Weary…

A punishment is assumed to be a deterrent, to discourage the crime from being repeated and to act as a deterrent to others.

Yesterday, the already too lenient 2-year became farcical when the Italian Olympic Anti Doping council (CONI) announced the reduction of Danilo Di Luca’s doping suspension by nine months, due to the cheat’s collaboration in ongoing doping investigations.

In his own words and (we will help you translate):

“I gave no names (Omerta) I did it for cycling (I did it to get back racing), not to point the finger at any cyclists , I explained the doping methods (yet, still never admitted doping during the trail and continues to maintain his innocence to this day). My decision to speak was above all to help educate the youth”.

CONI effectively set Di Luca free to start back in the peloton as soon as possible, as his first suspension began on July 22, 2009. Yes, it is beneficial that he helped with the investigation, the sport needs inside information, but full collaboration should be compulsory to show redemption if a racing license is to be reissued.

Di Luca had previously been caught doping three times during his career and could well be speaking out just enough to get his license reimbursed. Is anyone really convinced that he is altruistic and reborn, decided to clean up the peloton?

Our sport needs a wake up call. All the talk of fresh starts are lost when the broken system is continually failing to be repaired. The current ban structure is ineffective, it needs to be exact, not arbitrary. It needs to be at least a career ending decision to cheat, to discourage even thoughts of doping.

Our Evolving recommendations for the sentence to be imposed on dopers.

(We would appreciate any suggestions to improve it)

We propose a lifetime ban from competition and coaching, for those who use, administer or are found to encourage the use of illegal performance enhancing methods. This protects the sport from corrupt coaches, managers, and team doctors etc. whose lengthy careers within the sport can have a damaging effect on generations of professional riders.

This may be reduced to a three-year ban ONLY when a rider fulfills all of the following criteria:

a. Full disclosure of supply of ped’s used by an athlete and methods used to avoid detection.

b. Provide a testimonial to young riders on the effects doping has had to their life/career.

c. Repayment of salaries and prize money during the previous 12 months of competition.

Exceptions: – Riders under 21 years old would be subject to a 2-year suspension. – An appeal committee would review the banned substance, if: i The prohibited substance is on the banned list but not verified to have a significant performance advantage. ii) Negligence is a factor in the positive return.iii) or proven accidental ingestion by means of supplement or other.