Quote:
Originally posted by johnny:
I used to have great respect for these guys, but not anymore. This sport is being dominated by dope. Sure, you still have training to do, but stick a needle with whatever it is they're using nowadays in my butt, and i'll climb that Alpe D'huez like a rocket. They should rename it, Tour de Epo is more apropriate ! 
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Sigh... In that case we might as well ban *any* sport in the world in which the pressure is high and lots of money is made. The only reason that cycling has so many doping cases, is because inspections are more thorough than in *any* other sport. I don't believe in clean sports, whether it's cycling, swimming, football or even chess for that matter.
But just as long as people know what they're doing to themselves and operate within the accepted rules concerning doping, it's fine with me. Heck, even a simple coughing-mixture or one cup of coffee too much could lead to being caught for doping usage... But do those racing cyclists really intent to use an extra cup of coffee to crush all of their opponents?
And there's also the way of achieving improvement, of course. There's a difference between going on stage in the Rocky Mountains and taking EPO, but they *both* have the same effect - a higher production of red blood-corpuscles. Does that mean that training in the Rocky Mountains is also drug abuse? Of course not... I draw the line with EPO though, which is both dangerous and immoral ("the easy way out").
It's the eternal question, whether a means is considered to be a legal means of preperation or doping. In fact, last thing I heard was that they were going to scrap all non-dangerous and relatively "normal" products off the official doping lists.