Please have pity on us!

Anything less than the termination of the Tour de France is unacceptable. How can it get more embarrassing? Even before the start in London on 7th July it didn't look very bright. Apart from Jan Ullrich most of the German top cyclists (retired and active) confessed being involved with doping. Also 1996 champion Bjarne Riis admitted to have taken EPO.

So, did we think that the others were all clean? Let's pretend we believed this. What do the recent events show us?

To begin with there was the positive doping test of Telecom rider Patrick Sinkewitz. We then saw the preliminary peak when Alexandre Vinokourov was convicted and his Astana team withdrew subsequently. The following day Christian Moreni confessed and Cofidis dropped out as well. Thenof course the climax, when Michael Rasmussen was sacked by his team Rabobank over his lies about his whereabouts earlier this year.

Ah, right, that means the controls work. I recall Floyd Landis's "victory" last year. No, sorry, guys. I won't believe a word of what you say. "Cheating" will always be on my mind if I see the maillot jaune. Be it Contador, Evans, Leipheimer or whoever in Paris or elsewhere.

When the stroy broke last night I was hoping that the peloton would have the guts to say au revoir to the Tour. The start today abviously proved me wrong. Okay, it was naive to assume that all cyclists would leave, especially because it's the teams and sponsor who have control.

But how can Alberto Cobtador feel comfortable in is maillot jaune now? After Rasmussen's sacking, the Tour presents it's next suspect asks German's daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. The Spaniard had allegedly contact to doping doctor Fuentes.

Left: Doping at the Tour has a long history: Many times winner Lance A. drinking with a mate.

Salbutamol (Petacci), EPO, blood doping (Vinokourov), Testosteron (Sinkewitz, Moreni). It is hard to keep it all in mind. A friend of mine said, why don't they allow all this stuff. Then they would at least admit that they can't control and the Tour would be fair. A radical view. Maybe. It is, however, the only credible alternative to my demand above.