Tony Martin, the Etixx-Quick Step rider, want more and hard sanctions for dopers. The German thinks that it is the best way to beat doping. He said also that he agreed with the Union Cycliste Internationale and the World Anti Doping Agency to introduce tougher bans for athletes who test positive. He added: “the harder the penalty [for dopers], the better”.

According to Cycling Weekly, the three-time world time trial champion is proud about the German law. It was encouraged that a variety of stronger punishments existed for varying doping offences, and not only for riders. I’m really happy that it’s been made the law now in Germany, it’s a big sign for the anti-doping fight. It’s not just about the athletes who cheat, it’s also about the people behind them. If people do it, they have to be aware of really hard penalties, so I think it’s a good sign and most of the people will now really think about whether they cheat or not.

“The harder the penalty, the better. If the case is clear that’s always the point. There are a lot of cases where you don’t know if they did on purpose or if they really did something wrong, but if the case is really clear everybody deserves a hard penalty.”

But he is realistic. The fight against doping is a long war. “Sometimes you get the feeling you make two steps ahead and then three steps back,” he said. “But you can’t do anything about it. You can see it and accept it, but I think it’s not right. I hope there will be some changes in the Astana team, but I don’t understand it. I don’t understand the people who decide to do this.”

Martin is not against the presence of riders who tested positive in peloton only if they do a lot of anti-doping fight. “I think if you see people like David Millar, he tested positive and then he was one of the big guys in the anti-doping fight” said Martin, “so if people really change and show that they’ve changed by doing a lot for the anti-doping fight, I think it’s okay. Everybody can make a mistake and it was different times before 2008. If people really learnt from this time and changed then they deserve a second chance. But sure, there are some people from the old times that don’t show any change and for sure they don’t belong to the new cycling.”