Cavendish: Throw Tour drugs cheats in prison

The 22-year-old earned the nickname 'Cannonball' for his ability to blast through crowds of riders when he was the most promising talent in British Cycling's academy team.

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And he does not hesitate to turn his fire on those who abuse the rules on doping in the sport.

"They are robbing people," Cavendish said.

"They should go to prison in my book."

Alexandre Vinokourov, the pre-race favourite in the Tour de France, has failed a test for blood-doping, though he has protested his innocence and claims the positive test is a "mistake" and that his Astana team have been victimised.

Cavendish and others like him feel they are the true victims of cycling's doping problem.

The fans might feel resentful that they have been duped once again.

And the casual viewer can snort dismissively as the sport lives down to their expectations before changing channels.

But for the clean riders in the peloton it is personal - their way of life is cheapened and their livelihood is affected.

As broadcasters question the wisdom of devoting hours and hours of air time to a sport which seems to spend each summer in convulsions over the latest doping scandal, sponsors get colder and colder feet.

"I'm contracted to T-Mobile until the end of 2009," said Cavendish.

"But there's talk now that the sponsorship is already hanging by a thread and because of some fool who's nothing to do with us, I could be without a team and so could 28 other riders."

Already a world and Commonwealth champion on the track before he signed his first professional road-racing contract at the end of last year, Cavendish is blessed with the ability to succeed doing something he loves.

He was not expected to race in the Tour for at least another year but six victories in his first six months left his German employers with little option but to name him in their team for the world's biggest bike race.

But, while anyone who has met him would never doubt his passionate opposition to doping, he is nevertheless tainted because he shares his sport with Vinokourov, Floyd Landis, Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso and the other big names who have let fleeting glory and hard cash guide their moral compass.

Cavendish was the first cyclist in the world to sign up to the International Cycling Union's anti-doping agreement - introduced in June and under which signatories agree to pay a year's salary if they are found to have used illegal doping products, in addition to the usual suspension they would face.

So how did he feel when news of Vinokourov's positive test broke?

"I was angry - just how he can do it, make everyone look like a fool?

"Everyone's pushing hard, everyone signs those charters for the UCI.

"It just frustrates me that he's made people look fools. I'm doing everything I can to rid the sport of the problem and people are rubbing it in the dirt."

Vinokourov has protested his innocence, insisting the positive test is a "mistake" and claiming his Astana team have been victimised.

Cavendish's T-Mobile team have not escaped doping this year despite overhauling the organisation in 2006 after Ullrich, their star rider, was linked to Eufemiano Fuentes, the Spanish doctor at the centre of the doping ring exposed in the Operation Puerto investigation.

Patrik Sinkewitz - Cavendish's team-mate on the Tour - was sacked after testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone.

But, remarkably, Cavendish remains in good heart and is looking forward to the Tour of Denmark which starts this week, even though he is still recovering from his nine days in the Tour de France.

A pure sprinter, he is not designed for mountains and pulled out at the start of the second week before the race headed into the Alps.

"I knew what I was coming into," he said, looking back over six months in the pro peloton.

"I didn't care what happened in the past. I knew there was always going to be idiots but I just want to ride my bike.

"I want to be a professional cyclist. I'll always love the sport."