THE WHEELS COME OFF

Now Hiring: Several positions open for major bicycling event. Location: France. Qualified applicants should have world-class credentials and nearly inhuman levels of endurance. An ability to pass a drug test required. Those just short of top bicycling credentials who can pass the drug test will be strongly considered. Drug-free local riders also may be considered. Occasional riders – can you pass a drug test? Having own bicycle a plus, though not as important as the clean drug test.

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Let’s suppose the debacle years in the making and now being exposed during the Tour de France is an unfortunate combination of events – a sport that demands huge amounts of talent and training, a newly hyper-aware officialdom conducting extensive testing, a history of looking the other way. The thorough drug testing this year, instead of adding confidence, has destroyed the public’s faith (and, soon, interest) in watching the race.

The problem isn’t the drugs per se: nonmedical, nonbicycling onlookers haven’t expressed the slightest interest over blood doping or what advantages steroids provide when taken mid-race. They care that riders have been found to be cheating, and they sense the sport has allowed this to happen for too long until it couldn’t get away with it any longer. The race smells of corruption.

The latest accused rider, as of this writing, is Michael Rasmussen, from the Rabobank team. He was booted after misleading his team about where he had been training – he said Mexico, but it turns out to have been in Italy, and skipping two random drug tests. He followed the departure Wednesday of the Cofidis team, after one of its riders had tested positive for steroids, which followed the Astana team, gone after its top rider tested positive for blood doping, which followed a T-Mobile rider who was found to have failed a drug test in June. All of these follow the no-shows of riders from the start of the race, who may have doubted their abilities to pass the drug tests.

But if the persistent whispers that have chased cycling for years have now been confirmed, what about other sports which have had similar rumors (and milder confirmations) about chemical enhancements? The embarrassment of the Tour de France may be a warning to team owners, athletes, fans and corporate sponsors. Once enough athletes are caught blood doping or using banned drugs, ignoring the problem eventually becomes impossible and exposing the cheating athletes is painful to the sport too.

They will find themselves similarly off course.