<p>Is there any other sport in the world that not only tolerates cheating, but encourages it? Proven dopers are given second and third chances while Lance Armstrong, who has never tested positive, is the most publicly attacked rider in the Tour de France. It’s just an extremely dishonest, corrupt, and borderline inhumane sport that puts any baseball scandal look minnow-like.</p>
<p>well obviously lance armstrong is attacked more than anyone else … everyone’s jealous of him!</p>
<p>that doggie knocking down the biker was pretty funny</p>
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<p>Professional cheating? :D</p>
<p>encourages? The riders from the Spanish bust are still not allowed to race. Alexander Vinokurov is probably going to face a lifetime ban. No one knows whats going to happen to Rasmussen because he missed them and didn’t test, and he got kicked off both the national team and team Rabobank. Floyd Landis is not proven and he’s not allowed to race. Meanwhile Barry Bonds was named in a scandal and still plays…with the same team.</p>
<p>Lance Armstrong is attacked a whole lot by foreign press…basically because of what mj said…they’re jealous. Cycling was a mainly European sport, and then this American comes along and blows the biggest record in the sport out of the water. Of course people are going to try and put as much dirt on him as possible. True, it is probably the sport with the largest percent of athletes that dope…and they don’t catch all of them. But methods are getting better and riders are getting lifetime bans. I fail to see how it’s inhumane. It is a marathon of human suffering, but no one is forcing these men to ride bikes.</p>
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Professional cycling is has some of the harshest penalties for doping, so I fail to see the encouragement.</p>
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In the past 2-3 years I think professional cycling has realized the problem it has and has vastly increased the penalties for doping. The only sport that is close that I know of is track and field.</p>
<p>Like Mr. Bojangles said, cyclers that get caught now are looking at lifetime bans. I also agree that a massive percentage of cyclers dope (due to the massive advantage you can get). A few more lifetime bans and I think the sport will clean up considerably.</p>
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Nah, baseball doesn’t test like cycling does. In fact, I’d think baseball is way more tolerant of cheating than cycling. Sports like Football don’t even care.</p>
<p>Cycling has indeed been thorough in its testing, yet riders are still widely doping. The entire culture of the sport is rotten: some officials are trying very hard to clean it up, but the mindset of the common cycler is to win at all costs.</p>
<p>The riders that are still doping are skipping their drug tests, or doing it in between races…which, as we saw with Michael Rasmussen…is soon to get the axe. It’s tough, but usually you can tell if someone has been doping. Really high spikes in performance followed by days of major time losses. The worst thing is when you find out the big name guys are doping. These are usually harder to tell because everyone is used to their high performance. But sooner or later, they get caught.</p>
<p>Yes, there’s another sport:Baseball.</p>
<p>Cycling has the harshest penalties and most thorough testing and all the sport gets is headlines for when they catch the dopers. Top cyclists have doped and been caught. It’s obvious the testing protocols are working to clean up the sport, unlike baseball, which relies on Jose Canseco more than science.</p>
<p>There is a growing shift in cycling culture to eliminate doping, especially as TDF and UCI officials have adopted the new policy of encouraging entire teams to drop following positive tests by a single rider. Why would a domestique for Cofidis support doping given that he just lost a paycheck because his team leader was expelled? There were 189 riders in this year’s tour. Every single one was tested numerous times, urine and blood. 2 were caught cheating, 1 was expelled because of a rules violation. For that, 3 entire teams left the tour, more than 20 innocent riders suffering from the poor judgment of their team leaders.</p>
<p>Cyclists are also starting to realize that if the sport doesn’t clean up, in this age of corporate sponsorship, it will die. That’s incentive enough.</p>
<p>Cheating is not new to cycling, and many riders have been caught before. One of France’s most celebrated cyclists is a known doper, but nobody really cares. Say what you will about Palmeiro or Bonds, but few actually hold them up to be heroes.</p>
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- Cheating by using steroids is not new to virtually all sports. Cycling is not to be singled out.
- Many riders have been caught in cycling because cycling is virtually the only organization that actually tries to stop it.
3)Many popular baseball players are cheaters - and people don’t care. Many people are fans of Bonds, McGwire, or ARod (oh yeah, look for this story to develop soon).</p>
<p>You can’t blame the sport, which is focusing its investigations on top cyclists, for the ignorance of the fans. American fans aren’t exactly first in holding their athletes to high moral standards.</p>
<p>I admire the cycling officials who have been testing for decades longer than most officials of other sports. However, that has not stemmed the tide of incessant cheating, which points to a rotten culture that officials have to really try hard to fix.</p>
<p>AP -> “DETROIT – Tigers infielder Neifi Perez was suspended for 80 games Friday after testing positive for a third time for a banned stimulant, a penalty that finishes his season.
Perez was suspended for 25 games on July 6 when he tested positive for a second time. Under baseball’s labor contract, a player who tests positive for the first time is sent for counseling.”</p>
<p>Three positive tests and he gets a half-season suspension. With cycling you get one positive test and you’re out for two years and you’re fined a year’s pay. </p>
<p>I also suggest those pointing to cycling’s culture look at the new US team Slipstream. Here’s a team that’s taking charge with extreme anti-doping measures and has had to beat riders off with a stick who are looking to join. Plus, those argyle jerseys are incredible.</p>
<p>“Cyclists are also starting to realize that if the sport doesn’t clean up, in this age of corporate sponsorship, it will die. That’s incentive enough.”</p>
<p>Yep…Adidas is threatening to drop sponsorship of T-Mobile if one more case of doping pops up on their team. And doping in cycling has only started since the Greg Lemond era…it’s not like it’s been going on for the last half century. I think the dirtier sports culture is the one that allows its players to play while still be under accusations, or the one that allows its players to play after a short period of time after conviction.</p>
<p>Doping in cycling, unfortunately, has a longer history than in other sports. It actually does go back that far. Tom Simpson died on a stage of the Tour in 1967 after taking amphetamines to boost his performance. Benzedrine was used before 1950 as well.</p>
<p>Unlike other sports though, cycling is looking at its past as a way to weed out current dopers. While baseball has to rely on Congress and leaked grand jury testimony, cycling relies on blood tests. Football has a paltry 4 game suspension for steroids violations and until this offseason, allowed convicted steroids users to play in the Pro Bowl. Compare this when it comes to sports culture…</p>
<p>Merriman leads the NFL in sacks, tests positive, plays in the all star game after a quarter season suspension.</p>
<p>Rasmussen leads Tour de France, never tests positive under much more stringent testing, sacked by national team and professional team, career is over.</p>