Tour de France

The Tour de France (French for Tour of France), often referred to as La Grande Boucle, Le Tour or The Tour, is an epic long distance road bicycle racing competition for professionals held over three weeks in July in and around France. It has been held annually since 1903, interrupted only by World War I and World War II. The most recent Tour was the 2005 Tour de France.

Doping scandals

Early tour riders have been said to have consumed alcohol and used ether among other substances as a means of dulling the agonizing pain of competing in endurance cycling. As time went by, riders began using substances as a means of increasing performance rather than dulling the senses, and organizing bodies such as the Tour and the International Cycling Union (UCI), as well as government bodies, enacted policies to combat this practice.

Related Topics:
Alcohol - Ether - International Cycling Union

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On July 13, 1967, British cyclist Tom Simpson died climbing Mont Ventoux following excessive usage of amphetamines, probably complicated by the now defunct practice of limiting daily water intake to only four bidons, circa 2 litres.

Related Topics:
July 13 - 1967 - British - Tom Simpson - Mont Ventoux - Amphetamine

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The 1998 Tour de France was perhaps the most scandal-ridden Tour in recent memory. On July 8, 1998, a major scandal erupted when French Customs arrested Willy Voet, one of the health assistants of the Festina cycling team, whose layer was Thibault de Montbrial, and whose lead competitor was Richard Virenque, for the possession of illegal quantities of prescription drugs and narcotics, including erythropoietin (EPO), growth hormones, testosterone and amphetamines. He later revealed many common practices of the cycling world in his book, Massacre à la Chaîne. In the 2000 criminal trial that ensued, it became apparent that the management of the Festina team had deliberately organized doping inside the team, including by hiring doctor Eric Rijkaert, because it was thought safer that way than if athletes were left to their own individual doping schemes, often applied without competent medical advice. It was argued that doping was generalized inside the cycling world, at least for racers who wanted to achieve major results.

Related Topics:
1998 Tour de France - July 8 - 1998 - Customs - Willy Voet - Festina - Thibault de Montbrial - Richard Virenque - Prescription drug - Narcotics - Erythropoietin - Growth hormone - Testosterone - Amphetamine - Eric Rijkaert

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On July 23, 1998, French police forces acting on search warrants raided several teams in their hotels and found significant quantities of doping products in the hotel and cars of the TVM (cycling team) team. In response the riders started a "sit-down strike" and refused to ride, thereby putting millions of dollars of endorsements and advertising revenue in jeopardy. The Spanish teams quit the Tour in a show of solidarity led by the ONCE team.

Related Topics:
July 23 - 1998 - TVM (cycling team)

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UCI, the international sport body for cycling, promised tough measures. In the end the "Tour of Shame" continued after the UCI backed down and promised to limit the heavy-handed actions, although several teams were forced to withdraw from the race. Polemics ensued, especially alleging the weakness of UCI's measures compared to the measures decided by the French cycling federation. (Daniel Baal, Droit dans le mur)

Related Topics:
UCI - Daniel Baal

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Richard Virenque denied doping himself and said that if he had been doped, it was not willfully, a stance which led him to be ridiculed. In 2000, he and the management of the Festina team were tried. During the trial, he confessed to doping himself. While Virenque was not sentenced (but had penalties imposed on him by sports authority), the management of Festina, the aides, the doctors, and some pharmacists were found guilty and handed down fines and suspended jail sentences.

Related Topics:
Doping - Festina - Pharmacist

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Just before the 2003 tour, Jesus Manzano, a Spanish rider, told a Madrid sports newspaper that he had been forced by his team, Kelme, to take banned substances during 2002's Centennial Tour in Spain. He also went into considerable technical detail about how riders avoid detection. His "reward" was to be banned from the 2004 Tour.

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In 2004 time trial World Champion David Millar was banned from the Tour because he was taken in for questioning by French police following up their discovery of banned drugs at the offices of Cofidis, his team. Millar is one of eight Cofidis members currently under investigation, implicated by the testimony of fellow rider Philippe Gaumont, who has told investigators and the press that doping with steroids, human growth hormones, EPO, and amphetamines is systematic on his team. Millar later admitted to doping, and has since offered his help in identifying the ways riders avoid testing positive in drug tests.

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A continued controversy also surrounds Lance Armstrong. In 2002 Filippo Simeoni told investigators about Dr. Michele Ferrari, a now-notorious sports physician who was being tried in the Italian province of Bologna for sporting fraud. Simeoni stated that Ferrari had developed a program for EPO use that would remain undetected. Armstrong had admitted to using Ferrari's services just before Simeoni's disclosure, leading to questions about Armstrong using EPO, although Simeoni said nothing of the sort. In response Armstrong stated that Simeoni was a compulsive liar, eventually leading to Simeoni suing him for defamation. On the 18th stage of the 2004 Tour, Armstrong broke free of the peloton and chased down a "break" that Simeoni was part of, agreeing to return to the pack only if Simeoni did as well. Simeoni agreed, and after the peloton caught up, Armstrong made "zipping the lips" gestures that many have interpreted as a threat to Simeoni to "shut up". Simeoni appears to be being ostracized by the riders on the tour, and it is unlikely he will ride professionally again.

Related Topics:
Filippo Simeoni - Compulsive liar - Peloton

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Other athletes have suggested that Armstrong's performances are unnatural without doping. While he stopped short of accusing Armstrong of doping, Christophe Bassons (well known for being one of the few racers of the Festina team who did not take doping drugs, and a known opponent of doping) pointed out that Armstrong, while having several physical parameters similar to his, developed enormous power. It was also pointed out that Armstrong's breathing under effort seems unnatural, possibly suggesting the use of blood oxygenating products.

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Note that during his entire post-cancer career, Armstrong has been subject to blood testing after nearly every stage he has raced in the Tour, according to his autobiography, It's Not About the Bike. However, testimonies following the 1998 scandals have shown that the cycling world was considering moving to undetected substances, such as products with effects similar to EPO's but not generating higher hematocrit, thus the absence of positive tests is not conclusive. He once tested positive for a banned substance, however he explained after being detected that he had a medical prescription for saddle sore relief cream which had introduced those substances into his body chemistry. Insider sources contend that medical certificates authorizing the use of banned substances are one of the older tricks of the book.

Related Topics:
Cancer - Medical prescription

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Professional cycling in general has a reputation for being one of the most doped sports. In particular there is continued controversy over the use of EPO, a hormone that increases the amount of red blood cells in the blood and thus offers increased cardiovascular endurance. Some claim that EPO use is almost universal. The UCI has done little to address these problems, taking a sort of "don't ask, don't tell" attitude, and running only a small and semi-voluntary drug testing program that is considered trivial to beat. The UCI appears to be too afraid to lose popular Tour riders, and would rather operate under continued controversy than lower participation. This fear is surfacing in other sports, as Major League Baseball and track and field have been dogged by steroid controversies as well in recent years. Furthermore, it is claimed that EPO is already passé and that other potent blood replacement products that do not increase the hematocrit rates are already in use in the cycling world.

Related Topics:
Red blood cells - Cardiovascular - Major League Baseball - Track and field

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In 2004, the UCI introduced a somewhat more rigorous testing program, taking urine samples a few times during the race. However the samples were not tested for EPO, as the test was not ready for use and would not be until after the race completed. Although they intend to test the samples once the new test is ready, it is not clear what actions will be taken if the tests come back positive.

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Many commentators have remarked that the average speed at which the Tour is run has continued to rise, whereas improvements in training methods, bicycles etc., on a fairly mature sport, should only yield marginal improvements. They attribute those speed increases to better performance-enhancing drugs, possibly not detected by current anti-doping investigations. Noted personalities such as Daniel Baal and Lance Armstrong have denounced probable doping. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2004/jun04/jun08news2

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