Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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39 comments
The bloke is patently a scumbag, time the cycling world stopped caring about him.
I think the correct analysis would be that he is suffering from a combination of alcohol addiction and mental health issues. I hope he gets the help he needs to stop him being a danger to both himself and other people.
My thoughts exactly.
I think you give him undue leeway. He is unrepentant about his drinking and also tried to use it as an excuse to cover up doping, saying an all night bender caused his suspect biological passport values. Where is the evidence that he wants to reform? I don't count a court ordered drink driving course as self driven desire to change.
Alcoholism is an illness and not a choice. I can't diagnose sitting from here but there is a pattern emerging. Many alcoholics are outed by a drink driving conviction but that in itself is rarely enough to fix the problem. Treating addition is incredibly complex, time consuming and painful.
You may be right in this relatively modern theory, I don't know. But it seems to me that, partly in the light of such opinions, you can be addicted to almost anything now. Sex, gambling, video games and food all spring to mind and I wonder what's next. Paedophilia?
Yes. You can be addicted to pretty much anything. Alcohol, Porn, exercising, washing your hands too much, sitting at a computer reading commenting on news stories, sitting on a computer inhabiting imaginary worlds (gaming). Addiction is a psychological issue largely, though some drugs have physiologically addictive properties, but yes, you can be addicted to pretty much anything. As you suggest there are people out there with sexual addictions.
You are never far from a liberal apologist for a wrong-doer in this country, are you?
There are lots of people with alcohol/mental health issues who are responsible and perceptive enough to know that driving a vehicle when you are twice the limit is a bad thing to do.
If a drink driver were to turn you into a paraplaegic one day maybe hearing that 'alcohol addiction/MHP's' excuse in Court might change your thinking on people like JT-L a little?
Steady on...
Doper, cheat, liar; it's a matter of public record he's all three. But I've got a fair bt of sympathy for him. He took a risk with PEDs and it blew up in his face spectacularly . I can imagine the life he knew up to that point came to a crashing halt. Two drunk driving convictions makes him a dickhead, for sure, but it also hints at a life out of control hell bent on self destruction. He needs help, I hope he gets it.
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