Keith99

I think this is on the right track. The biggest problem is that teams are not like teams in other sports. They can be created out of nothing. So a team is banned. It is back next year with a new name. But lets say we add a provision that a team has to exist for 5 years before it can be a ProTour team. Now losing a team means something.

Others keep saying test every rider every stage. That is not feasable, especially on the mountian top finishes. Given 5 minutes a rider can beat a urine test. Riders to be tested have no privacy from finish to giving the sample. The out of competition tests are surprise test because if the rider was warned they would pass every time.

But how about creating a two tiered set of positives? Or depending on the tests even more tiers? Same actual failing levels as now, but lower levels leading to a 'minor' penalty of additional testing? Enough 'not quite positive' tests and the penalties could be testing all riders on the team.

Would this end doping? No way. But it might keep the levels in check.

It might be possible to test all riders for one or two stages of a major tour. Again the logistics just would not work for a mountian top finish (a good stage to push doping limits). But it would be workable on a flat stage the day after or a mountian stage with the finish after the decent. Logistically a TT would be easiest, but also wasteful as most riders have little reason to dope, needing only a good enough finsih to be safe on time elimination.