Let me start part 2 of this blog entry by setting the scene from the previous few years of cycling. After the nightmare 1998 Tour de France, everyone involved was thrilled to have a relatively controversy free 1999 Tour de France whereby the public were very happy to support cancer survivor and fundraiser Lance Armstrong as he completed a fairy tale comeback to win the Tour.

What the public didn’t know however was that Armstrong was using suspicious doctor Dr Michele Ferrari to support him with an organised doping programme, which included Armstrong’s gardener following the Tour throughout the three weeks on his red motorbike, ready to deliver banned performance enhancing substances such as EPO to Lance and several other team mates. Whilst the public saw and the organisers pushed forward the ideal of a new clean, era of professional cycling started by Lance Armstrong, the truth was that cycling was entering it’s worst ever period of doping.

The new millennium was the completion of a transition within doping, as gone were the days of the teams running professional doping programmes for their riders, who were forced to sort out their doping themselves now as the teams wanted no part of it after the Festina affair in 1998. 2000 also saw the UCI finally make a step forward to curb the rampant doping, with a new test being developed to detect EPO. The test was initially put in place for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, although it was then used in the 2000 Tour de France.

Armstrong’s doctor Dr Michele Ferrari was always kept up to date with the latest tests being developed to curb doping, therefore with the advent of a new EPO test Lance and his United States Postal Service team shied away from using EPO during the Tour, instead choosing to use a more old fashioned and natural performance enhancer: blood transfusions.

Whilst this wasn’t a new technology, taking out a blood bag several weeks before the Tour and then infusing it back in during a crucial part of the Tour would provide a natural boost in red blood cells which was also very hard to detect. With this innovation in cycling Armstrong and several team mates followed this process in the weeks leading up to the Tour. Armstrong’s team mate Tyler Hamilton speaks of this in his brilliant book The Secret Race where he states after winning a key warm up race for the Tour the Criterium Dauphine Libere only days before doing the transfusion, and struggling to ride up a small hill in the aftermath of taking out a blood bag.

The 2000 Tour de France was once again free of major doping scandal as Lance Armstrong successfully defended his 1999 Tour de France triumph over Jan Ullrich and Joseba Beloki. The sport appeared to be cleaning itself up after two relatively quiet years in terms of riders being busted for doping, although this would all change with the advent of the new EPO test.

Armstrong in action during the 2000 Tour de France.

Thanks to http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-24/lance-armstrong-rides-in-the-2000-tour-de-france/4221010 for the image.

2001 saw several riders test positive for EPO, with the first ever being prominent Danish rider Bo Hamburger, although he would later be acquitted after irregularities with his B sample. The 2001 Giro D’Italia would also be marred with doping scandals. Leading contender Dario Frigo would be expelled from the race after police found banned substances when searching several teams hotels. Police uncovered a significant amount of doping products as they searched riders from all 20 teams, leading to several riders being thrown out of the race.

This would prove to be the only major doping incidents during the 2001 season, as Armstrong raced to a third successive Tour de France title. 2002 would be more of the same as both previous winners of the Giro D’Italia Stefano Garzelli and Gilberto Simoni would test positive for drugs and face suspensions. 2002 also provided a perfect snapshot of the lack of concern around rampant doping in cycling as the UCI failed to strip 3rd place rider Raimondas Rumsas of his podium position in the Tour de France despite his wife being found with vast quantities of performance enhancing drugs including EPO and growth hormone. His wife explained the drugs were for her mother in law. Rumsas would later be banned for one year in 2003 after testing positive for EPO during that years Giro D’Italia.

Raimondas Rumsas on the podium at the end of the 2002 Tour de France on the far right in 3rd place overall.

Thanks to L’Equipe for the photo http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme-sur-route/Diaporama/Un-palmares-a-recreer/254

2003 would look from the outside like any other year with a number of riders being banned for doping, although it would have much wider implications as Jesus Manzano retired from cycling and turned whistle blower with the Spanish Guardia Civil, who’s investigation became known as Operacion Puerto. After becoming disillusioned with cycling he was fired by his Kelme team, Manzano turned whistle blower to the doping practices of the team, which included blood transfusions and various injections of performance enhancing drugs, in co-operation with Spanish doctor Dr Eufemiano Fuentes.

The team doctor for the Kelme team would later become synonymous with doping, much like fellow former cycling team doctor Dr Michele Ferrari. For now all the allegations were strenously denied, although these allegations refused to go away. 2004 was another bad year for doping with two well known riders being suspended. Firstly the Brit and former yellow jersey holder in previous Tour de France races David Millar was suspended for two years after police searched his house and found doping products. Millar admitted to using EPO three times in previous years and was banned until 2006.

American and former Tour de France contender Tyler Hamilton was also suspended for two years after testing positive for a blood transfusion both after winning the gold medal in the 2004 Olympics men’s individual time trial and during the 2004 Vuelta a Espana. After initially denying his positive tests, once his front line career was over once he returned to cycling he admitted to using performance enhancing drugs in his brilliantly honest book The Secret Race.

Tyler Hamilton on the podium celebrating his 2004 Olympic gold medal. This would later be stripped from him after testing positive for a blood transfusion twice in the ensuing moths. Photo credit goes to Greg Wood of  AFP/Getty Images. Sourced from http://sports.nationalpost.com/2012/08/10/tyler-hamilton-officially-stripped-of-2004-olympic-gold-medal-in-cycling/

2005 was another run of the mill year with several riders being eliminated from the Tour de France for doping, whilst Vuelta a Espana specialist Roberto Heras was stripped of his win in the 2005 Vuelta after testing positive for EPO that year on stage 20. He was stripped of his record breaking fourth win in the Vuelta a Espana, before being reinstated in 2012 after procedural errors with the testing.

As the Lance Armstrong era came to a close in 2005, the world of cycling was still being barraged with doping scandals which seriously undermined the heroics presented to the fans and TV audiences by the riders. Whilst the UCI hoped to ride out the storm, little did anyone know the fuse on another major doping scandal was about to blow up in their faces. Please stay tuned for part 3 coming up soon.