Andy Hood reports today over at VeloNews that the Vuelta is ominously pronouncing this year's race the least-dope-stained edition ever. Considering the Vuelta began in 1935 this may not literally be true, and given the low bar of recent years it comes as no shock that things have gotten better. But the article contains some details that might inspire some confidence.
The big-ticket item is that Unipublic spent €180,000 on doping controls, including an infusion of €30,000 in August for 106 out-of-comp tests, a clever dragnet that snagged Andrey Kashechkin with his Turkish bloodbags, and gave other cheats a reason to consider skipping the Vuelta.
What we haven't gotten yet are the results of all in-comp testing, so declaring victory is still premature. But so far, so good. Now Cordero can get back to criticising the riders for not making more out of this year's dull parcours.