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It would appear that way from the outside but alot of the problem with drugs in Cycling is that unlike many sports, the governing boody is actually trying to catch the drugs cheats.

Cycling has blood tests instead of urine tests to help them catch more cheats and when they do catch somebody then they do punish and ban them.

Compare that to say US Track & Field that are alleged to have caught many US athletes taking drugs and just covered it up for fear that the adverse publicity would cause the sport to lose the few sponsors that it had left.

It's long been my belief that IOC could have done more to catch drugs cheats at the Olympics but for the same reason that if they did would sponsors and the TV companies offer the same money for a sport dogged in controversy? Unlikely.

In alot of sports then the way to stamp out on the problem is more out of competition testing but in my opinion the only way to truly stop drugs cheats in sport is to make that a criminal offence and start sending the guilty to prison. Cheating is deception and deception is fraud.

For example if somebody went to a bank and gained ?80,000 by deception then they would go to prison for that. So why can somebody else use drugs to win a gold medal at say the World Athletic Championships and the ?80,000 in prize money and that not be classed as fraud and a criminal offense?

The clean athletes have been cheated as have the IAAF. For me it's the same thing.

Anyone who cycles for 200kms a day for 20 days at the speeds these guys do has to be a supreme athelete to start with

All the drugs do is give them the edge when the mind starts to crumble under the pressure of the extreme pain

Like they say drugs only enhance the talent not create it

Personally i think their all insane pushing their bodies through the pain barrier day after day like they do

I think it's been said before that cyclists and many other athletes that engage in extreme endurance sports have to have more than a touch of the massochist in them to put themselves through all that pain.

I agree with you that the drugs only improve an athlete and do not create them but with their aid an athlete can improve their performance by up to 5% and if the 100m sprint is taken as an example then that would equate to anything up to 0.5 second. The differnce in performance would be improving from an Olympic 1/4 Finalist to a Finalist and possible medalist so quite a significant improvement.

Tour de Farce.

True

Perfect example would be Eric Zabels domination of the green jersey
who recently admitted to doping

The sad fact is that where ever big money is involved in sport cheating will always be involved

Any sport that thinks its clean,prove it

I'd bet there are lot more sports other than the 3 usual suspects of cycling,boxing & rowing

Baseball is one that easily springs to mind but in truth there are probably way too many to list.

Admittedly they have now brought in testing and suspensions in Baseball but for years they just turned a blind eye to it and they are now stuck with records from the steroid era that have tarnished the game. Remember Baseball is a game that treasures it's records and rightly so.

In regards to Cycling then I do feel a little sorry for the sport. As I said before it is one of the few sports where the governing body is actually trying to rid itself of an obvious drugs problem.

How many sports have blood tests instead of urine tests to catch drugs cheats?

How many sports can boast of a team that sack somebody even though they didn't test positive?

How many sports make public the results of drugs tests whether they are positive or negative?

The answer to all three is very few.

Cycling is obviously a sport with a major drugs problem but I commend the UCI in actually making a stance against drugs unlike many that either sweep it under the carpet or pretend they don't have one.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't drugs permitted in "sports" such as power-lifting and WWF?