Jimmy, there is no debate - not that we are part of anyway. Spilling your guts on a bike forum is not debating, it's venting.
The sad fact is, within the realms of professional sport - cycling has the weakest connection to and relationship with it's fans that I can think of - which I suppose explains why I think your dramatics are a bit pointless.
To illustrate my point: while top flight football clubs stopped caring about their fans decades ago - they still maintain a tokenistic relationship with them because a large portion of their income is still derived from ticket and shirt sales. Cycling teams have neither of these, all their funding comes directly from corporate sponsorship.
Sponsors are interested in exposure and tv time (and in a few cases alignment - but that is a separate issue). It's a well documented fact that the key demographics for European (which remains cycling's biggest marketplace) cycling coverage are house wives and the retired/elderly people. These people don't follow cycling for the riders, the technology or the gossip - they watch it for the scenery, spectacle and entertainment. They have no idea about the statute of limitations or who Ryder or JV are.
So in short, cycling has had no real reason to change - because the money comes from sources that only care about bad PR or brand association when something really bad goes down in the middle of a race (eg: Festina). Something that the UCI et al have been careful to avoid enabling.
It is possible to see a shift in the fan base of cycling to people who are more engaged in these issues in growing markets, but it's hard to see how that direct line of dialogue between fans and teams will turn into something solid because although some teams have anti-doping stances, there is minimal need for transparency (see Sky and Garmin). Plus, fans are still going to fork out for bikes, di2 and whatever fancy shit the bike industry is plugging that year, irrespective of any of this.
Doping has been inherent in professional cycling since it's inception, sport is a dirty business and it's going to take a long, long time for things to clean up. Though I do believe that will happen in my lifetime, I am also aware that a lot of fans who are older than I am have been hoping that same thing for the past 20 years - so I chose to be cautious with my optimism.
Obviously I am oversimplifying some of the above to illustrate my point - unfortunately I don't have all day to write my magnum opus, outlining every single sub-point.
However, I will set my stall out and say: I do not condone cheating, I still enjoy watching cycling, I think it is sensible to be pragmatic and accept the sport warts and all in it's current state.
Short version:
Jimmy, there is no debate - not that we are part of anyway. Spilling your guts on a bike forum is not debating, it's venting.
The sad fact is, within the realms of professional sport - cycling has the weakest connection to and relationship with it's fans that I can think of - which I suppose explains why I think your dramatics are a bit pointless.
To illustrate my point: while top flight football clubs stopped caring about their fans decades ago - they still maintain a tokenistic relationship with them because a large portion of their income is still derived from ticket and shirt sales. Cycling teams have neither of these, all their funding comes directly from corporate sponsorship.
Sponsors are interested in exposure and tv time (and in a few cases alignment - but that is a separate issue). It's a well documented fact that the key demographics for European (which remains cycling's biggest marketplace) cycling coverage are house wives and the retired/elderly people. These people don't follow cycling for the riders, the technology or the gossip - they watch it for the scenery, spectacle and entertainment. They have no idea about the statute of limitations or who Ryder or JV are.
So in short, cycling has had no real reason to change - because the money comes from sources that only care about bad PR or brand association when something really bad goes down in the middle of a race (eg: Festina). Something that the UCI et al have been careful to avoid enabling.
It is possible to see a shift in the fan base of cycling to people who are more engaged in these issues in growing markets, but it's hard to see how that direct line of dialogue between fans and teams will turn into something solid because although some teams have anti-doping stances, there is minimal need for transparency (see Sky and Garmin). Plus, fans are still going to fork out for bikes, di2 and whatever fancy shit the bike industry is plugging that year, irrespective of any of this.
Doping has been inherent in professional cycling since it's inception, sport is a dirty business and it's going to take a long, long time for things to clean up. Though I do believe that will happen in my lifetime, I am also aware that a lot of fans who are older than I am have been hoping that same thing for the past 20 years - so I chose to be cautious with my optimism.
Obviously I am oversimplifying some of the above to illustrate my point - unfortunately I don't have all day to write my magnum opus, outlining every single sub-point.
However, I will set my stall out and say: I do not condone cheating, I still enjoy watching cycling, I think it is sensible to be pragmatic and accept the sport warts and all in it's current state.