son prêt-à-penser incrusté dans le boyau. Et ce sont les médiacrates qui promettaient au site tous les cataclysmes possibles, bien plus que les coureurs, managers et autres acteurs directs du cyclisme parfois mis en cause, et qui ont pour beaucoup témoigné un sens de l'humour inattendu.
Au fil du temps, Cyclismag est devenu un gravier dans la chaussure. Mêlant l'info et le commentaire, s'intéressant à l'histoire et au présent, aux coureurs occidentaux ou venus des quatre coins du monde, aux dames et aux hommes, aux amateurs et aux professionnels, offrant une diversité de points de vue, il a grandi, a tenté, a réussi ou s'est planté. Conscient de ses limites, Cyclismag ne s'est jamais considéré comme meilleur que d'autres sites ou journaux mais simplement un peu plus libre. Il a choisi de s'arrêter en plein élan ce 30 janvier. Mais son esprit a germé ailleurs. Et donc demeure.
Pour leur participation au site, merci à : Alban, Alexandre, Antoine, Antonin, Carine, Charles, Clément G, Clément P, Christian, Cyrille, David A, David D, Delphine, Doris, Emilien, Etienne, Francis, Franco, François, Frédéric G, Frédéric L, Frédéric P, Freddy, Jean-Michel, Jean-Pierre, Julie, Julien, Kévin, Laurent, Martial, Maxime L, Maxime M, Michaël G, Mickaël F-B, Nathalie, Nicolas G, Nicolas M, Pasqual, Pierre, Rémi, Régis, Romain, Sandrine, Sébastien, Stéphane D, Stéphane H, Stéphane M, Thomas B, Thomas D, Valentin, Vincent et Vivien.
One of the Puerto riders, David Etxebarría weighs in on his former teammate Contador's case:
AC you shout about justice and when it is handed out you start shouting again that you don’t believe in it
When there were ex-team-mates who were asking for justice and weren’t given it you were silent.
You shout about the gutter press… When the majority has been easier on you that it has with anyone else in a similar case.
You shout about not believing in this anti-doping system when before it was because of it that you won the “Rasmussen” Tour and were silent.
You’re the classiest guy that I have ever seen racing and I hope that you will be back on the bike tomorrow… But don’t SHOUT when before you were SILENT.
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
I like how Floyd indirectly states he's seen Pereiro do drugs
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
issoisso wrote:
One of the Puerto riders, David Etxebarría weighs in on his former teammate Contador's case:
AC you shout about justice and when it is handed out you start shouting again that you don’t believe in it
When there were ex-team-mates who were asking for justice and weren’t given it you were silent.
You shout about the gutter press… When the majority has been easier on you that it has with anyone else in a similar case.
You shout about not believing in this anti-doping system when before it was because of it that you won the “Rasmussen” Tour and were silent.
You’re the classiest guy that I have ever seen racing and I hope that you will be back on the bike tomorrow… But don’t SHOUT when before you were SILENT.
What about applying that to himself and talking about all he knows about what was going on at Euskaltel and ONCE/Liberty?
Kimmage: You married in February, 2001. At what stage did you become aware that the drugs problem had not been fixed and that you would have to make these choices?
Landis: 2001 was supposed to be the big breakout year for Mercury. John Wordin was determined to get (an entry) to the Tour de France and (hired) a bunch of European guys because we needed a wild card. I would have conversations with different people here and there; Gordon Fraser was a close friend of mine and a good bike racer. He had been on (the) Motorola (team) and said that he didn’t like needles and didn’t want to be part of it so he came back to race here (the U.S). And then sometimes the conversations became more specific with other guys…When (Peter) Van Petegem joined the team I would have discussions with him about how you justified it in your own mind because at this point I was still completely against it. I didn’t like the idea, it didn’t represent what I felt cycling was to me. I still had this idealistic way of seeing it.
(...)
Kimmage: So there is still pressure on you going into the time trial? You still have to do it?
Landis: Yeah, exactly but I was relatively sure...I mean, I know Pereiro and I know he wasn’t going to have any new tricks that he hadn’t already tried so…I had talked to him about it and he told me that he had another blood transfusion to do but I still wasn’t concerned because I was a better time triallist than him regardless…
Kimmage: You talked to him about it?
Landis: Yeah, we talked openly about this in the peloton, that’s why I couldn’t believe no one did this before I did it. We literally just spoke openly; he did a blood transfusion and some artificial haemoglobin.
Kimmage: You’re kidding me!
Landis: Yeah, and then he threw me under the bus (laughs) and I put up with it for four years!
Kimmage: Fuck!
Landis: Fuck him is right.
Kimmage: That’s astonishing.
Landis: (He is laughing.) It’s a stupid story, a long stupid story.
Kimmage: What about Postal? They didn’t go round telling people they were doing transfusions, did they? Or Armstrong?
Landis: Oh, they knew. We spoke fairly openly about it with people - maybe Armstrong didn’t so much but people did, yeah. I mean, I remember one specific incident, I think it was in 2003, and we had done a blood transfusion the night before and if you don’t do it exactly right, and hold it and keep the pressure on it, (it leaves a mark/bruise because) it’s a much bigger needle. (Next day) I was riding and Michael Boogerd came up next to me and he pointed to my arm and just smiled and winked and then he pointed at his arm…like, ‘I got the same thing.’
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
Pereiro, widely considered one of the nicest guys in the peloton, still has no qualms about throwing Floyd under a bus and crying that he was robbed of a Tour win by a doper....despite the fact that he's on drugs as well.
Tells you a lot about the mentality of the peloton, huh?
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
Lachi wrote:
He spoke about blood transfusion. Allthough it is not allowed, it is not a drug.
He spoke of Artificial Haemoglobin.
But even if he hadn't, what difference would that make?
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
I get the impression the sport is trying to move on (which I never thought I'd hear myself saying) - and while a long way from perfect things are not as bad as they once were and moving in the right direction.
All Floyd cares about is money and himself - he should just crawl back under the rock from whence he came.
I get the impression the sport is trying to move on (which I never thought I'd hear myself saying) - and while a long way from perfect things are not as bad as they once were and moving in the right direction.
All Floyd cares about is money and himself - he should just crawl back under the rock from whence he came.
If it helps catch drugs cheats and cleans up the peloton, then he should keep talking, irregardless of what his interests are
You're deceiving yourselves if you think the sport will ever move on with McQuaid at the head.
He's Verbruggen's appointed heir and he is very much Verbruggen Jr.: He wants nothing more than to let the teams continue to dope and just make sure no more scandals come to light, ever.
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
I get the impression the sport is trying to move on (which I never thought I'd hear myself saying) - and while a long way from perfect things are not as bad as they once were and moving in the right direction.
All Floyd cares about is money and himself - he should just crawl back under the rock from whence he came.
If it helps catch drugs cheats and cleans up the peloton, then he should keep talking, irregardless of what his interests are
I want the truth. I want clean cycling. I just can't put my faith or trust in anything LIEdis says.
