As I originally pointed out, the racing business needs three entities to
protect the sport and the participants.
1) They need race promoters who put on races. It is important that these men
JUST PUT ON RACES.
While it is perfectly OK to have an opinion on the drugging problems these
people are not in charge of the riders. They can demand that the rule-making
body make certain rules and they can demand that the rule-making body
enforce these rules in a proper manner but they are should never step over
the line and pretend that they are the ones that enforce the riders
regulations. They are simply too close to the problem and cannot keep a
proper perspective on this subject.
2) They need a rule-making body that covers all of the regulations necessary
for the fair and safe manner of running races.
The regulations of the UCI are actually a remarkably good set of regulations
that cover just about everything. The problem is that they started allowing
the enforcement of their rules to get out of their hands and that could only
end up with no one knowing who is supposed to enforce the rules.
3) A rider's union that intercedes for the riders on the promoter's side to
maintain rider income. And on the rule-making side to make sure that all
riders are treated fairly and equally.
This is the group that especially hasn't been living up to its requirements.
The honest riders can only see that the dishonest riders are doing them out
of wins and destroying their careers. That's completely true - that's why
drugging etc. is so pernicious. However, the honest riders do not understand
that if the dishonest riders are nevertheless dealt with completely fair and
above board, you can't tell whether they were dishonest riders honestly
caught or honest riders dishonestly caught.
My take on what's happening is this:
Although the ASO probably means well, they are completely out of line
putting on any races outside of the UCI purview. I'm sure that they believe
that something had to be done but destroying the administration instead of
working it out is totally wrong.
The UCI has screwed up by trying to fob off the doping problem onto someone
else (WADA). The fact of the matter is that bicycle racing gains almost
nothing by being an Olympic sport and having to turn over great deals of
authority to such people who couldn't care less about cycling is absolutely
the wrong thing to do.
The rider's union is going to have to buckle down and set a clear and
concise set of rules pertaining to the way drug tests are administered and
administrated. It isn't that we don't want to catch the cheaters, its that
we don't want it to be easy to frame a rider and have all the other riders
look the other way because they don't want to be thought of as supporting a
cheater.
It is looking like the racing this year will provide absolutely no truth
pertaining to who are the good, the better and the greatest riders. Instead
what we're going to see is who can race where, when. The winner, whether or
not it's true, will always be thought of as someone who didn't ride against
the best competition.
And that's unfair to the races, the rule makers and the racers.