Over the weekend I had a few casual conversations with people about the finish of the Tour de France. “They’re all dopers!”; “Who isn’t doping?”; and “Did you watch the drug tour?” were common catch-phrases. I even got flack from family for tuning in to Versus each evening to watch the race. It is clear that the doping scandals of 2006 and 2007 have turned off many would-be cycling fans. This brings me to the point I was trying to make in this post (albeit with sarcasm), which is that I actually think pro-bicycling is doing what other professional sports should be doing to eliminate the use of performance enhancing drugs: cheaters are being caught and clean riders are continuing to race.

My only criticisms over the way cycling handles doping cases have to do with 1) media leaks which circumvent the due process rights of the riders; and 2) casting the net so wide, or weaving the holes so small, that innocent people get caught up in what can easily become a career ending rush to judgement. Suspend or ban riders when there is clear proof of cheating, but provide the same protections that we afford common criminals. That said, here in America we seem to prefer to bury our heads in the sand (e.g., the PGA has no drug testing program whatsoever), or we just accept that doping is okay so long as the doper plays for our team (as appears to be the case in San Fransicso).