UCI should take some action and they should do it now , Today .

It's time to stop playing around and put an end to all of this Bull S...

Punish the rideres and also the teams caught using durags ! Ban them for long periods from professional cycling

Schick / Israel

When are we going to get some actual numbers to back these alegations of rampant doping in cyling. I'm sorry, but 7 positives out of 180 (3.8%) in one race doesn't constitue any kind of epidemic. That percentage becomes less when calculating the ratio of positives to negetives of the whole Pro Peleton in one season. How about some numbers to compare to other sports. What's the ratio of tests of other sports compared to cycling? One recent numer of positives I've seen is Athletics 334? and cycling 114? over the past 100 years. Thats 3:1 in favour of Athletics.

i would just like to say cycling does more testing than any other sport, Lance has been tested more than any other athelete ever and neva tested positive, to say that he doped or cheated is just jealousy unless you can back it up with facts and there are none. also many other sports dnt test for drugs at all like cycling and thats why ccling looks bad, nadal for example has been under extrem suspicion but there was no investigation, weather he blood doped or not is not the issue but there sould have been an investigation as there always is in cycling like with frank schleck at the moment

Cycling "has almost certainly become one of the cleanest."
Oh come off it. Not three months from a TdeF where 5 stages were won by dopers, where one of the top 10 riders is currently suspended by his team.....where we are probably only days away from hearing that another podium placer was doped....

The TdeF is finally showing the will to eradicate doping....but declaring cycling the "cleanest sport in the world" is premature and naive in the extreme.

Strength and endurance sports are (and always have been) more amenable to chemical improvement. Its just biology and to suggest that skills sports offer the same opportunity is simply wrong. You might dope as a footballer, but the reward is far less sure than for the cylist on EPO.

Bjarne Riis (an admitted doper) not only holds high office in the sport but is apparently revered, where

Do the pharmaceutical companies REALLY need to develop virtually undetectable EPO variations for patients undergoing kidney surgery etc. (target customers)?
Or is it FAR more profitable to create such new EPO strains for the cycling world?

Could the pharmas not design Erythropoeitin so that it turns the skin under the nails green?
Watch Ricco wear nail varnish in 2011 TdF.

"Cycling is no worse than any other sport"

Actually thanks to the considerable efforts made it has almost certainly become one of the cleanest. Talk to any athlete, sportsman or coach good enough to be on the inside track of any sport (skill sports are no exception) and you will soon realise that the problem is not down to the culture of any particular sport but the nature of competition. Drugs are a small price to pay for joining the elite and drug testing in sport will allways be necessary to protect athletes from themselves.
As for Armstrong, and I'm not a fan, his diplomacy is commendable. Respecting your opponents publicly and destroying them in competition is very cool.

I think it's time everybody got over themselves and got on racing! Less talk more action is what I say, sporting politics is respite of the small minded.

Armstrong-ites.....
1: Armstrong never comdemns proven dopers.
In fact, he underlines his respect for the likes of Ullrich. What is interesting about this is that it suggests that Armstrong does not consider doping to be wrong. He does not consider it to be cheating.

2: His team-mates did not test positive when riding with lance
Sadly, as we all know, passing dope tests in the 90s does not prove that riders did not dope....just that they did not fail tests. Most riders that have been eventaully caught have years of passed tests behind them when I have no doubt they were happily doped to the eyeballs.

3: Cycling is no worse than any other sport
Sorry....this is a complete myth. For years, doping was an accepted norm almost from cycle-sport's inception. From swigging brandy through to Anquetil's famous bread-and-water quote. Like all endurance sports, it is particularly susceptible to doping in a way that skill sports (e.g. football) are not. I have no doubt that all sports have their drug problems, but none has the endemic cultural histoy of doping that cycling does.....this line is just cycling in denial.

4: Its a new era and cycling is clean
There is a groudswell of clean riders....but the problem is spanning the generations. I give you Ricco and Piepoli as evidence. I think we are at the end of an era.....but the new one is definitely yet to start.

5: Armstrong should be allowed to race
I think he is a cheat. But I cannot prove it and nor has anyone else via a positive test. So he should race. I will be very interested to see how he goes.

gollanczv, Your expectaions of Lances principals does not prove guilt. I've heard many popular cyclists praise Lances efforts. Those same cyclists are greatly respected by the peloton and cycling community. Riders who test positive don't disgust my either. That doesn't make me a doper. I have respect for Ullrichs and others abilities on a bike. I know they can drop me inside of 20 minutes on their worst day. I refuse to consider riders mistakes as a reason to "hate their guts" or some other silly condemnation that so many fans choose these days. I watch sport for the spectacle not morals or principles. Angelic Morals and Principles are for Church not sport. I'm not condoning anyone to cheat through the use of PED's. I keep the issue in perspective and realize that it's not a huge issue to make personal and hate athletes for getting caught cheating. Here's my prediction: Once all the "doping cheats" have been weeded out, Stage Races and GT's will become bland, boring and uneventful for the GC. People will loose interest and TV ratings will plument. The up side is people will begin to take notice in the One Day races.

Let's not forget that Armstrong nor any teammate of Armstrong's had ever tested positive for banned substance during his years of winning the Tour or while ever being on his American team. It was not until after they left and went to other International teams that they were caught for banned substance. It seem's that in these country's these drugs are far to easily accessible and the pressure to perform is far to great. America does not import drugs from other country's in turn it makes these drug's much more difficult to obtain. All country's might want to look at there drug import export policy's and keep cycling out of country's that do not adhere to International law.

I feel sorry for Jan Ullrich

its dissapointing all the positive tests but i do think its working and i wish other sports, such as football, would test just like cycling

How on earth do they keep their balance on those really thin wheels especially with all those drugs flowing through their veins.

My knowledge isn't great but I always thought Virenque was guilty as sin but it just took him years to admit to anything despite overwhelming evidence against him?

I love watching the Tour but they're all guilty until proven innocent in my book. 2008 was supposed to be a new start for the Tour. A post-EPO world with a young and clean generation. Clearly a load of rubbish. It's great that cheats are getting caught but it's clearly never going to end. Kudos for cycling for going after the cheats. It's not good for its image but at least they're doing something about it.

interesting to note that the olympic committee will be re-examining athletes samples from all sports from the bejing olympics - whats the betting the chinese athletes come up clean. anyway I still think of m.virenque as a true french hero, he was obviously stiched up. I wonder what drugs they take in golf...prob. uppers. anyway I'm off now for a cycle ride. drugfree, I promise. km

hmmmm.....let's keep a little perspective here. Whether or not Caspar is innocent is surely incidental to tha fact that stage winners like Piepoli and Schumacher are irrefutably guilty. Caspar is a non-entity anyway. The big picture is that the cheats at this year's tour got caught.

It amuses me that Armstrong and his supporters deny any doping....but exhibit no embarassment at defending and\or associating with known dopers. It's a complete inconsistency which only hints further at Armstrong's guilt. If he was clean, the likes of Ulrich, Heras and Vino would surely disgust him.....but I have never heard him express anything but admiration for them.

The Jimmy Casper incident is different. He did not test positive for CERA. He had apparently changed asthma medication without informing the authorities. Still dodgy but there you go. He's won the "Red Lantern" twice so I can't see him pushing Lance next year.......

What a coincidence that Jimmy Casper was cleared by the French federation!!! If they continue this way they might be left alone in the tour de france and therefore one of their sh1tty cyclist will win it for once ... what a bunch of assho1es

is it a little coincidental that Jimmy Casper was cleared by the French federation!