this guy was 1 of the loudest and most indignent­ critics of people he thought were dishonest rider. he­ retired once And that should be enforced by the UCI,­ noteam should give this guy a berth

That's the same Paul Kimmage who acknowledged the­ Brit rider's status as an advocate of clean riding.­ There are typical bouts of "redunant­ wrangling" from every one of them, struggling to­ come to terms with being caught. It's when the­ furore subsides that rationality and humility need to­ prevail.

Millar held his hands up only after having threataned­ Paul Kimmage with legal action.Its all very well being­ contrite after your caught.

Definitely. Even an admittance of guilt won’t vanquish­ the critics. Ricco’s naturally abrasive. It doesn’t­ matter what he says, his venomous personality will mean­ they can never be construed as the words of a person­ who has learnt their lesson. Cynics require a real­ tale of redemption.

P.s. In all fairness to Millar, he­ went above and beyond holding his hands up,­ volunteering himself as an example of somebody going­ damagingly astray.

Last time I checked, Ricco admitted his guilt. As did­ Ivan Basso (partly). Problem is he (Ricco) is an­ irritating little scrote, where as someone like Millar­ is very eloquent when addressing the issue of doping. ­ Seems to me that charm goes a long way, when deciding­ who does and who doesn't deserve a second chance.

And whats a "3 wheeled trice" anyway?

Reckon Keith Moon's family might not like you very­ much.

Life bans would be excessive. On severer punishments,­ elaborating on current consequences with such draconian­ decisions would result in too much friction.

As I’ve­ alluded to under certain other articles, compromise is­ everything in the fight against drugs. As righteous as­ giving dopers zero room for manoeuvrability sounds,­ this is still their careers. Even many clean cyclists­ would struggle to condemn their fellow riders to such­ obscurity and decadence. Most will concur on two years­ being sufficient.

The repercussions inevitably become­ rash if the restrictions do. A rider doesn’t want to­ be traversing the minor echelons of the sport, and­ neither will a typically sympathetic team want to touch­ them. They might as well not go back.

Besides, how­ many repeat offenders is the sport looking at. No­ matter the consequences, there will always be those­ desperate enough to adopt malpractices in their vain­ attempt to get ahead, at least for the first time. I­ very much doubt they‘re of the mindset that “it‘s only­ two years“. There‘s still too much to lose in that­ time. It becomes somewhat amoral if the sport thinks­ it can rise above that by adopting those brash­ measures.

I have a better idea tha ban for life at first­ offense...ban for 2 years IF the rider communicates­ with the anti-doping organizations helping them­ (including saying the name of the doctor who helped him­ and other riders who were taking doping products in the­ same time) ..if he wants to keep the silence 3 to 4­ years.....the 1 years after the return from suspension­ he shouldnt be able to take part in the bigger race­ (giro france vuelta , important 1 day classics etc )­ and be tested for a number of years frequently to be­ sure he is not doing again

Sorry geoirkcities, they are, putting it bluntly,­ bloody cheats. Life ban on the 1st offence is the only­ way to clean the sport up or you make it a free for­ all. Take what you like, when you like, as much as you­ like.

The collective condemnation of supposed hypocrisy is­ ill-judged.

BS is highlighting a problem that­ compounds the misery over positive drugs tests - grown­ men not being able to accept responsibility. As well­ as being an infamous cheat, Vino’s notoriety for­ expelling that responsibility is exasperating.

People­ are manifesting a gripe from this article that isn’t­ there to be had. Take David Millar for example. ­ Whilst previously an exposed cheat, like with the­ others there would still eventually arise an­ opportunity for the professional cycling world to­ welcome him back. However, there are prerequisites to­ be truly welcomed back, and Vino, Di Luca, Rico, and­ Astarloza swearing on their lives over B samples isn’t­ one of those.

After his share of redundant wrangling,­ Millar began to come to terms with his erroneous ways. ­ Like all of those who’ve felt so pressured to the point­ of feeling compelled to cheat (stupidly, always),­ assuming they still have years in them, there are­ different routes back to the top. Millar is now a­ proponent for clean racing, whilst the majority­ continue their pledges of innocence. The scepticism­ resulting from a plethora of questionable practises­ will mean that, no matter what he says, Millar will­ always be unwelcome in the eyes of some. The fact is,­ a second chance is possible. A bit of responsibility­ and humility during that process wouldn’t go amiss.

In any case. Let's hope Vino is clean. Seems odd­ that he wins the 'race of truth' on his 3rd day­ of racing after a 2 year absence. Knock on wood­ it's hard work and nutrition, and not­ tomorrow's 'I knew it'.

I've always been surprised it got so little­ attention. some of the old Hamilton stories included­ references to Lance/ Big Tex which never got followed­ up on. Maybe they were just focusing on the cyclists­ who used their Dog's names???? I'm sure Greg­ Lemond & David Walsh would throw a party if they­ could verify something like that. But the question­ remains- how many riders are actually clean? It would­ seem with tougher controls the number is growing. And­ teams like Garmin & Columbia look to be working­ very hard to insure clean riders. Knocking on wood we­ can have a grand tour without any in race or post race­ doping questions.

Since when has Armstrong been implicated in Puerto -­ there has never been any evidence of that to my­ knowledge. I think any big-name rider who was in the­ peleton in the 90s is certainly suspect, as doping was­ rife, especially blood doping/EPO, for which there was­ no effective test. The tests have clearly got better,­ but the technology employed by the dopers to mask usage­ is equally sophisticated. There are less riders­ (especially young riders) doping and the old guard will­ fall away during the natural passing of time. Contador­ is a big worry for me - I want to beleive in him, but­ if something looks too good to be true, it usually is. ­ For him to be handing out a beating to the best of the­ rest, all/most of whom have since shown to be doping is­ very suspicious. To add to this, he seems reluctant to­ make any kind of anti-doping statement or even answer­ questions on the issue.

How many of the top riders are doping at this point? Di­ Luca has been a suspect for years and he didn't­ clean up his act. Armstrong and Contador were both­ implicated in Puerto (Big Tex/ AC), but never­ 'caught'. Frank Schleck was almost suspended­ last year, but escaped a ban. The only riders I've­ seen come out as truly anti-doping have been Gerdemann,­ Van de Velde, Wiggins, and Voigt. The Gerolsteiner guys­ all threw Schumacher under the bus, but were they just­ trying to protect themselves? Vino doping just put him­ on a level playing field. It would be naive to think­ that the teams, trainers, & riders haven't­ found ways to protect their investment and­ 'manage' the blood passports. Let's see the­ 50 riders on the Puerto list now. And let's see the­ 150 athletes from other sports so cycling doesn't­ have to feel all the bad press from doping because­ they're the only ones fighting it and the only ones­ catching people.

jbandbetsymac ...yeah in every sport is someone who­ sets high standards...but there s no sport where are so­ many doping test getting positive..and so much noise­ maked about this subject DOPING ...and it s not about­ one rider getting its about all of your principal­ adversaries like pedro118118 said Ricco Sella and­ DiLuca all have been caught....and impossible for me to­ think that he is "the God os cycling " that­ is beating anyone else using oly fresh water.

maybe, Contador is the bet rider on the world

seby_pricop, true but we don't know how many of­ Ricco's stellar performances were due to the use of­ EPO. In relation to Contador, every sport has those­ that stand above the rest, are we to assume they are­ all cheating if one of their peers is caught doping?

With Contador it's all subjective of course, but it­ does raise an eyebrow when he (as legend would have it)­ gets off a sun lounger on the beach, puts on his­ cycling kit and rides a 3-week grand tour on days­ notice, as he did in 2008 in Italy. This alone would­ be some acheivement. But not only that, he wins the­ thing! And not only that, his closest competitors­ (although not that close in the end) are the likes of­ Di Luca, Sella and Ricco etc - all of which have since­ turned out to be 'charging' on CERA. How is­ that possible in elite sport? To beat the best of the­ best, who were all doping, with little preperation??!!

jbandbetsymac your opinion is completely true..perfect­ example for rider who succeded without doping is Linus­ Gerdeman...but in an another order of ideas let s­ compare Ricco and Contador (Giro 08) : ricco wasnt a­ noname , he didnt need epo to stay with the main­ bunch..but he wanted to be more than a top10 overall­ finisher so he taked epo(cera) as was later­ discovered...but in that year giro he was beaten for­ good minutes by Contador.. and you cant said that­ contador was so much better than even cera could NOT­ beat (or even just stay close to) him and even Ricco­ said that he is not understanding how is albeto doing­ so well...and as a fact its very hard for me to­ understand how Contador was so good in TdF 09­ destroying the rivals.

P.S : i habe nothing against­ Contador and he is not the only one that i consider his­ results strange