Richard_Rides - Not all riders who finish a stage on L'alpe d'huez are doping - come on. The race IS plenty interesting with LESS dopers .. just watch this year and all subsequent years.
There will always be a bit of cat/mouse between riders/DS trying to push the envelope and organizers/Governing Bodies trying to keep things pure - adds to the drama.
Cyclings real issue is they haven't defined what is "no go" and put in place the right mix of tests/physiological controls to stop bad behavior.
Think about it ... how can you ban something when you KNOW YOU CAN'T DETECT ITS USE? That's like setting speed limits but taking the speed guns away from the cops. Imagine in the US if they issued you a ticket at the end of a turnpike when, having checked your ticket, they calculated it wasn't feasible for you to have made it from point A to point B in that amount of time since a reasonable person would have stopped for food or a nature break, etc? Guilty by reasonable inference?
But that is the modus operandi for Cycling - that and publicizing findings before full tests have been run - or even when tests are being reviewed for unknown reasons (what if the lab tech had sneezed near that "irregular sample" ... do you think L'equipe would hold the story just to be sure they've checked the facts?!?).
Give cycling a chance - it is the leading sport in the world right now in defining what is wrong and how to stop it. Compare it to baseball, football (aka soccer), the NFL ... think about how RIFE those sports are! Cocaine use by atheletes bother you ... then we should shut down the NBA because that was COCAINE CENTRAL through the 70s, 80s, 90s ...?
Bio passports are the way to go - along with a BETTER random testing program. Better meaning:
1) the riders have to have something of their lives back (imagine having to stop planning your son's funeral because the tester came and you must piss in a bottle RIGHT NOW OR GET FIRED),
2) the control of evidence must be tighter, more independence brought to the testing regime (how many times are French labs finding irregular samples vs. the Swiss? No one thinks it odd that the French can find stuff NO ONE ELSE can?), and
3) the ways that irregular samples are treated must be completely overhauled ... no press leaks and make it a crime to print a story prior to a Governing Body issuing a report of a failed test.
Even with the UCI/ASO mess, all of these points are being addressed. And progress is being made. Ask the riders - look at the way Kloden took on the other teams and knocked them for lax testing. These guys are proud to be cyclists again.
Can't say the same for a MLB pitcher, an NBA guard, an NFL receiver nor a PGA golfer can you?