Rogge said cycling's world governing body, the UCI, is making progress in tackling the drug crisis and should not be punished for doping violations by individual riders.

"You should not throw the baby out with the bath water," Rogge said in a conference call. "It is not the UCI who is cheating. It is the riders who are cheating. As long as the UCI will do the utmost effort and have the same zero tolerance as the IOC, they will have their place at the games."

Rogge said he was "very heartened" by recent measures announced by the UCI, including plans to increase out-of-competition tests and target specific riders suspected of cheating.

"I believe they are doing their best," he said. "It is a struggle, an uphill battle, but we want to keep them."

On other issues, Rogge predicted a "very close" vote next month on the host city for the 2014 Winter Games, and reiterated the IOC will not pressure China on human rights or other political issues ahead of the 2008 Olympics.

Cycling, one of 28 sports on the summer Olympic program, has been torn by repeated drug scandals and investigations.

The 2006 Tour de France is still without an official champion after American rider Floyd Landis tested positive for synthetic testosterone. He is awaiting a decision from an arbitration panel on whether the victory will stand.

More than 50 riders have reportedly been implicated in Operation Puerto, the Spanish investigation into a blood doping network.

The International Olympic Committee recently opened a disciplinary investigation into allegations of doping in Jan Ullrich's former Telekom team. If Ullrich is found guilty, the IOC could strip him of his Olympic gold medal in the road race from the 2000 Sydney Games.

Ullrich, the 1997 Tour de France champion, retired in February after being fired by his team, T-Mobile.

Rogge urged Spanish authorities to allow the IOC, UCI and other sports bodies use the evidence from the Puerto investigation to punish any riders, managers, coaches and others implicated in doping violations. So far, the Spanish judge has refused to let the material be used for sports disciplinary action.

"That is the big sticking point," Rogge said. "We would really hope that the sports movement would be given the permission to go further."

Otherwise, he said, the case will "poison" the upcoming Tour de France _ which starts in London on July 7 _ and the world anti-doping summit in Madrid on Nov. 15-17.

"We would only hope the judge would realize the sports movement is very keen in cleaning up, and the sports movement is giving the same penalties of a fair trial as you have in justice," Rogge said.

Rogge said he favors DNA sampling to check for evidence of blood doping, and called for a general increase across all sports in unannounced, out-of-competitition testing.

He noted the IOC will conduct 4,500 doping tests at next year's Beijing Olympics and 5,000 in London in 2012 _ compared to 3,700 checks in Athens in 2004.

At the Madrid doping conference, the IOC will push for flexibility in sanctions, with suspensions ranging from two to four years and life bans in certain cases, Rogge said.

The IOC will also propose a review of the "therapeutic exemption" rule, which allows athletes to use certain asthma or other medications if they have a valid medical certificate.

"The system today is too liberal, too flexible, and there is abuse there," Rogge said.

Rogge said he expects a tight vote when the IOC selects the 2014 host city in Guatemala City on July 4. The three candidates are Salzburg, Austria; Pyeongchang, South Korea; and Sochi, Russia.

"I expect it to be as close as Singapore," Rogge said, referring to the vote in 2005 when London edged Paris in the final round for the 2012 Olympics. "The three candidate are of the same high quality."

"What really makes the difference is the confidence the IOC members have in the bid committee, the confidence in the people," he said.

Rogge was asked about the pressure put on the IOC by human rights and other groups to improve conditions in China before the Beijing Games. He said the IOC has a "very high ethical conscience" but is not the vehicle for demanding change.

"I respect the point of view of all these associations, but the IOC is not the answer to their investigations and problems," he said.

The IOC also won't get involved in the dispute between China and Taiwan over the 2008 Olympic torch relay. Taiwan, which split from China amid civil war in 1949, has refused an offer from the Beijing organizing committee (BOCOG) to be part of the route.