Tour de doping – part of the sport
For all the outcry over doping in cycling, and a crossfire of words between former teammates Floyd Landis and Lance Armstrong, the problem is hardly a new one. It wasn't even a new problem back in 1998, when Hans Halter, writing for the German Observer, put it into perspective.
“For as long as the Tour has existed, since 1903, its participants have been doping themselves. No dope, no hope. The Tour, in fact, is only possible because - not despite the fact - there is doping. For 60 years this was allowed. For the past 30 years it has been officially prohibited. Yet the fact remains; great cyclists have been doping themselves, then as now,” wrote Halter.
Swiss rider Thomas Frei has been banned from competitive cycling for two years following confirmed use of EPO, a favorite drug of cyclists since the early 90s. Frei is following in the footsteps of Floyd Landis, the 2006 winner of the Tour de France, whose doping was not confirmed until after his victory. Landis is not the first winner to test positive; in fact, of the 22 riders who have won the Tour de France since doping was criminalized in 1965, 14 have been tested positive or confessed. Only 8 of the winning riders in the last 45 years were sober.
Shady beginnings
In 1924, Henri Pélissier and his brother Charles sat down with journalist Albert Londres in an extremely revealing interview where Henri described the Tour as “a Calvary. Worse than that, because the road to the Cross has only 14 stations and ours has 15. We suffer from the start to the end. You want to know how we keep going? Here..." He pulled a phial from his bag. "That's cocaine, for our eyes. This is chloroform, for our gums."
Henri and his brother were dubbed “The Convicts of the Road” when the story was published in Le Petit Parisien, but no disciplinary action was taken. In fact, riders were so well known for taking anything to fight the tedium and the pain in their legs that in 1930, when the race switched from corporate to national teams, the rule book reminded the riders that drugs were not among the items they would be provided with.
"Those who claim [that cyclists do not take amphetamine], it's not worth talking to them about cycling," said Fausto Coppi, the 1949 and 1952 Tour winner, in 1949.
Criminalization
It was not until the 50s that doping began to be frowned upon by some. Dr. Pierre Dumas, who worked for the Tour de France from 1952 to 1962, became the first to campaign for mandatory testing after a series of incidents including Roger Rivière breaking his back after painkillers made his hands too slow to pull the breaks, and 31 riders dropped out of a race in 1962 after allegedly having been given the same tainted drug.
"Three-quarters of riders were doped. I am well placed to know that since I visited their rooms each evening during the Tour. I always left frightened after these visits," said French team manager Marcel Bidot in an inquiry by the Council of Europe.
Doping was ultimately criminalized in 1965.
The doping continues
In 1967, British cyclist Tom Simpson died on Mont Ventoux, having taken amphetamine. Police raided team hotels and found products in possession of TVM. Further measures were introduced by the Union Cycliste Internationale, including tests for blood doping. An independent organisation, the World Anti-Doping Agency was created. But still, the doping continues.
As recently as 2007, after five riders were dropped from tour, Tour director Christian Prudhomme said that professional cycling would need a "complete overhaul" to combat doping. But it has been such an intrinsic part of the Tour de France that this complete overhaul would mean the death of the tour as we know it.
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