Coming clean

Today's announcement by USADA of the publication of findings against Lance Armstrong and his US Postal team should come as no surprise for long-time fans of cycling.

Though it comes as no surprise, it still has stirred up a lot of emotion, especially amongst those racers who could have made the big show had they doped and chose not to.

I started racing at 35. And I'm kinda chubby. A pro contract was never in the cards for me. So perhaps I don't have the ability to muster vitriol the way others whose dreams and careers were derailed might.

Here is what I do know: the racers named in the report had a choice whether to speak up or stay silent. They chose to speak up. Perhaps they were coerced, but they still came clean, something the biggest name of the bunch refuses to do.

I don’t applaud what they did, but I do applaud their choice to be honest about it now. That, at times, can be the more difficult choice. The sport didn’t need them to dope, but it did need them to come clean.