This and the other news suggesting that there may not be cases against cyclists implicated in OP is -- while good for certain cyclists -- very bad for the sport.
I recognize that no one should be charged, much less banned, on flimsy evidence. And I accept that an orderly process is the right of cyclists accused of cheating.
Nonetheless, the failure to produce the evidence necessary to secure the bans that needed to come from OP is very sad. While there may be insufficient evidence to prosecute individual cyclists, no one can doubt that Dr. Fuentes was engaged in a massive doping ring that supplied dozens and potenitally hundreds of professional athletes with illegal performance enhancing drugs. It is clear -- and I mean crystal clear -- to anyone who pays attention that the top ranks of the professional peloton are inveterate cheaters to the core. This is as true now as it was in 2002 and 1998 and throughout the 90s and, although perhaps owing to less potent dope less dramatically, as it was true since men first raced bikesover the alps.
We didn't need Frankie Andreau to admit what any sensible person already knew, but it certainly helped put the nail in the coffin. Cheating is not confined to individual riders with shady morals. It is often team policy. It is expected. It is normal.
If Basso and Ullrich -- and many of the others implicated in OP -- ride next year then as far as I am concerned the sport is over. There will be no point to watch and no reason to cheer the riders. They sold out there credibility and refused respect their fans and their sponsors.
Bradley Wiggins is probably one of the few I have any respect for anymore. He recently wrote the following for The Guardian.
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/cycling/story/0,,1879644,00.html