Doping at the 1999 Tour de France

Last updated

At the time of the 1999 Tour de France there was no official test for EPO. In August 2005, 60 remaining antidoping samples from the 1998 Tour and 84 remaining antidoping samples given by riders during the 1999 Tour, were tested retrospectively for recombinant EPO by using three recently developed detection methods. More precisely the laboratory compared the result of test method A: "Autoradiography — visual inspection of light emitted from a strip displaying the isoelectric profile for EPO" (published in the Nature journal as the first EPO detection method in June 2000 [1] ), with the result of test method B: "Percentage of basic isoforms — using an ultra-sensitive camera that by percentage quantify the light intensity emitted from each of the isoelectric bands" (pioneered at the Olympics in September 2000, with values above 80% classified as positive, but the laboratory applying an 85% threshold for retrospective samples — to be absolutely certain that no false-positives can occur when analyzing on samples stored for multiple years). For those samples with enough urine left, these results of test method A+B were finally also compared with the best and latest test method C: "Statistical discriminant analysis — taking account all the band profiles by statistical distinguish calculations for each band" (which feature both higher sensitivity and accuracy compared to test method B [2] ). [3]

Contents

At first, the rider names with a positive sample in the retrospective test were not made public, because this extra test had only been conducted as scientific research, with the purpose of validating the newest invented EPO-test method based on "statistical discriminant analysis". On 23 August 2005, only one day after the confidential test report had been submitted by the test laboratory LNDD to WADA and the French Ministry for Sports, the French newspaper L'Équipe however reported, that after having access to all Lance Armstrong's Sample IDs, they had managed to link him to 6 out of the 12 "definitely EPO-positive" samples. [4] The phrase "definitely EPO-positive" referred to that all three applied test methods (A+B+C) had returned a positive result, [4] and it was reported Armstrong's six samples satisfying this requirement had been collected on the following dates: 3+4+13+14+16+18 July 1999. [5] From the leaked report it was also possible to conclude, that all of the four unidentified riders tested at the Prologue on top of the list, had submitted samples being EPO positive by all three applied test methods. As it was known from earlier press reports, that only four named riders (Beltran, Castelblanco, Hamburger and Armstrong) had been tested in the Prologue, they were all identified as having tested EPO-positive. [6]

In response, UCI published the so-called Vrijman report in May 2006, where they alleged WADA had been responsible for the leak of the confidential test report to the press, and had been plotting against Lance Armstrong when they asked the French laboratory to note sample IDs in their confidential report, as Vrijman suspected they already had inside knowledge of some journalists being in possession of Armstrongs confidential doping forms — knowing that this all together could be used to link him to the positive samples. [7] However, a few days later, WADA published a full written reply to completely rebut this accusation, and was moreover able to prove the journalist in fact had received the Armstrong doping forms by legal ways, from UCI itself — with Armstrong's written consent — and without any help/interference by WADA. [8]

In July 2013, the antidoping committee of the French Senate decided it would benefit the current doping fight to shed some more light on the past, and so decided — as part of their "Commission of Inquiry into the effectiveness of the fight against doping" report — to publish all of the 1998 rider doping forms and some of the 1999 rider doping forms, along with the result of the retrospective test of the 1998+1999 samples, which made name identification possible for the various sample IDs. This publication revealed for the 1999 samples, that 13 of the 20 positive samples belonged to 6 riders (Lance Armstrong, Kevin Livingston, Manuel Beltrán, José Castelblanco, Bo Hamburger, and Wladimir Belli), with the remaining 7 positive samples still not identified. Beside of the 20 positive samples, 34 were reported to have tested negative, and the remaining 30 samples were inconclusive due to sample degradation. [3]

Tests

Confessions

Among the riders testing EPO positive during the 1999 Tour, the following riders have confessed indeed to be EPO positive:

Among the riders in the race who never had their samples tested doping positive, the following nevertheless later on confessed also to have doped in preparation/during the 1999 Tour de France:

Christophe Bassons

French rider Christophe Bassons had come to be known as one of the few riders of the Festina scandal who was not doping. During the 1999 tour he wrote some articles about cycling, the tour, and about doping, finding the speeds to be "suspicious". [18] The peloton began to turn against him, refusing to speak to him, and otherwise shunning him. [19]

Stage 10 occurred on July 14 and was from Sestrieres to Alpe d'Huez. Bassons would later tell the story of this stage to media, including an October 2012 interview with the BBC. He said that nobody had been talking to him. The entire peloton planned to ride slow for the first 100 km without telling him. Bassons only heard about this because a mechanic from his team told him. Bassons decided he was "fed up" and decided to ride ahead of the others ("attacked from the start"). As they came to a flat spot, "all of the teams rode together to close me down". As the teams rode by him, they looked at him. [19]

" . . . and then Lance Armstrong reached me. He grabbed me by the shoulder, because he knew that everyone would be watching, and he knew that at that moment, he could show everyone that he was the boss. He stopped me, and he said what I was saying wasn't true, what I was saying was bad for cycling, that I mustn't say it, that I had no right to be a professional cyclist, that I should quit cycling, that I should quit the tour, and finished by saying [*beep*] you. . . . I was depressed for 6 months. I was crying all of the time. I was in a really bad way." – Bassons, on BBC Radio 5, 2012 10 15 [19]

In 2011/2012, after investigations into past doping in cycling, especially the 2012 USADA report on Armstrong's US Postal Service team, the media began to re-tell Bassons story. In one interview for the BBC, Armstrong teammate Tyler Hamilton publicly apologized for being part of the peloton that shunned him, saying that he was "100% wrong" not to talk to him. Bassons said "that's life, it's nothing. I don't begrudge Hamilton. I understand." [19]

David Walsh would later claim that Armstrong's treatment of Bassons was what first raised doubts about Armstrong in his mind. These doubts culminated in the 2004 book L. A. Confidentiel which he co-wrote with Pierre Ballester. It contained testimony from Emma O'Reilly (US Postal soigneur) and others about Armstrong's alleged doping, including during the 1999 tour. [20]

Notes

  1. ↑ Unmarked samples were tested positive by all three test methods. Positive samples marked with a *, were only analyzed by the visual inspection test "autoradiography" (referred to as "test method A"), and not by one of the later WADA approved EPO detection test methods (referred to as test method B and C). Positive samples marked with **, were analyzed positive by both test method A+C. [3] The two first samples marked with ***, returned a positive result by all three test methods, and have been identified through the fact that only four riders (Beltran, Castelblanco, Hamburger and Armstrong) were tested on 3 July, while we know from the report plus another source that sample ID 160-297 and 160-300 belong respectively to Armstrong [9] and Hamburger, [3] and thus it can be concluded the two remaining unidentified positives from 3 July belong to Manuel Beltrán and José Castelblanco. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tyler Hamilton</span> American cyclist (born 1971)

Tyler Hamilton is an American former professional road bicycle racer. He is the only American rider to win one of the five Monuments of cycling, taking Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2003. Hamilton became a professional cyclist in 1995 with the US Postal Service cycling team. He was a teammate of Lance Armstrong during the 1999, 2000 and 2001 Tours de France, where Armstrong won the general classification. He was a key asset for Armstrong, being a very good climber as well as time-trialist. Hamilton appeared at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. In 2004, he won a gold medal at the individual time trial. The first doping test after his Olympic victory gave a positive result, but because the backup sample was frozen, no doping offence could be proven. After he failed further doping tests at the 2004 Vuelta a España, Hamilton was suspended for two years from the sport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Anti-Doping Agency</span> National anti-doping organization (NADO) for the United States

The United States Anti-Doping Agency is a non-profit, non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization and the national anti-doping organization (NADO) for the United States. To protect clean competition and the integrity of sport and prevent doping in the United States with a performance-enhancing substance, the USADA provides education, leads scientific initiatives, conducts testing, and oversees the results management process. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USADA is a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code, which harmonizes anti-doping practices around the world, and is widely considered the basis for the strongest and strictest anti-doping programs to prevent doping in sport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Filippo Simeoni</span> Italian cyclist

Filippo Simeoni is an Italian former racing cyclist and the 2008 Italian road race champion. Simeoni won two stages in the Vuelta a España in 2001 and 2003, and the 2008 Italian National Road Race Championship.

The men's time trial at the 2004 Summer Olympics (Cycling):

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Floyd Landis</span> American cyclist

Floyd Landis is an American former professional road racing cyclist. At the 2006 Tour de France, he would have been the third non-European winner in the event's history, but was disqualified after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. The competition was ultimately won by Óscar Pereiro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1999 Tour de France</span> Cycling race

The 1999 Tour de France was a multiple stage bicycle race held from 3 to 25 July, and the 86th edition of the Tour de France. It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong originally won the event, the United States Anti-Doping Agency announced in August 2012 that they had disqualified Armstrong from all his results since 1998, including his seven consecutive Tour de France wins from 1999 to 2005 ; the Union Cycliste Internationale confirmed the result.

Christophe Bassons is a French former professional road racing cyclist. His career ended when he spoke out about doping in the Tour de France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doping at the Tour de France</span> Use of illegal substances by cyclists in the Tour de France

There have been allegations of doping in the Tour de France since the race began in 1903. Early Tour riders consumed alcohol and used ether, among other substances, as a means of dulling the pain of competing in endurance cycling. 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 the practice.

Positively False is the autobiography by 2006 Tour de France champion Floyd Landis, published in June 2007

The Festina affair was a series of doping scandals within the sport of professional cycling that occurred during and after the 1998 Tour de France. The affair began when a large haul of doping products was found in a support car belonging to the Festina cycling team just before the start of the race. A resulting investigation revealed systematic doping involving many teams in the Tour de France. Hotels where teams were staying were raided and searched by police, confessions were made by several retired and current riders, and team personnel were arrested or detained. Several teams withdrew completely from the race.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erythropoiesis-stimulating agent</span> Medicine that stimulates red blood cell production

Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESA) are medications which stimulate the bone marrow to make red blood cells. They are used to treat anemia due to end stage kidney disease, chemotherapy, major surgery, or certain treatments in HIV/AIDS. In these situations they decrease the need for blood transfusions. The different agents are more or less equivalent. They are given by injection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Floyd Landis doping case</span> 2006 doping scandal

The Floyd Landis doping case was a doping scandal that featured Floyd Landis, the initial winner of the 2006 Tour de France. After a meltdown in Stage 16, where he had lost ten minutes, Landis came back in Stage 17, riding solo and passing his whole team. However, a urine sample taken from Landis immediately after his Stage 17 win has twice tested positive for banned synthetic testosterone as well as a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone nearly three times the limit allowed by World Anti-Doping Agency rules. The International Cycling Union stripped him of his 2006 Tour title. Second place finisher Óscar Pereiro was officially declared the winner. The only previous Tour de France winner to be disqualified at the time was the 1904 Tour's winner, Maurice Garin; however, in the following years Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong would have tour wins revoked.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lance Armstrong</span> American cyclist (born 1971)

Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He achieved international fame for winning the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005, but was stripped of his titles after an investigation into doping allegations, called the Lance Armstrong doping case, found he used performance-enhancing drugs over his career. Armstrong is currently banned for life from all sanctioned bicycling events.

Kayle Leogrande is an American road racing cyclist, who is currently suspended from the sport. Leogrande was the 2006 winner of the United States National Amateur Criterium Championships, and spent two years with the infamous Rock Racing team, having turned professional in 2005 with US domestic squad Jelly Belly–Pool Gel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Travis Tygart</span> American lawyer

Travis Thompson Tygart is an American lawyer and CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). He is best known for his role in exposing Lance Armstrong's massive doping operation.

Doping, or the use of restricted performance-enhancing drugs in the United States occurs in different sports, most notably in the sports of baseball and football.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Lance Armstrong doping allegations</span> Cycling doping allegations

For much of the second phase of his career, American cyclist Lance Armstrong faced constant allegations of doping, including doping at the Tour de France and in the Lance Armstrong doping case. Armstrong vehemently denied allegations of using performance enhancing drugs for 13 years, until a confession during a broadcast interview with Oprah Winfrey in January 2013, when he finally admitted to all his cheating in sports, stating, “I view this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times”.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lance Armstrong doping case</span> Doping scandal in professional cycling

United States Anti-Doping Agency v. Lance Armstrong, the Lance Armstrong doping case, was a major doping investigation that led to retired American road racing cyclist Lance Armstrong being stripped of his seven consecutive Tour de France titles, along with one Olympic medal, and his eventual admission to using performance-enhancing drugs. The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) portrayed Armstrong as the ringleader of what it called "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."

The year in which the 1998 Tour de France took place marked the moment when cycling was fundamentally shattered by doping revelations. Paradoxically no riders were caught failing drug tests by any of the ordinary doping controls in place at the time. Nevertheless, several police searches and interrogations managed to prove existence of organized doping at the two teams Festina and TVM, who consequently had to withdraw from the race. After stage 16, the police also forced the virtual mountain jersey holder Rodolfo Massi to leave the race, due to having found illegal corticosteroids in his hotel room. The intensive police work then led to a peloton strike at stage 17, with a fallout of four Spanish teams and one Italian team deciding to leave the race in protest.

References

  1. ↑ Françoise Lasne & Jacques de Ceaurriz (8 June 2000). "Recombinant erythropoietin in urine". Nature. 405 (6787): 635. Bibcode:2000Natur.405..635L. doi: 10.1038/35015164 . PMID   10864311. S2CID   4428272.
  2. ↑ Françoise Lasne; et al. (13 June 2006). "Detection of recombinant human erythropoietin in urine for doping analysis — Interpretation of isoelectric profiles by discriminant analysis" (PDF). Electrophoresis 2007, 28, p.1875–1881. Electrophoresis. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Rapport Fait au nom de la commission d'enquête sur l'efficacité de la lutte contre le dopage (Annexe 6: Résultats test EPO Tour De France 1998 et 1999)" (PDF). N° 782, Sénat Session Extraordinaire de 2012–2013 (in French). French Senate. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
  4. 1 2 "An interview with L'Équipe's Damien Ressiot: The author of it all". Cyclingnews. 7 September 2005. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  5. ↑ "Tour champion under the microscope again: Did Armstrong and six others use EPO in 1999?". Cyclingnews. 23 August 2005. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "First Edition Cycling News for September 12, 2005: Three more names published from 1999 Tour". Cyclingnews. 12 September 2005. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  7. ↑ "Independent Investigation: Analysis Samples from the 1999 Tour de France" (PDF). Cyclingnews. 31 May 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 August 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  8. ↑ "Official statement from WADA on the Vrijman report" (PDF). WADA. 19 June 2006. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Michael Ashenden (interview)". Velocity Nation. 2 April 2009. Archived from the original on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  10. ↑ "L'UCI a couvert Lance Armstrong dès le Tour 1999". Le Monde (in French). 21 January 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  11. 1 2 "Lance Armstrong Receives Lifetime Ban And Disqualification Of Competitive Results For Doping Violations Stemming From His Involvement In The United States Postal Service Pro-Cycling Team Doping Conspiracy, USADA". Usada.org. 24 August 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-10.
  12. ↑ "Klier admits usage of doping products during his pro career, loses results from 2005 onwards". VeloNation. 15 August 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  13. ↑ "Lance Armstrong comes clean". ESPN News Services. 17 January 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
  14. ↑ "Boogerd gives detailed confession about doping to Dutch media". Velonation. 6 March 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  15. ↑ "Affidavit of George Hincapie" (PDF). USADA. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-29. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  16. ↑ "Affidavit of Christian Vande Velde" (PDF). USADA. 25 September 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  17. ↑ "Erik Zabel im SZ-Interview "Meine Schuld wird mich immer begleiten"" (in German). Sueddeutsche Zeitung. 30 July 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
  18. ↑ Bassons: ‘People Now See I Wasn’t Lying’ Archived November 4, 2013, at the National and University Library of Iceland , James Startt, Bicycling.com, October 15th, 2012
  19. 1 2 3 4 Peddlers - Cycling's Dirty Truth, 54:00, Mark Chapman, including interviews with Tyler Hamilton, Bassons, and others. BBC Radio 5 live, 2012 10 15, retr 2012 10 16
  20. ↑ David Walsh: 'It was obvious to me Lance Armstrong was doping' Andrew Pugh, Press Gazette, 11 October 2012, retr 2012 10 20
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.