If a house of cards falls in the forest, and there's no one to hear it...

Lance Armstrong's US Postal posse have all fessed up, chief among them Saint George:

http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/10/news/george-hincapie-admits-to-doping-giving-information-on-armstrong_256599

How lovely. How heroic. Never mind that Hincapie retired before making any public statement. Never mind that he released this statement today, only after being included on the USADA's publicized list of riders who are all now facing 6-month suspensions from racing. That some of the riders named are now retired (or banned for life, same difference anymore) means nothing.
How convenient that most of the remaining riders still racing are receiving partially retroactive suspensions (effective September 1) and that most of these riders will have their suspensions shortened because "they helped with the investigation".  All of them should be cleared to race in time for the spring classics next April. Meanwhile, there seems to be a fair amount of chest-thumping as the mea culpas come pouring out of the mouths of George, Levi, Tyler and the rest.

Whatever.

This is all going down this way for the same reason that the UCI has been so reluctant to even investigate Lance Armstrong: These guys make money for the sponsors, who also pour a fair amount of money into the coffers of the UCI. Best not to rock the boat, right?

Having these guys "come clean" now and then allowing them back into the sport within weeks or months basically banks on the short memories of the overwhelming majority of cycling fans who would rather see dirty racing than no racing at all -- and who would happily buy the souvenirs emblazoned with sponsor names of their favorite teams.

(Mustn't interrupt the revenue stream for too long.)

As far as I'm concerned, professional bicycle racing became irrelevant some time ago.
This latest news just makes it official.

I think I'll go for a bike ride and not buy anything.