I still think it is a travesty that some riders implicated in Operación Puerto continue to compete (ex. Piti), while others, like Jan Ullrich, saw their careers destroyed - based on evidence no different than the absolved. The greatest fault of the fight against doping in cycling is that it is clearly not a fair, uniform, unbiased effort made for the sake of reducing as much as possible the use of performance enhancing drugs in our sport. Rather, it is in part this, but it also could be seen as a persecutive campaign to enhance the careers of journalists, prosecutors, anti-doping administrators and all manner of hangers-on at the expense of individual athletes. Pre-buckshot, pre-Geoghegan Greg LeMond, where are you now?If you're going to destroy one rider's livelihood (ex. Jörg Jaksche), you might as well destroy everyone's, because otherwise there is no way to argue that your system is transparent and just. For example, if the former road World champion Alessandro Ballan's career is now ended by an anti-doping probe, it is only fair that the career of the current World and Olympic time trial champion be ended (were he ever proven to be guilty of doping, of course). That Ullrich was denied the opportunity to compete in the 2006 Tour is a travesty matched only by Floyd Landis's testing positive during the same event.
Ulle Attack in Andorra Arcalis - 1997
Auf Wiedersehen, Ulle!
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