I understand the use of haematocrit to indicate EPO useage but i still think that the UCI's approach to doping was flawed. The level playing field was achieved by use of EPO and those who were caught seem to have been caught accidentally - by mis-injecting or not having measured their levels accurately.
I do not think that this period of cycling should be forgotten and it would be very interesting to have accurate records of who was using EPO etc during this period (i know that will probably never happen) - but if everyone (i mean everyone) was using EPO and associated drugs, surely their race wins should be counted as a win - in the spirit of a level playing field. This may seem like an unusual take on this, but i think it is fair.
I better re-iterate that i do not condone doping but i feel that the top riders (who presumably were all doping) should be given credit for their wins. I wonder if there has been a situation were a rider was disqualified from a race for doping and his win credited to another rider , who was subsequently disqualified for doping, for the win to be credited to a third place rider. Perhaps some RBer will know if that has happened.
I have ordered the David Miller book, wish my post was a bit quicker!!!
Thanks for reading all,
Richard