The head of the UCI has praised the 2009 Tour de France as the cleanest for several years, citing the threat of a four-year ban and improvements in testing as evidence.
Pat McQuaid said that the riders were ‘bombarded’ with tests which meant the risk of being caught was too great.
The four-year ban, brought in at the start of this year, is clamping down on the number of riders using performance-boosting drugs, said McQuaid.
He highlighted Bradley Wiggins, currently third in the overall standings, as evidence a clean rider can do well.
"Wiggins is a very, very strong anti-doping advocate," McQuaid said, who admitted that Lance Armstrong, tested as many as three times in two days, had been targeted alongside his Astana team-mate Alberto Contador as they were among the top riders.
McQuaid also praised the new ‘passport’ scheme which can signal changes in a rider’s blood.
“The database is a very strong weapon in our armoury," McQuaid said. "If a rider goes into a doping regime, experts will see evidence of tampering. The athletes don't really know what we can see."
After 11 scandals from the past two races, including the expulsion of the 2007 race leader Michael Rasmussen for missing tests, 15 of the 21 stages this year have yet to yield any positive results. In 2006, Floyd Landis became the first Tour winner to lose his title for doping.
Wiggins, who finished 124th in the 2006 Tour, is attempting to become the first British cyclist to secure a top-three finish. He has spoken out against riders who failed drug tests, including Alexandre Vinokourov, who tested positive for blood doping at the 2007 Tour.
The Briton's Cofidis team withdrew after a team-mate tested positive in that year's race, and Wiggins then said he had been close to quitting as a result. He said the 2007 Tour had "lost all credibility".
I'd agree there are a lot people who want no change whatsoever (or rather just don't think about change, busy getting on with life). Until...
I like how drivers make the case for making monitoring covert, not overt.
She seemed a bit upset about a minor misjudgement that could have killed someone and is going to cause months of stress and inconvenience.
No we don't agree, personally I would take primary, even if only for a short period although I can understand why some riders might not want to...
And which looks very like the bag produced by indy bag manufacturer Wizard Works…...
If it was a 'no vehicles' sign (all white circle centre), it would mean cyclists could ride in the hours that HGVs and disabled drivers are allowed...
The bit at the start and end looks like a cycle lane, but the bit they drive on looks just like a patched filter lane for traffic lights.
Hey, you 4 execs helped run a company into the ground and have no jobs anymore... Come work for us because you have great experience in the...
£11.5k for a bike weighing over 8kg that's 2 fingers to customers let alone UCI
I'm going to show my bike a picture of this shed and tell it, "If you don't behave..."