It seems that no matter how hard the Tour de France organisers try to clean up the race's name, the shadow of doping is still a long way from being lifted.

Confirmation on July 11 that Manuel Beltran had tested positive for the dreaded erythropoietin (EPO) hormone is not quite on par with the arrest of the Festina team doctor ten years ago and the subsequent pull-out of the team from the 1998 Tour. But it does highlight the fact that there is still a long way to go until the sport is freed of its biggest scourge.

Beltran will be thrown out of the Tour, his team, Liquigas, has already said, but his positive test raises questions about his previous team - after all, one is unlikely to venture into the world of blood doping at the ripe age of 37, especially not in the current climate of heightened testing and zero-tolerance.

The Spaniard's previous team is none other than Discovery, which was US Postal before the sponsorship change, for which Beltran raced for four years, picking three stage wins in the Tour de France time trials throughout that period.

It is hardly conclusive proof, but Beltran's positive test will without doubt be picked upon by those who believe that the US Postal/Discovery team leader Lance Armstrong came by his record seven Tour de France wins by using banned substances.

For many, Armstrong remains the one big name that never was never caught red-handed, and the news that one of his main lieutenants has now been found out to be using banned substances will serve as additional confirmation of what they have been saying all along.

Not that it would change much if Armstrong were to be proven to have used banned performance-enhancing substances. His legacy as seven-times winner, an amazing feat even if one does not take into account the fact that they came after he won his personal battle against cancer, has already been tainted enough by the very fact that allegations appeared in the media.

In that respect, he might never achieve the same iconic status enjoyed by Jacques Anquetil, Eddie Merckx, Bernard Hinault or Miguel Indurain.

But then again, I could not care less. On a personal note, I have always been more fond of watching the pure mountain climbers in the mould of Claudio Chiappucci, Richard Virenque or Marco Pantani. And while I do not seek to excuse the well-documented transgressions each of those three cyclists have committed in their careers, somehow I still find their stage wins more memorable than the sight of Armstrong in his yellow jersey on the podium in Paris.