wrote:

How was pantani guiltless? he was the biggest science experiment
in the history of cycling, remember when all of a sudden the little
dwarf could TT at 55KM an hour...yeah he was clean.
Trying to make him a martyr isn't gonna work.

Looks like the unwritten rule of the day was that they ignored doping
while protesting that they were actually trying to catch them. Marco
knew he'd have to get with the program to compete and did, then when
the stink got too bad they crucified him to pretend they were cleaning
up the sport. If it's as dirty as everyone thinks, Marco would've been
one of a hundred, instead they tossed one big fish to the wolves while
protecting the rest. So it looks to me like they did martyr Marco to
further their deception that they were honest. It's becoming VERY clear
that he did what he did because he felt he had to, because the sport
was so dirty, and he loved it and wanted to stay in it.
I sincerely hope that Pontius, oops the UCI and doping cops washed
their hands after sealing Marco's fate.

http://www.scu.edu/deSaisset/collection/durer.html

Looks like he wasn't any less guilty than a lot of others, and maybe
more tortured by the lie and the hypocrisy of the system.
Bill C