I´ve only really just sat back and thought about this - no drugs busts on the Tour.

Let´s just hope that this is because there were no drugs not that the cheats have stayed several testing steps ahead!

Oh yes there is - Mikel Astarloza from team Euskaltel-Euskadi (the orange ones) who won stage 16 has tested positive for EPO - just waiting on the second test to confirm it.  The chap concerned is apparently 'bemused' by the result and denying it emphatically.  Same old same old...

Now, just to spice things up - does it matter?  The history of doping is as long as the history of the tour, first coffee and champagne, then amphetamine and multi vitamins, now EPO and blood doping. "If ten will kill you I'll take nine" and "How often did you take drugs - only when it was necessary - and how often was that - nearly always"...two quotes from tom simpson and another famous rider whose name I forget  illustrate that many, many riders including very famous ones have taken drugs throughout the history of cycling.  The riders went on strike during the festina busts to complain about the police going through their luggage!!  How do you think they get up those mountains so fast - they're not just pedalling up them they're racing up them.  Greg Lemond has just written in La Monde that Contador must have the highest VO2 max of any human being alive - ever to have ridden up one of the mountains as fast as he did.  Paul Kimmage in 'Rough Ride' railed against the teams and authorities silently accepting and thus condoning the rampant doping that was going on, going almost as far as to excuse the riders from taking them because not to do so would be to put oneself at a serious disadvantage.  One doctor at the time spoke about using drugs, not to enhance performance, merely to restore it, to help the body recover after unnatural exertions - and let's face it the riders exertions are pretty unnatural - the tour is a killer, quite literally.  And let's not forget the debate about which substances are banned and which are not, that's a minefield I'm not well versed enough to go into but I know it's pretty contentious.

So, should we just open the flood gates and let them all at it - of course not, but some people give it serious thought and there are enough issues involved about what sport means to fans, to the athletes, to big business, to society, for us to all give it some serious thought.

Anyone got an aspirin I can feel a headache coming on...

Hmmm... I made a post about Astarloza - where'd it go?

Anyway, the whole drugs thing... I do not condone it at all. At all. However, as has been discussed in all kinds of places, how on earth do we expect these people do compete at this level without enhancements? Isn't there a responsibilty with the racing authorities to balance the demand of the fantastic spectacle with realistic expectations of human capability?

The sponsors demand their teams compete at that level. The organisers want to make their event get as much coverage as possible. The riders take drugs simply to stay at the same level as their competitors. That is an incredibly dangerous mindset to get into.

None of us truly believe the sport to be clean do we? The chemistry just gets cleverer, as it does in athletics and other sports. It's horrendous but it's a reflection of the greater issue of legalisation of drugs in general - do we just go for it and take away the risks through sensible control and legislation? I can't think that way but I do see the argument.

Man! Pass the aspirin. Or "cough medicine". 

I didn´t know about Astarloza - which upsets me as the Basque Boyz have long been favourites of mine.

It´s enough to make me want to lie down in a darkened room and take something calming!!

Extremely well argued points above, very interesting reading. It´s absolutely true that drugs (starting with alcohol and coffee) have been there since the very beginning but it´s also true that many athletes do ride the Tour clean- and successfully. I believe that David Millar is riding drug free since his return and it certainly looks as if Armstrong is riding clean after several million tests. The spectre of drug induced success will always overshadow the Tour - See Bradley Wiggins´ sad little comment - to the effect that no one would believe his efforts were his alone but it does appear that the athletes are increasingly better trained, equipped and fed to deal with the event.

The debate about drugs in sport will go on and on ad infinitum without resolution - probably because there is no resolution. As Fanboy says, however, the Tour is the greatest test of a person´s physical ability and skill - if any rider can do it unaided then "he´s (and one day, maybe, she´s) a jolly good fellow!!!