Many Tour organizers probably don’t see a crisis, but that’s because their eyes are blurry from staring at so many positive lab reports. And it’s likely that they also get so excited on the rare occasion when they meet a cyclist who has competed honestly that they become like old prospectors panning for gold who come across one tiny nugget every couple of years and figure that there must be more somewhere.

There isn’t.

Right now, at least, the Tour de France should shut down because it is irredeemable. It’s obvious that the testing procedures have managed to catch only a few. That says sometimes the system works. But one can also extrapolate that many more are out there mocking the event with impunity by continuing to take drugs to pedal faster.

Even Tour director Christian Prudhomme admitted the event is on life support after these latest revelations rocked the sport: “It’s an absolute failure of the system. It is a system which does not defend the biggest race in the world. This is a system which can’t last.”

Rather than being dissuaded from cheating, it seems cyclists are indulging like never before in drugs. That event is no different from any other in our current era of sports mendacity. If there’s a pile of money to be made, competitors will do whatever it takes to get it, even if it means tossing aside their morals and ethics like spit from a water bottle.

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The Tour needs a hiatus, a year or two break to catch up on improving testing procedures while doing some image repair. Right now I don’t trust anybody associated with the race. Entire teams are bailing out in disgrace. I’m surprised the French themselves haven’t gone with “freedom fries” because they’re so ashamed about what’s going on inside their borders.

I have no idea which rider among the ones remaining will be declared the winner in the end. I do know that it’s likely his greatest accomplishment will be beating the tests rather than outracing the field.

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