WRXpilot

As a new cycling enthusiast, this is exactly the feeling I have (not only about LA, but about this year's Tour).

I mean, so far we've had an entire team thrown out because of the result of a single rider's "A" sample. Now, that's pretty damning, sure; but what happened to the "B" sample? I am a lab researcher by trade, and a single result in science is meaningless without confirmation by repetition. The people in charge of the doping control obviously know this too, hence the existence of "B" samples in the first place.

If you get punished before that "B" sample is even tested though, what good is it? If I ran my research the way these dope testing labs run, no-one in my field would believe a single scrap of data I ever produced, and I'd be run out of the field in short order. In cycling, people's reputations are being irreversibly ruined as a result of these practices that no reputable scientist would ever endorse. And everyone else seems happy about that, as long as sommeone is getting "caught".

Now we have the current yellow jersey holder removed, seemingly on the un-corroborated word of a single witness. I guess it's Rabobank's right to fire any tetam member they want, but it sure does stink to someone who lives under the philosophy of "Innocent until proven guilty".

My take on this whole thing is that pro cycling is so desperate to appear as though they're being tough on doping that they're not even bothering to follow their own procedures on the matter. Rather, they're just throwing anyone out who looks as though they're guilty, without bothering with the proper follow-through.