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.
Astana Qazaqstan Team is a professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by the Samruk-Kazyna, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital city Astana. Astana attained UCI ProTeam status in its inaugural year, 2007. Following a major doping scandal involving Kazakh rider Alexander Vinokourov, team management was terminated and new management brought in for the 2008 season. The team was then managed by Johan Bruyneel, former team manager of U.S. Postal/Discovery Channel team. Under Bruyneel the ethical nature of the team did not improve, although Astana in this period was very successful.
Danilo Di Luca is a former Italian professional road racing cyclist, best known for winning the 2007 Giro d'Italia, but also for several positive doping tests, the last of which resulting in a lifetime ban from the sport.
Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale is a French cycling team with UCI WorldTeam status. Its title sponsors are French sporting goods retailer Decathlon and French insurance firm AG2R La Mondiale. The team is predominantly French.
Patrik Sinkewitz is a German professional road racing cyclist, who is currently suspended from the sport until 2024 for doping and ineligibility offences. He was a climbing specialist who can ride well over a stage race, as in winning the 2004 nine-stage Deutschland Tour. He also rode well in one-day races such as Liège–Bastogne–Liège, where he finished in the top 10 in 2006. He did not perform well in his first major tour, finishing 59th in the 2005 Tour de France. The following year he finished 23rd and had good stage results. In February 2014 he was banned from competition for 8 years for a second anti-doping rule violation, having tested positive for testosterone in 2007 and recombinant human growth hormone in 2011.
VF Group–Bardiani–CSF–Faizanè is a UCI ProTeam cycling team registered in Italy that participates in UCI Continental Circuits races and when selected as a wildcard to UCI World Tour events. The team is managed by Bruno Reverberi with assistance from directeurs sportifs Fabiano Fontanelli and Roberto Reverberi. Reverberi has managed the team since 1982, when it started as Termolan. Navigare was an on-and-off title sponsor since 1990, when the team was called Italbonifica-Navigare. The current main sponsor, Bardiani Valvole, became associated with the team in 2013, prior to which CSF Group (2008–12) and Ceramica Panaria (2000–2007) were main sponsors.
The 2008 Tour de France was the 95th running of the race. The event took place from 5 to 27 July. Starting in the French city of Brest, the tour entered Italy on the 15th stage and returned to France during the 16th, heading for Paris, its regular final destination, which was reached in the 21st stage. The race was won by Carlos Sastre.
Riccardo Riccò is an Italian professional road bicycle racer, who is suspended from all competition until 2024. He was previously ejected from the 2008 Tour de France for doping violations and suspended. Riccò returned to competition in late 2010, but in February 2011 he was fired by his team, Vacansoleil–DCM, after he became seriously ill allegedly through a self-administered autologous blood transfusion. He then signed to UCI Continental team Meridiana–Kamen.
Dmitry Fofonov is a former Kazakh professional road bicycle racer who was fired from UCI ProTeam Crédit Agricole for doping.
The 2008 Giro d'Italia was the 91st running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It began in Palermo on 10 May and ended in Milan on 1 June. Twenty-two teams entered the race, which was won by Spaniard Alberto Contador of the Astana cycling team. Second and third respectively were Italians Riccardo Riccò and Marzio Bruseghin.
Christian Pfannberger is an Austrian former professional road racing cyclist. He was a two-time Austrian national road-race champion. Other achievements included winning the U23 National Championship in 2001 and the Giro del Capo, a stage race in South Africa in 2008. In spring 2008 he had top 10 finishes in all three of the Ardennes classics. Pfannberger was handed a lifetime ban by the Austrian National Anti-Doping Agency for his second doping violation.
Katusha–Alpecin was a Russian road bicycle racing team which competed at the UCI WorldTeam level using Canyon bikes. The team was created in 2008 by Igor Makarov, an ex-professional cyclist and entrepreneur. In 2017 the team took a broader international direction, still supported by Igor Makarov's company ARETI International Group, Swiss clothing company Katusha Sports and German shampoo manufacturer Alpecin. The team competed as a UCI ProTeam/WorldTour team between 2009 and 2019. Joaquim Rodríguez, Alexander Kristoff, Daniel Moreno, Simon Špilak, Filippo Pozzato, Luca Paolini, Ilnur Zakarin and Tony Martin are some of the most successful riders who rode for Katusha.
An athlete biological passport is an individual electronic record for professional athletes, in which profiles of biological markers of doping and results of doping tests are collated over a period of time. Doping violations can be detected by noting variances from an athlete's established levels outside permissible limits, rather than testing for and identifying illegal substances.
Fabio Taborre was an Italian professional road cyclist, suspended from the sport due to an anti-doping violation.
Jonathan Alejandro Monsalve Pertsinidis is a Venezuelan road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Continental team Tianyoude Hotel Cycling Team. He was suspended from the sport after testing positive for anabolic–androgenic steroids (AAS) from July 2019 to July 2023. He is the younger brother of fellow racing cyclist Ralph Monsalve.
Matteo Rabottini is an Italian racing cyclist, who last for UCI Continental team Meridiana–Kamen.
Ilya Davidenok is a Kazakhstani cyclist, who is currently suspended from the sport until April 2028.
Michel Hessmann is a German professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Visma–Lease a Bike. He was suspended by his team on 16 August 2023, following a positive out-of-competition doping test for an unnamed diuretic.
