Gordy748

I think there are some significant environmental factors that encourage cyclists to take PEDs.

Professional cycling is phenomenally hard. It ranks 10/10 on endurance requirement, and the next sports are cross country skiing and professional boxing, which are 8/10. International rowing is 7/10, distance swimming and running events are 6/10, along with amateur cycling. Other sports dribble in around 5 to 4. Because it is so hard, newcomers risk getting fatigued easily, so there is an incentive to take PEDs just so you can recover.

Then there are short-term contracts. Have an average year and chances are you are out of a job. Domestiques are lucky if they get 2 year contracts. And under the current system you are only worthwhile to a team if you score points. You could be the greatest domestique that never finishes because you guarantee your leader will get a top 10 finish every time, but guess what? You've got no points so you cannot contribute to your teams points total. Plus you are worthless to any other teams. Believe me, if anyone else had the threat of being fired hanging over them as much as in cycling, everyone would be on Ritalin or some other drug to make them perform better at work.

I think it's really easy for people on this forum to type away saying that professional cyclists are all evil dopers. Occasionally that may be true. But few stop to think of the industry dynamics. There is no job security and with more and more racing, not enough time for recovery (unless your name is Boonen or similar status, then you get holidays from races to allow you to recover). These guys need to ride (very) well just to put food on the table for their family. And if I was a professional cyclist in these circumstances, worrying about how I'm going to guarantee a good life for my children, believe me that PEDs would be a seriously considered option. Chances are you would too.

If people really want drugs out of cycling, then yes, the degree of difficulty needs to be addressed, either through bigger teams or maximum races a year (to allow adequate recovery). But also a fundamental restructuring of how cyclists are employed and valued needs to be undertaken, not just by the UCI but by the teams as well.