> How can the UCI require the riders to ride in such abysmal conditions [smog]
> that are quite clearly injurious to health?
The same way they've been requiring riders to ride doped to the gills
with EPO, HGH, Clenbuterol, etc. etc. etc. all these years?
--D-y
On yet another note, I find the absence of spectators quite spooky. On a Stage
Three mountain summit I saw hundreds of metres of roadside barriers and the
inflatable arch over the road at the top just like we see at the European tours.
But there were no people apart from what looked like three policeman and two
race officials at the top. Where there are a few people they are lined up at
attention in single ranks behind a strand of bunting and they clap politely.
Don't know what the riders think. Do they miss the roar of the crowds or are
they grateful for the absence of drunken young men running all over the road? I
guess that (a) recreational cycling isn't big in China (b) not many people have
cars to drive up to a windswept mountain top and watch a bike race go by.
ph