Tour de France chief hails doping progress, says change no longer needed

Professional cycling is out of the woods with regards to its doping problem, Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme has indicated.

The former French journalist, and now nine-year incumbent of the top job at the world's biggest cycling race, highlighted a number of aspects of the current state of the sport as evidence of the progress his organisation and the UCI have made.

Specifically, in an interview with Reuters, Prudhomme noted the believable and mappable progress of young riders, the absence of champions coming "out of nowhere," and the less passionate climate surrounding the topic of doping as hallmarks of the progress the sport has made.

"A few years ago we had the feeling a change was needed. That's not the case any more," he said.

"You don't see champions who come from nowhere any more. The likes of Nairo Quintana, Esteban Chaves have a pedigree, they shone on the Tour de l'Avenir. It's reassuring."

The Tour de l'Avenir is the most prestigious under-23 race in the world, in which both Quintana and Chaves - who have finished on the podiums of the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana over the last few years - performed very well in their youth.

Despite this apparent progress, Prudhomme is unreserved in his perception of the human condition, specifically the fallibility of man and society. But he has heralded the change in communication with the sport as a huge factor in the progress he has seen.

"Until recently, cycling was seen as a closed sport. It is not any more. People talk," Prudhomme said. 

"Cycling has been cleaning up its act. It was not easy but it has been cleaning up its act.

"We want sport to be perfect, while society will never be. Society is not full of saints or full of crooks.

"All the cheats and the liars on this earth did not gather up one day to decide they would be taking up cycling."

Prudhomme took charge during a particularly dark time for cycling. He inherited the mantel of his predecessor, Jean-Marie Leblanc, in 2006, the year of the Operación Puerto doping scandal.

Since then, Prudhomme has overseen doping scandals in 2007, 2008, and 2010, but revelations about mechanical doping earlier this year was something he wasn't prepared for.

As we reported in April before this year's Tour de France, the Frenchman called mechanical doping the "biggest challenge facing cycling."

>Read more: Christian Prudhomme: Mechanical doping is the biggest challenge facing pro cycling 

The emergence of these motors from rumour to reality shook the cycling world ahead of the biggest race of the year, and as director, Mr Prudhomme said he was "scared" that the rumours would cause problems.

Fortunately, with help from the French government, thermal imaging cameras were introduced to help locate any motors being used in the peloton.

"Eight days before the Tour I was scared that these rumours would mar the race. Then when the secretary of state announced the use of these cameras, I was relieved," the Tour de France director said.