[Steve_Seattle]

"after all these cheating incidents"

I can only shake my head in disbelief. You begin to think that those who say "everybody does it [cheats]" are absolutely correct. The fact that these riders try to dope in the full glare of the TDF spotlight tells me that sophisticated masking techniques are the only thing that keeps the entire field from being caught. And maybe that's why every guy who's caught denies his guilt, because he knows he's only doing what everybody else is doing.

[miele man]

Re: your comment about “sophisticated masking techniques”. I was thinking just after learning about Vinokourov today that those who are inclined to cheat surely must have learned from Landis’s mistake last year. I presume they learned to apply the testosterone patch in a different place or for a shorter time or made it smaller or something else to raise the T level but to just below the testing threshold. Vinokourov must be the exception.

I have to admit a certain amount of naivete’ with respect to cycling and the methods used to enhance performance so I’ve a lot to learn about the sport. Still, it is a major disappointment to see how pervasive it apparently is. It is as you say, the teen ager’s lament, “Gee, Mom, everybody else is doing it” but the rest of that answer is, “well, if everybody else is going to jump off the bridge, are you planning to as well”?