Those who follow professional cycling are not surprised. Unless it is the surprise of the obverse: two thirds of top finishers have not (yet) admitted to use or been officially linked to use. The list of untainted competitors incudes:
- José Azevedo (2 top-ten finishes)
- Vladimir Belli
- Joseba Beloki (3 top-ten finishes)
- Michael Boogerd (2 top-ten finishes)
- Santiago Botero (3 top-ten finishes)+
- Janez Brajkovič
- Angel Casero
- Damiano Cunego
- Tom Danielson
- Cyril Dessel
- Fernando Escartin (2 top-ten finishes)
- Cadel Evans (6 top-ten finishes)*
- Chris Froome *
- Robert Gesink
- Roberto Heras (2 top-ten finishes) +
- Ryder Hesjedal
- Chris Horner
- Bobby Julich
- Kim Kirchen (2 top-ten finishes)
- Andrei Kivilev
- Andreas Klöden (3 top-ten finishes) +
- Roman Kreuziger (2 top-ten finishes)
- Christophe le Mével
- Luis León Sánchez
- Francisco Mancebo (4 top-ten finishes)
- Iban Mayo +
- Denis Menchov (3 top-ten finishes)
- Axel Merckx
- Daniele Nardello (3 top-ten finishes)
- Vincenzo Nibali (2 top-ten finishes)*
- Jean-Christophe Péraud
- Óscar Pereiro (4 top-ten finishes) +
- Andrea Peron +
- Thibaut Pinot
- Yaroslav Popovych +
- Michael Rasmussen +
- Christophe Rinero
- Jean-Cyril Robin
- Michael Rogers
- Pierre Rolland (2 top-ten finishes)*
- Samuel Sánchez (3 top-ten finishes)
- Carlos Sastre (6 top-ten finishes)
- Andy Schleck (3 top-ten finishes)
- Marcos Antonio Serrano
- François Simon
- Georg Totschnig
- Jurgen Van Den Broeck (2 top-ten finishes)*
- Christian Vande Velde (2 top-ten finishes)
- Tejay van Garderen *
- Thomas Voeckler
- Bradley Wiggins (2 top-ten finishes)*
- Haimar Zubeldia (4 top-ten finishes)*
- * 2012 top-ten finisher, not included in the NYT analysis.
- + Subject of doping allegations, not necessarily proven.
These indeed are top athletes, and they are a strong argument against the actual enhancements to performance that doping may bring.
That is, if indeed these athletes compete "clean."
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