I’ve wallowed in the smugness of that title for so long that it’s not exactly news any more that Vino won the 2010 Liege-Bastogne-Liege. But his return, and more importantly his return to winning ways, has left cycling with a bit of a headache.

How to solve a problem like returning dopers?

This particular headache is in no small part due to cycling behaving like a jilted lover who’s hit the bottle to try and forget those those painful memories of someone you loved cheating on you. They’ve been mulling over that pint now for 12 years – ever since the Festina Affair – pretending they’re searching for the answers to their problems but in reality all they’re doing is hiding from them.

But suddenly cycling has been shaken from it’s stupor. The ex is back and they’re looking as good as ever:

Vino’s Got Class

How time has changed since Vino first last crossed the line last first in Liege. Gone was the adulation of the fans and the plaudits of the commentators. Replaced by the jeers of derision (“Boo”) and whispers of suspicion (“Did he just steal my wallet?”). And an overwhelming fear that Vino had just besmirched the otherwise smirchless Old Lady in a way that previous winners like Alejandro Valverde, Tyler Hamilton and Frank Vandenbrouke couldn’t possibly imagine. Even if you drew them an extremely graphic picture of the besmirching using cuttings from Nuts magazine.

Spare a thought for poor Vino himself though. He’s completely dumbfounded by this reaction: “All I did was sleep with your grandma and you’re like all “boo!” on my arse. Give me a break, will you?” – I’m paraphrasing there, but you get the drift.  He seems totally oblivious to his betrayal and remains resolute in his refusal to admit any guilt. He has gone as far as referring euphemistically to his “dark years” but this only serves to makes it sound as if he’d gone a bit over the top with the fake tan rather than taking part in a systematic and premeditated doping regime. Surely if David Millar has shown the dopers anything, it’s that to be accepted back in the fans hearts you got to show contrition.

“Hang Him!”

So how should we treat returning dopers?

Some will claim that letting a former doper return to the peleton, particularly one who continues to admit their own guilt, is like letting a crocked accountant run your finances. It all comes down to an issue of trust – and even if they are now perfectly straight, if they’ve seen the error of their ways, they will always carry an air of suspicion with them. If they’re subjected to the same controls as all other riders and they continue to pass those tests we have little choice but to let them ride.

I still think that cycling would have a better, brighter future without Vino coming back – let alone winning a monument but until the day he does finally retire we’ll just have to wince at the thought of a relationship that could have been so beautiful but turned out to be so painful.