選手の精神年齢・学歴・人生そしてドーピング

嫁さんのチーム仲間が、「自転車プロ選手の精神年齢は、その人が競技を始めた時点で停止している」という仮説を唱えている。

言われてみれば、そうかもしれない。Euroプロの連中など、高校も行かずにプロを目指している。中学生並の常識と判断能力しかない所に、チームとしてドーピングを強要してきたら...

PezCyclingnewsのこの記事を読むと、そんな自転車オンリーな人生を送る悲劇が見えてくる。

Skibby Comes Clean In Book
Former Danish pro Jesper Skibby admits in a soon to be released book that he doped throughout his pro career and has no regrets about it.

You might recall the infamous picture of a ride down and his bike being run over by the comissaire's car? Yeah, that's Skibby.

ProCycling has some startling quotes from Skibby:

"For the first time, I'd taken medicine that wasn't aimed at curing me for something, but with the sole purpose of enhancing my performances. I had used drugs. And I was thrilled. Now I couldn't do any more [to improve my performance]."

"I didn't regret what I had done and I didn't have a guilty conscience. Didn't think one bit about morals and ethics. I was part of a tough trade and I used the means I felt were needed to do it. It was as simple as that. My world was cycling, and if the sport disappeared, my whole world - everything I knew - would crumble and leave me empty handed. Everything would be gone. My entire raison d'etre would disappear and everything I had achieved would bear no importance."

Skibby wasn't just any putz on the bike either - he won stages in all three Grand Tours, as well as a slew of other races.

Ekstra Bladet, the paper that published the quotes from Skibby's upcoming book, claims that Skibby's autobio "is written to give his two daughters (13 years and eight months respectively) the chance to know the full truth about their father's life."

気が向いたら訳します...