Getting over the wall

It was a while back when I first wrote this, and as two Slovenians dominated this years Tour de France it seemed timely to revisit those thoughts..

After three brutally close weeks of racing a visibly shocked buy overjoyed Greg Lemond clinched victory in the 1989 Tour de France at the eleventh hour. Well, to be more precise it was in the final minute of the race that it became apparent that the American had whooped race leader Laurent Fignion in the final time trial and closing stage of the Tour to take victory by a scant 8 seconds, the closest ever margin victory in the greatest race on earth.

It was a cruel yet beautiful moment, as the distraught Fignion collapsed at the roadside in sheer disbelief, a loss that he never managed to come to terms with. For Lemond it marked his return from a near death injury, a return to the top of the Tour podium, and until this day he stands as the only “recognised” American winner of the race.

Lemond was the first ever non-European rider to win the Tour, which was a huge landmark in cycling terms, and he was rider from the biggest capitalist nation on earth.

Just a couple of months later the world would change forever, and so would the sporting world. On November 9th 1989 the Berlin Wall officially fell, although it would be another year before the unification of Germany was complete. Effectively the communist Eastern Block era had come to an end, and over the course of a few years the Soviet Union would fragment, and many former communist nations would find themselves suddenly hurled into the capitalist world – for better or worse.

In cycling terms this was also a huge moment. For decades there had been a financial and theoretically ethical line dividing professional and amateur cycling. Amateurs were idealistically riders who did not earn big prize money, and did not earn their living from the sport, and they raced separately from pro riders too. 

Supposedly this was all part of the Olympic ideal, where sport was not about money, and therefore the Olympics was purely for certified amateurs, or at least as far as cycling was concerned it was. The World Championships were also split into separate divisions, pro and amateur, and amateurs raced their own calendars, and rarely slugged it out with the paid pro riders.

In reality there was very little division at the top end of the scale. The Eastern Block amateur riders were every bit as professional as their western counterparts, only the state effectively “owned them”, and they ruled the roost too. East German and Soviet riders were hard to beat in major amateur events, both for natural and very unnatural reasons alike. Of course there were many western riders also earning their crust as amateurs, although their ultimate aim was to make their way to the pro ranks – something that was not permitted for the Eastern Block athletes; that just did not fit with the communist ideal.

After the fall of the Wall these once powerful sporting systems also began to fall apart, and gradually the line between amateur and professional began to fade away.

1988 was perhaps the last true “amateur” Olympics, and the East Germans dominated the cycling events. By 1992 that line was a tad jaded, and by 1996 the Olympics were effectively open to all.

The Eastern Block riders were selected for sports schools at a very young age, and they lived and raced for their sport and their country – and enjoyed a comparatively good life too, although not of course with the great riches their western counterparts did. 

One of the last of the cross-over generation was Jens Voigt; “When I was young East Germany was still a communist country, and so I came through the sports school system, and it was a great way of identifying and nurturing talent – it worked.”

There was little doubt that it worked, and as many eastern block coaches found their way to work with western national and pro teams so they introduced their once secretive ideals and methods; “That system disappeared; but systems like the AIS and British Cycling are very similar, but when it was the Eastern Block period money was no object, sport was so important to us. I think it’s a good thing, and teams are also realizing that finding young talented riders and helping them is the way to go, and to look after their investment.” Voigt told me.

Less than a year after the fall of the wall and a small band of former Eastern Block riders were being allowed to find their feet in the pro ranks, all be it that in the early days they were effectively leased by their national federations to the pro teams, with a percentage of their earnings going back to the state.

In 1990 defending Olympic Road Race Champion Olaf Ludwig took the green jersey in the Tour, in his first year as a pro rider. The rest, as they say is history, with Viatcheslav Ekimov, Djamolidine Abdoujaparov and Dimitri Konychev taking five Tour stage wins for Russia in 1990.

Riders such as Voigt, Erik Zabel and Jan Ullrich were the last of the generation of true “cross-over” riders, late products of an early sports school education. Throughout the 90’s eastern block riders made a huge impression on the pro scene, particularly the Germans.

Perhaps it was the fact that East Germany had its estranged big brother in the west waiting to help it assimilate that made things more productive for the Germans than their bossy big Soviet cousins.

Following a dip and a dive due to the late 90’s doping outing the great German cycling powerhouse is back on track and fully united. German riders took 7 stage wins with 3 different riders at this year’s Tour, making them the most successful nation in the race. Meanwhile Poland also scored 2 stage wins through Rafal Majka, and Lithuania took one with Ramunas Naverdauskas. Right now the future is really looking bright for the eastern Europeans.