Alexandre Vinokourov and the Astana team have been removed from the Tour. Ignore the post below calling for the legalization of doping (editor’s note: HEY!). I have a more modest proposal: stop cheating. This year we are witnessing a tour where some riders are doped and others are clean. This is no surprise. The process of cleaning up cycling will take several years. Be patient.

The important thing now is for the Tour to establish an appropriate punishment. Namely all of Astana’s riders need to be banned from the Tour for life. Astana’s doctors need to be banned from the Tour for life. Astana’s management needs to be banned from the Tour for life. Anyone who has contact with “doctor” Ferrari needs to be banned from the Tour for life. The UCI needs to be told that they are no longer relevant for establishing standards of sporting conduct for the Tour de France.

I like cycling. Lots of people like cycling. It’s easy to get emotionally attached to particular riders and react to their subsequent positive drug tests with the attitude that “if they’re doping than everyone is doping”. That’s wrong. Some people are doping and others are clean. What I admire about cycling is not a particular rider, but the spectacle of seeing riders overcome the physical demands imposed on them to emerge triumphant. I don’t care what their name is. I don’t care what their nationality is. I don’t care if they have broken any records. I do care that they are clean. Winning the Tour de France doped is about as meaningful to me as being carried to the top of Mount Everest.

As I wrote in my preview stop being supportive of dopers and stop whining when your favorite rider turns out to be a jerk. Condemn doping and condemn those who do it. Rather than let doping get you down on cycling let it increase your respect for the people who don’t dope but continue to soldier on knowing that being honest will diminish their chances of winning. As I wrote before, be patient. This year’s Tour was expected to be a mess and it has lived up to all expectations. What remains to be seen is where the Tour goes from here. Your part in that is to demand a clean race and demand a level of sportsmanship that too many teams and riders currently make a mockery of.