Re: Cycling: the costs of elite sport.

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Is it worth such a cost?

Depends on whether you are measuring the success of the exercise by how many medals/ TdFs you win, regardless of cost; or whether you think that as a sports coach you have a duty of care to those you associate with and you are responsible for issues such as their wider well being and strong mental health etc.

If you believe the first measure is all that is important then its been hugely successful and therefore worth the struggle. If you believe sports coaches should treat the sport people as human beings rather than just a number on a spreadsheet which can be simply swapped out when they are exhausted and destroyed then maybe less so.

I think when we finally get the full story on Brailsford et al and their bending of the rules with TUEs etc and their attitude to the people they were supposedly mentoring it will be viewed in years come as a big and cynical and ultimately destructive manipulation of the sport as Lance Armstrong etc in the TdF.

Having seen documentaries about Dave Brailsford I would suspect that his 'win at all costs' ethos is born out of some bitterness that his own career as a sportsman was mediocre at best and he has since been constantly looking for a way to enjoy vicariously the success he so longed for himself.