Cycling journalist and author Barry Ryan believes that the decision to allow Chris Froome to participate in this year's Tour de France sends a message to dopers that they can do as they please.
Froome was cleared yesterday by the world governing body of cycling - Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) - following an investigation into abnormal levels of legal asthma drug salbutamol in his urine.
However, questions remain about the process and timing of the the investigation, amid concerns yesterday that the organisers of the Tour - Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) - were looking to bar Froome from competing. That has not come to pass.
Ryan was clear, however, that the optics of the case mean that any potential dirty riders will view the Froome affair with a positive outlook.
"It's not just about riders testing positive and having the resources to fight this in the future," Ryan commented.
"It is also that if there is a doped rider out there preparing for this Tour de France - which we strongly suspect that there are plenty - they will be thinking 'We already know that testing is inadequate and that you tend only to test positive if you've made a mistake.'
"Now, these guys will be pushing the envelope in a way that they might not have done before because they will be looking at [the Froome case] thinking that WADA and UCI do not have the appetite or the financial clout to go after dopers."
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