Why doping will not go away

It seems that here in North America our biking education is approaching a level to see that dope is almost as necessary as the bike to win a big race. With the last three grand tours being won by someone who has been touched by the suspicion of doping, not to mention others that were on the podium, it is hard to ignore it.

What to do about it? It seems that the UCI pays lip-service to catching dopers and, as we see, sometimes does catch them. However, the ones that pass all the tests but still dope seem to be the part of the iceberg that is under the water. When riders do not say 'who dopes' but 'who does not dope' it forces you to step back and re-think things.

It is apparent that testing riders only catches the minority. The dopers are always one step ahead of the testers. Even if a rider does get caught he usually comes out on top. Tyler Hamilton will not have to work another day in his life if he does not want to (well not unless he develops a dope problem of a different nature). Jan Ullrich, if found guilty, is also set for life. The financial incentive to dope is large. Doping has been around since at least Anquetil’s ‘the Tour cannot be won on mineral water alone’ time but probably not at the same level that it has gotten to in the last couple decades. Money and cheating mix like gin and tonic.

Some say that doping should be made legal. That does seem like an easy solution. However, following that idea to its logical conclusion results in an unacceptable conclusion for the UCI.

Doping being legal would lead to riders doping more. More doping would lead to some crazy riding (which would be great to watch), but eventually there would be a death. That could be swept under the carpet, but then there would be another death and another until the carpet had such a bump that we could no longer ignore it. The deaths would make bad publicity for the sponsors. The sponsors would pull their money, and the financial incentive to dope would be gone. Sounds like a good result. However with the sponsors no longer bank rolling the sport, the sport would lose its profile. A reduced profile results in a lack of power for the UCI. The actions of the UCI suggest that it is a collection of power hungry guys. Since they currently have the power to ‘ye or nay’ any decisions about what is done in the fight against doping, I find it hard to believe that they would do something that would result in a reduction of the influence they wield over anything. The UCI will never make doping legal, not because of the moral argument but because of the self interest argument.

You cannot catch the riders if doping is illegal and you cannot make it legal.

How can the sport be cleaned up and the UCI maintain its influence. As previously stated the financial incentive needs to be eliminated. This may seem extreme but why not make the riders post a bond. As long as they stay clean the bond is safe. If they want to risk it and dope then they also run the risk of losing the bond. If they are found guilty of doping they do not ride off into the sunset counting their money. Instead they end up like any average Joe would if he was found cheating at work, no job and no money. The amount of the bond would have to directly correlated to the rider’s contract to ensure that the ‘big boys’ end up in the same position as every one else.

The only way to clean up the sport is eliminate the financial incentive to cheat. Good luck getting the riders to agree to a bond.