aracer.: I think my post may be in danger of being misconstrued.
I don’t buy the idea of any of them as victims, Ullrich, Pantani, Riis, Hamilton, Hincapie, Landis etc. All liars and cheats, all should face the same punishment.
It’s widening the debate a bit but I also think that punishment should be universal to anyone that makes their living from any sport not just cycling. The idea that cycling should push for 4 year or life bans when rugby, tennis, football, baseball, ice hockey etc are apparently making very little effort is a disgrace.
EDIT:
after watching doc, got to love him, all his opponents back in the day did & they were all ‘at it’… at least it was exciting times! unlike our gb wiggins… dour
I also think that is bullshit propagated by the liars and cheats to win public support and ease their consciences. I don’t doubt that it was rife and that a high percentage of riders undermined their sport and their supporters by cheating but somewhere in every race there would have been people riding clean. Sadly we’ll never know who they were or how good they were because we can’t ever be certain of having seen a fair fight. It may be that given a level playing field the Pantani’s, LA’s and Ulrich’s would have risen to the top anyway or maybe someone we’ve barely heard of should have been one of the great cyclists of his generation.