okay, the report is out and it is zero amounts surprising, both in (limited) scope and findings. I definitely appreciate the anecdote about Savio; I am always interested in the details of how adapting programs work for various eras of doping.
Reading between the lines, from this 'estimate between 20% and 90% of the peloton are doping' statement, that seems to confirm what most rational people would think. I dunno if there is more detail on individual responses, but that would be more interesting, as range tells you little about the prevailing 'insider' wisdom. If I had to hazard a guess, the 90% came from Di Luca, who probably used that delusion as justification to continue doping as if it were 1997. The truth, I think, is likely somewhere on the lower end, but that's just an outsider's educated guess from reading the tea leaves of news reports and rider statements. Either way, seems clear to me that a) the scale of doping has gone down (from, say, 2005) in terms of the amount of advantage given, b) the amount of riders doping has gone down, and c) doping in some form is still wide-spread enough to be a serious problem that casts doubt on the legitimacy of the pointy end of any race.
I have seen expressed here by some that 'cycling is no different than the past' and other broad, cynical, repeated points of view in the same vein. I take a position that it's 'no different' in the 'yes/no' sense of 'are riders doping' and 'do the majority of riders stay silent against doping', but it seems clear to me that things are different in scale and tone. Like, the UCI's 'tough on doping' crap from the McQuaid era was just so insulting, as were rider denials - it was embarrassing to follow a sport that was such an obvious farce through and through. If the tides have shifted to the point where doping is less brazen and systemic and effective, but still exists widely, then so be it. There is always going to be a check and balance with regards to what anti-doping can do, and people are going to dope and deny. I think what galled me so much as a fan in the past was the sheer insult to my intelligence that was happening. Saying 'everyone is clean' would be insulting nowadays, but saying 'it's possible for a clean rider to win' doesn't seem that ludicrous to me. And that's a sea change as far as cycling is concerned.