Originally Posted by Rowan

And doesn't the world need a bit more of those sorts of people?

NOS88, with all due respect, you need to get out of your ivory tower, roll up your sleeves and do a bit of physical labour with the blue collar set. Again trust me on this, they will call a spade a spade, not an "implement for the removal and placement elsewhere of geologically formed particles, decaying vegetable matter and plastic mass comprising a self-setting compound mixed with variable-sized aggregate".

I'm not sure of Cavendish's background, but as a Manx man, I can imagine he has a very independent outlook on life that has made him a winner, and a very gracious one when it comes to recognising those teammates who put him on the podium.

The real issue with doping for mine is not so much that it creates false winners and losers, but that it threatens the lives of the individuals who engage in it... from the elite down to the amateur wannabe.

Frankly, cycling needs characters, as any sport does. Those characters usually have strong opinions about themselves and those around them.

Oh and for the poster who wanted to tarnish-without-proof Cavendish with the doping brush, just have a look at how he and the other sprinters like McEwen pull up at the end of mountain stages, well off the back of the peloton, and struggling to finish inside the time limit.

It's amazing that some posters want to denigrate Cavendish's comments, yet engage in exactly the same sort of rhetoric about him to justify their view. But then again, it is the 50+ forum...