Dubai: Italian former champion road racing cyclist Paolo Bettini is here in the UAE and overseeing proceedings of the Dubai Tour for RCS Sport.
Bettini, who won the 2004 Olympics in Athens and enjoyed a decorated career between 1997 and 2008, winning the world title in 2006 and 2007, has seen the sport from close quarters. And understandably, he too is upset with the latest scandal that has rocked competitive cycling with the discovery of a motor concealed in a bike of Belgian cyclist Femke Van Den Driessche at the world cyclo-cross championships.
“The sport of cycling can stand on its own and has the courage to change. The latest revelations show that the problem is not finished but certainly the approach has changed. UCI is taking that effort to keep cleaning up the sport,” said Bettini, who was the Italian national coach between 2010 and 2014.
Bettini admitted that the Lance Amstrong’s doping saga was shattering and put the sport in danger of losing its credibility completely - but said cycling has weathered it and moved well past it.
“(The) Lance episode was one of the moments in the history of cycling and we all were devastated with it then. But we have to look at what followed after that. The sport has gone through overhauling. A cyclist is just one element but the organisers, team, manufactures all play a role and the good thing is all are trying to keep the sport clean,” said Bettini, adding that it will always be difficult to affirm that doping is finished in the sport.
“It will be impossible to say the sport is completely clean as someone or the other will be trying things. We can only hope that the cyclists are true to themselves and everyone collectively has to take the responsibility to keep the sport as clean as possible. And not let these incidents affect the sport as a whole,” added Bettini, who felt that UCI’s steps have been a huge deterrent and they have managed to bring back trust to the sport.
“Lance’s episode, say from 1999 to 2005-06, was very tough for everyone because he was always in the peloton. Everyone was taken for a ride for so many years and all felt this sport won’t recover. However, the mentality changed as everyone was willing to do that and I feel that is important,” revealed Bettini, who felt that even sports like athletics reeling repeatedly under a doping cloud can take a leaf out of cycling.
“Yes, certainly other sports can do what cycling is doing because this is the only sport in the world which says ‘Yes, we can change and we want to change’. We also have to make the sportsmen understand that there are no short cuts to success,” asserted Bettini, who hailed the work done in the UAE in the development of the sport.
“I have been coming here for the past two years and was also there for the inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour. Two quality events in UAE have definitely done wonders. For example, this Dubai Tour at the beginning of the year is the perfect warm-up event. You don’t push yourself too much as there are a lot of sprints and has its own challenges. Most riders like coming here as it is freezing in Europe this time of the year,” felt Bettini, who was also impressed with the way the UAE-based team are progressing in the sport.
“I’m pretty happy with what I have seen about Skydive Dubai. They are making their presence felt and that would give a lot of confidence for the other UAE cycling aspirants. The sport grows fast if a local team succeeds.”
