I'm so saddened by the current situation. It seems crazy to risk everything if you are almost certain to be caught by the present doping controls. We appear to have one of following scenarios:

1.        The riders in question are incredibly stupid (I find that hard to believe, particularly in the case of those such as Vinokourov).
2.        The riders in question are incredibly arrogant (same as point 1 in reality).
3.        The doping culture is so entrenched in some riders. Let's hope the younger generation of riders coming along, like Mark Cavendish, can change that mindset.
4.        The testing procedures are dangerously inaccurate. Dangerous because they are playing with the riders livelihoods. If this is the case it would explain why Floyd Landis is fighting his case so hard when all the evidence seems to be against him.

Unfortunately the doping culture has been endemic in pro cycling for many years. I recently read William Fotheringham's book on Tom Simpson, "Put me back on my bike". Simpson was my hero, and it's a superb book, but quite depressing in regard to all the doping that went on. Not all of it was on the bike though. The major part of a pro cyclists income was (and still is) provided not in the big races with their teams, but the smaller events to which they were individually contracted by their managers. They might race one day in Amsterdam, the next in Paris and the following day in Frankfurt. They had to drive themselves between races so took amphetamines to stay awake, then sleeping pills to get to sleep when they eventually got to bed. If they didn't like it they were told there were any number of up-and-coming riders who would willingly take their place. So a culture of drug acceptance was created, not just of cheating to win, but of survival.

I don't condone the taking of performance enhancing drugs, nor will I ever, but it seems it was the 'system' that was partly responsible for creating it in the first place, yet the 'system' condemns the riders when they are caught. At least the sport of cycling is trying to do something about the problem, which is more than can be said most other sports, who still have their heads stuck firmly in the sand. Witness the reaction when Gary Player had the audacity to suggest that some golfers took steroids to improve their game. The big money sports will never truly get to grips with the problem until they learn to risk losing the major sponsors that permeate their sports. Money talks I am afraid.

As an aside, I wonder how many of us would pass a drug/alcohol test when we got to work in the morning, or more particularly after lunch?