I know soem of us have discussed this topic, on an off during the last while but I wanted to give the subject an airing again. Should an amnesty on the question of doping, be called?
Personally, I think that the sport is in freefall at the moment. It appears that we have an entire peloton using dopage. Nearly every day brings news of more cheating. In addition we have sponsors withdrawing sponsorship from teams and races, which means peoples livelihoods are endangered.
My question is - should an amnesty be called? I think an amnesty should be called - with binding and draconian conditions. Any rider/team manager who confesses must do so truthfully and he/she must confess fully to whatever doping practices were availed of. This amnesty would be a once off pardon for the rider/team manager. The amnesty period must be finite - say six month period. After the agreed amnesty period has elapsed - legislation is enacted which provides lifetime bans for riders/teams caught subsequently doping. All prize money previously won by that rider is, retrospectively, treated as sporting fraud and all money is recouped.
I'd vote a YES on that proposal. I wonder how scared some of these dopers are of being killed or worse for spilling the beans. The code of silence seems to be bullet proof.
Are they protecting Lance's records? If one domino goes they all go?... Have they lied so much that they can't bear to face friends or family if the truth is found out?
Not only the sponsorship but all the sales of bicycles, clothes, goods etc that are generated by the fan base... that could all fall away and put a lot of people out of work/business....
Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to decieve.
I def. think so. By giving some of these cowards an out, maybe they'll man up and realize they'll be helping their sport in the long-run. I feel like all the riders are waiting for other riders to make the first move and maybe they will all start cleaning up their act. But constant witch hunts are not the answer.
I don't think they should get a free ride. Doesn't seem right - they broke the rules, they should have to do a little time. Give them a six month ban if they come forward and give complete cooperation, a four year ban if they don't. That will effectively kill their main season this year. I have no desire to watch another dope powered GT.
It is important to keep the end goal in mind - not so much to villify the cheaters, but to get them under control so a clean rider has a chance to win.
Bold action now may pay rich dividends in a year or two. It's only a matter of time before the depth of doping in other sports becomes known. When that happens, cycling could get a boost as the first sport to attack the problem.
I too agree with an amnesty, let everyone come clean and commit collectively to eradicate doping from the sport once and for all. The consistent witch hunt is reducing our beloved sport to a lauging stock in other sports lovers eyes and despite the levels of doping, or not, in their sports they laugh at us and feel we support a bunch of cheats. Let cycling lead by example for a change - clean up and move on...🙂
Yes of course I did CH, we were having coffee this morning. 🙄 No, I didn't, obviously, but I am passed caring what any of these idiots have to say about anything. Cycling heroes? Graeme Obree is mine, in the current pro peleton I have none.
Sorry, but I'm against an amnesty. Seems to me the sport has been in an "amnesty" since I started racing and being a fan in the early 1960s (yes, I'm old!) Every year there would be a minor scandal, and everyone promises to do better (or would claim that someone put something in their water bottle to incriminate them...). Then finally the "big Cofidis affair," and a few big stars made examples of, but the peloton continues to "seek medical advice" for lack of a better euphamism. Now we have Basso who didn't really dope, just donated blood so that he could think about doping. Until you finally make it clear to everyone that cycling will not continue to be the laughingstock of sports in terms of doping (face it, public perception is as important as "truth" given that sports are simply a form of entertainment for the public) and that anyone found guilty of doping will be suspended. I no longer believe that promises to improve are worth anything.
Yes of course I did CH, we were having coffee this morning. 🙄 No, I didn't, obviously, but I am passed caring what any of these idiots have to say about anything. Cycling heroes? Graeme Obree is mine, in the current pro peleton I have none.
no worries CH, the whole thing is just so depressing. I have long since given up having favourite cyclists. I like riding my bike, but can't stand watching cheats who race, and don't have the time to spend trying to work out who is a cheat and who isn't anymore. It's easier and safer to assume they all are. Pass the coffee pot! 😄
Part of me thinks the amnesty is a great idea, but I think that the sponsors would just leave all the faster when it comes out that not only is there a doping problem, but their team doped too. I think pro cycling is done for the next several years, maybe forever. The greed of the riders, teams and sponsors have killed the golden goose. We fans pay the price. This sucks!
But then again, wen i got into cycling here in the US, there really was no pro cycling, and while we had Eddy to look at in awe, information was so hard to get it was kind of like European cycling did not really exist. So we had our amateur racing scene, and it was pretty exciting too. Maybe that's best for cycling, to get rid of pro cycling and large prize list and the like. An active amateur cycling scene where people raced for the love of the sport, and any career was made on secondary employment based on the riders reputation and skills. Face it fans, money has totally corrupted cycling. Hark, A death blow I fear hast gone straight to the heart!
I'm against an amnesty program - not that I'm out for blood but I just don't think it would work.
People cheat or break laws because they can get away with it. Increasing the penalties doesn't change anything because they don't think they will be caught. What changes things is increasing the likelihood that they WILL get caught.
In order to do that we do need the doctors and soigneurs and racers to talk about how they cheat so we can figure out how to catch them at it. And for that we need more motivation than just an amnesty.
