“Verbruggen did a lot for the sport, to develop the sport but his decisions were – and this is between you and me – any decisions he made in a certain period to do with doping and so forth… It certainly wasn’t that he was pro-doping or encouraging doping, but he would always protect the sport,If he had to take a decision on something and he could see that the sport would be damaged because of that decision then he wouldn’t take the decision. I think that his was sort of his philosophy: ‘to protect the sport.’” Pat McQuaid to Antione Vayer – March 2013

In 2010, Cycling conducted 21,427 anti-doping controls with 254 adverse samples, only Football (30,398) and Athletics (25,013) conducted more anti-doping controls.  In 2009 the results were similar. 21,835 samples collected, 318 positives, with again, only Football and Athletics doing more testing, which – when you bear in mind the sheer numbers of sportsmen involved in those two sports – really puts Cycling at the forefront of anti-doping.

The pattern was repeated in 2008, and again, only Football and Athletics tested their athletes more. The results are telling – each year Cycling tests its athletes more than virtually every other sport, and every year the number of adverse samples goes down. Cycling is at the forefront of anti-doping, and with every passing year gets cleaner. Each year the UCI can tell us how much they are testing, and how the number of positives is going down. It reads well. Cycling leads the way, or does it? On the surface it’s an easy argument to accept. Each year we test more and more, each year the number of positives go down, with the conclusion being the UCI are doing a great job. But in 2012, the way WADA reports the figures changed. In previous years we were simply presented with total tests and adverse results; from this year onward we now have detailed figures – by testing agency, by product, by lab – and it can give us a whole different perspective. We can ask the question again, is the UCI really at the forefront of anti-doping, or is it just making sure the figures look as good as possible? In 2012 things continued to improve, 20,624 samples tested, 270 adverse findings, we continue to lead the way, and positive tests continue to drop.

  More importantly, cycling continues to lead the way in number of tests conducted on its athletes.

Note: Blood tests don’t include those for BioPassport samples

Again, as in previous years, only Athletics and Football rival Cycling for the numbers of tests, and if that was the end of the story it would make great reading. But that’s not really the end of the story. On August 2 of this year, Travis Tygart spoke to Shane Stokes of Velonation.

“We are going to have the USA Pro Cycling Challenge happen here in a couple of weeks. It’s one of the biggest races in the United States, and absolutely the biggest race in Colorado. Yet the independent agency based in Colorado [USADA] – which runs the programme for the Olympic movement which is also based in Colorado – is not doing the testing, because the UCI refuses to give up the control.  We are confident, just like in seasons past, there won’t be CIR testing, there won’t be human growth hormone testing, there won’t be EPO testing. It is a charade…”

The UCI has done its very best to monopolise testing within the sport. Nearly half of all testing conducted in cycling is conducted by the governing body – the UCI – the same body responsible for the promotion and management of the sport. A clear conflict of interests? Many think so, and Brian Cookson has made it a focus of his campaign for leadership of the UCI that testing should be moved out of the UCI’s hands and to those of an independent body. Cycling is not alone in this. Tennis, a sport widely critisised recently for its poor testing, sees the bulk of its anti-doping overseen by its own governing body, the ITF. Why is this crucial? Because if the governing body can control the bulk of the sampling, they in turn can also have a greater bearing on the results, its simple numbers management, and like schools that target the areas that bring them success in the eyes of the public, the UCI can control the numbers to make them look as good as possible in the eyes of the public, without really being an effective anti-doping program.

Percentage of controls carried out by sports governing bodies

  So how do the UCI manage these figures? Lets look at one example – EPO testing in urine. In 2012, as a sport we collected more than 19,000 urine controls. 13,000 in competition, and 6,000 out of competition. A huge number. The sad fact though is of those 19,000 samples collected, 7,000 were actually tested for EPO, around 30% of all samples. A number of factors affect this, not least of which are the budgetary constraints placed on the governing body, the national anti-doping agencies, and the race organisers. So what do we test? In 2012 as a result of in-competition testing there were 244 adverse samples for EPO, with just 24 samples out-of-competition positive. Is this purely because we take considerably more samples in-competition? No. Because despite taking twice as many samples in-competition as out-of-competition, we, as a sport only actually analysed 3000 in-competition samples for EPO in 2012, compared with the analysis of more than 4000 samples out-of-competition. If we look at it as a percentage, the percentage of in-competition samples testing positive for EPO is 7 times higher than for out-of-competition. This figure is repeated across all sports, not to such a great degree, but still, in-competition testing provides a much higher rate of adverse per tested, versus out-of-competition testing. Why is the positive rate so much lower in out-of-competition tests? It could be that riders simply aren’t using EPO to a great extent out of competition. It could be the sheer number of out-of-competition tests is dissuading riders from using EPO (the line the UCI would no doubt like us to believe), but it could also be that EPO testing out of competition is simply a failed exercise. In his recent book, Tyler Hamilton explained just how easy it was to evade a positive test for EPO, and in many ways the ADAMS (whereabouts system) assists this. Out of competition tests occur between 7am and 11pm, but within that you can specify a one-hour timeframe when you will be in an exact place at an exact time. If your specified window is 9am to 10am you know that your risk in microdosing EPO at 11pm is minimal. With a half life of around 6-8 hours when injected directly into the veins, it’s really not that difficult to be clean when you are tested at 9am. In competition it becomes more risky. Maybe if you are doping without your team’s knowledge you have to do it later at night when other riders are asleep. Your chance of being tested at 7am is greatly increased, overall the risk is higher. Knowing this, and knowing that the testing for EPO in-competition provides more positive results than out-of-competition, the expectation would be that of the 13,000 samples collected in competition, a vast majority would be tested for EPO. Out of competition, with its low EPO detection rate, you would expect the percentage of samples tested to be lower, for out-of-competition testing to be focussed on collecting blood data for the biological passport. So why does this not happen? As a sport we test considerably more samples for EPO out of competition, despite the lesser number of samples being taken. In tests conducted by National Anti Doping agencies, by race organisers, this is true. Granted, the bulk of samples collected by NAD’s are in-competition, but when it comes to actual analysis, the NADs focus their analysing on the in-competition samples, and they get results. Nearly 100 of the 250 positives come from National Anti-Doping agencies. The UCI, by contrast, test very few of their in-competition samples. The UCI analyse nearly all of the out-of-competition samples they collect for EPO, yet they only analyse around 20% of the samples they collect in-competition for EPO. When we compare the UCI percentages against national anti doping agencies, it becomes clear – the UCI heavily focus their analysis on out-of-competition samples, contrary to other sports. So what does this mean and what questions does it raise? Does the UCI focus on analysing urine samples out of competition for EPO for a reason? The suggestion would be yes. One group provides a high rate of positive, one group has a low rate of positive. Test the group with the low rate, it keeps your testing figures as high as possible, while keeping the number of positives as low as possible. Mathematically, if the analysis of the out-of-competition samples was switched to analysing in-competition samples, we would see an extra 66 adverse samples in 2012 based on the .7% detection rate. Of course that is just mathematics, and it’s unlikely that percentage would be exactly replicated, but there is a strong argument that it would be at least partially replicated. Which brings us back to the original numbers – the UCI are responsible for nearly 50% of the testing within the sport. By exercising this level of control, they are able to reinforce the statistics to their benefit. Are the UCI fiddling the figures? Are they making sure they test the group that produces the lowest rate of positive? Are we really leading the way in anti-doping? When discussing Verbruggen back in March Pat McQuaid said:

“I don’t fully back that, but then again maybe I’m wrong…”

Have things changed?

“We are a self-supporting cottage industry of knowledge, forums, Twitter thinkers and doers.

We all have a certain amount of responsibility. This collective mind has created something and it must be nurtured and sustained because it seems pretty clear to me that most of the established truth-pimps are happy with the status quo.”

A little over a year ago I did a piece on the myth surrounding Armstrong’s “500” tests. With help from others, I sat down and calculated what the true number was, and then released it. But I didn’t just present a number, I presented a breakdown with full details of how the figure was reached, and explanations of any possible variance, so that the reader – while presented with the final conclusion – also had the information to check for themselves, correlate that information, make an informed judgment with all the information in front of them.

When L’Equipe announced in 2004 that Armstrong had tested positive for EPO, they didn’t just say he tested positive and produce some dates, they provided full details, the methodology, the sample numbers, the correlation, the places, the names, so that it couldn’t be questioned, misinterpreted, or opposed.

When Gazetta dello Sport published their findings on Cipollini they did the same, with race schedules and calendars all playing a part in the work they presented so that the reader had the fullest possible information on which to make their judgement.

Dopeology.org is another great example, nothing is added without sources, sometimes multiple sources. If something finds its way onto the site it is checked, double-checked and verified to ensure its total accuracy.

Twitter has lent itself to 140-character journalism, sound-bites, and snippets of truth that don’t tell the full story. A single tweet – Armstrong 23:08, Froome 23.11, Pantani 23.15 – suddenly becomes a piece of work that people rapidly tweet and re-tweet, and use to make their own judgments from the most minimal of information. Sometimes it’s accompanied by a blog link that lists the top ten times for a climb, but lacking any explanation of race tactics, weather condition, parcours notes, or other information that is key to the final outcome (and the reader making an informed decision).

Sometimes, either many hours later, or even a day later, @veloclinic or the excellent Ross at The Science of Sport do more detailed articles, but by then most people have just read the headline and made their own decisions based on the smallest amount of information. Speed has become more valuable that accuracy, being first more important than being correct/most in-depth.

The Kimmage Fund débâcle is a great example. Many sites tried to be first, breaking the news in either an inaccurate, slapdash, or tabloid manner. It took three days for Velonation to put out their article, but when Shane did finally break it it was in-depth, accurate, with a full view of the story. Of course by then it was too late, the tabloid headlines and 140-character summaries had already got the attention and a well-thought-out article was lost amongst the general hubbub.

Social media has given some relatively normal people great power, but as a friend of mine reminded me recently, with great power comes great responsibility. I am fully aware that if I come forward and tweet an allegation, within minutes it is re-tweeted multiple times, people who don’t follow me end up reading it, they re-tweet it, and in a very short time it becomes accepted as fact. Those 140 characters – without the benefit of the full context of maybe a series of five tweets – eventually become the most minimal of information as people add comments to the RT, abridge it, condense it, until it becomes no more than a couple of words floating around the Internet. Television interviews given by riders, journalists, or team staff are abridged from 5 minutes to 140 characters, context is changed, details are lost, perception becomes quoted as fact, and people believe it.

Some are excellent; @veloclinic says nothing without backing it up with huge amounts of (largely confusing) data. @inrng, makes no statements without a lengthy blog post covering all aspects, with the most information possible. And that is the responsibility we all must have, when we put out data, when we reach conclusions, we must provide the reader with the fullest amount of information possible, so that they may make the most informed decision they possibly can.

The recent issue of climbing times is frustrating me endlessly. A list of climb times is not information, it is just base figures that ignore so many other factors. It gives people the bare minimum of information from which to make their decision, and we have to be more responsible than this.

For instance, if you are to present climb times for four Tours – 2000, 2002, 2006, and 2013 – for each of those four sets of data at minimum we should present:

• Stage length
• Stage details (How many other climbs, etc.)
• Position of stage within the race
• Weather details if available
• And a brief summary of the stage, e.g., what was the standing of the GC at start of day, when were the attacks made, who made the attacks, how long did the attacks continue, was the rider riding for the stage or for GC position?

Information that, while it may not prove relevant, gives the reader the maximum possible information from which to make a then much more informed decision on how they interpret the data in front of them.

Within forty eight hours of writing this I logged onto Twitter to the news that Geert Leinders, former doctor with Sky and Rabobank had been involved in clinical trials of Gas6 at Leuven University.

“It seems Dr Leinders was involved in clinical trials of Gas6 at the Catholic University in Leuven”

“Geert Leinders was involved in clinical trials of Gas6”

“Geert Leinders, Gas6, Interesting?”

This story slowly gained ground, tweeted by many well respected names in cycling. Eventually a piece appeared by notable French blogger Guillaume Prebois which made brief mention of rumours circulating regarding Leinders, this time at University of Louvain. (There is considerable confusion over the two universities.)

By now the story was true. Thomas Frei had tweeted regarding Gas 6,

Leinders had been linked, Sky were using Gas6 – people believed it.

Respected science blog, Scienceblogs.de, then wrote on the matter. First drawing climb times from another blog:

that failed to mention faster times by Marco Pantani in an earlier Tour de France (and again failed to account for tactics, parcours), before moving on to explicitly state that Leinders was involved in the clinical trials of Gas6.

“Dopingmittel eingestuft werden. Kandidaten dafür wären beispielsweise Telmisartan oder GAS6, das  Gerüchten zur Folge beim Giro d’Italia dieses Jahr eingesetzt wurde, und bei dessen klinischen Tests Geert Leinders, ehemals in Diensten des Teams Sky, beteiligt gewesen sein soll.”

So where did it start? A single powerpoint slide

on the CyclingNews forum listed Leinders name. The Universite Catholique de Louvain became the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Within three pages Leinders involvement was accepted, Sky had become linked. A few pages later the mistake was recognised, but by then it was too late, the story had already become fact.

Is the original forum poster at fault? No. Because while we have  a responsibility to question, a responsibility to investigate, we also have a responsibility to verify, to validate, to ensure the information we then pass on is sourceable.

We have a responsibility, and just as a journalist would never print allegations, or rumours without fully sourcing their information, we too – whether we have a hundred followers on twitter, or ten thousand – have a responsibility to be confident of our assertions. People do listen, and some have gained unprecedented power over the last two years, unforeseeable influence, but with that power, as was so rightly pointed out, comes great responsibility.

A few days ago, Irish journalist Paul Kimmage congratulated Daniel Benson of Cyclingnews for being the only journalist to ask Sky rider Mat Hayman about his relationship with notorious former Sky doctor Geert Leinders. While it’s admirable that a single journalist asked a single rider about a single doctor, how many more doctors should we be asking about, and how many more questions should we be asking?

What follows is a run-down of just some of the more notorious doctors currently earning a living in the sport of cycling.

from Daniele Tarsi’s Twitter feed

Daniele Tarsi – Vini Fantini

A colourful character who has been around for a fair few years. He’s been team doctor at, amongst others, ZG, Refin, Casino, Saeco, Lampre, Phonak, Acqua Sapone, and Farnese Vini.

Back in 1998 Tarsi was involved in the Bologna doping scandal and stood trial along with Ferrari but was eventually acquitted in 2004. In 1998 while doctor at Casino, Rodolfo Massi took the polka dot jersey in the Tour before being arrested the next day for use and distribution of drugs. Other riders Tarsi “coached” included Hamilton, Camenzind, Bo Hamburger, Di Luca, and Piepoli. He was also the doctor in charge when Patrik Sinkewitz was busted in 2011 for HGH use while at Farnese Vini. Interestingly, Tarsi is secretary of the Italian Association of Cycling Doctors.

Andrea Andreazzoli – Astana

Former doctor at Lampre, now at Astana. Andrea was investigated as part of the Mantova investigation, but was cleared in January of 2012 and adjudged to have committed no crime. In fact, he was described as “a respected professional of the first order who had seen his name sullied by a bad history of doping in cycling.”

Marco Pallini with Guido Bontempi

Marco Pallini – Team Columbia (was Astana in 2012)

Another colourful character. Been around a while, doctor at Jolly Componibili, Mercatone-Saeco, then Lampre, Tinkoff, and Astana. Some of his athletes include Cipollini, Salvoldelli, Gotti, Cunego, Astarloza, and Contador. Has followed Marinelli and Bontempi around for a few years. Being investigated currently as part of the Mantova enquiry.

Simone Uliari – Astana

The respected Uliari has had articles published in conjunction with none other than the equally respected Francesco Conconi. Uliari has been overshadowed somewhat by other Conconi disciples such as Ferrari and Cecchini.

Max Testa – BMC

Testa (right) with Eric Heiden in their testing lab

Early in his career, Testa worked as a team physician for several European teams, including 7-11, Motorola, and Mapei. Stephen Swart recalls an occasion when the team gathered in Testa’s room, where he had a centrifuge to check that their hematocrit was as close to 50 as they could get prior to the 1995 Tour de France. Testa even had his own lab on Lake Como where Armstrong, Andreu, Livingston, and Hincapie all lived and trained. Testa told David Walsh for LA Confidentiel “My job was to discourage them from taking things but at the same time leave the door open if they had a problem.” Has worked with a diverse range of cyclists, including Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, Andy Hampsten, and Davis Phinney. Testa and Dr. Eric Heiden, the former Olympic speed skater and cyclist, are long-time friends and medical colleagues. Heiden persuaded Testa to come to the United States, and together they developed the UC Davis Performance Center in Sacramento, Calif. Heiden and Testa moved their respective practices to Murray, Utah, in 2006 to work with The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital (TOSH) and with various Olympic teams, including speed skaters and cyclists. Testa runs his Max Testa Training Centre there in addition to his work with BMC.

Giovanni Ruffini – BMC

Giovanni was previously at Mapei where he worked with Max Testa, and in 2010 he moved to Footon Servetto were he worked alongside the infamous Ibarguren Taus.

Dario Spinelli – BMC

Worked at Mapei with Ruffini and Testa.

Raquel Ortolano – Euskaltel

The first female on the list. She was the team doctor at Liberty Seguros at the time of the Puerto raids. Somehow she got herself a job at Astana until Vinokourov was caught blood doping, and eventually left the team when Johan Bruyneel arrived and cleaned up the team/brought in his own doctors (depending on which one you believe)

Sergio Quilez – Euskaltel

Also on the medical team at Liberty Seguros with Ortolano at the time of the Puerto raids. Both he and Raquel are called as witnesses in the 2013 trial.

Manuel Rodriguez Alonso – Orica GreenEDGE

Manuel Rodriguez has been around a bit: doctor for the Spanish Olympic committee from 1996 to 2004, and Team Doctor at ONCE, Mapei (with Testa and Ruffini), and Quick Step. He even did a three-year spell at Real Madrid as their professor of nutrition counseling and sports performance. Former pro Patrick Sinkewitz explicitly named Rodriguez as administering doping products at QuickStep.

Massimo Besnati – Katusha

Katusha team have helpfully removed the names of all of their doctors from their website, so maybe they all left at the end of 2012, but up until that point, Besnati was most certainly their lead doctor. Formerly with Mapei-QuickStep, Alessio-Bianchi, and Fuji-Servetto before moving on to work at Footon with Ibarguren and Ruffini. The Italian is a fierce defender of the notorious Luigi Cecchini, and was investigated in 2001 and prosecuted for possession of steroids while Mapei team doctor.

Thomas Klimaschka – Katusha

Formerly at Leopard Trek, he is most well known for being the doctor at Phonak from 2004 to 2006 before moving on to Predictor Lotto. Names such as Botero, Hamilton, and Landis have all tested positive under his supervision. After the publication of The Secret Race, Tyler Hamilton stated in a German news interview that he was transfused during the 2004 Tour de France by Phonak team doctor Klimaschka when Fuentes couldn’t get to him because the hotel was surrounded by press.

Andrei Mikhailov – Katusha

Was the doctor at the centre of the TVM scandal in 1998. Was found guilty of supplying EPO and sentenced to one year probation and fined 60,000 Francs (about $8000). Previously at Collstrop, Lotto, and Unibet.

Carlo Guardascione – Lampre

Been at the team since around 2005 and before that was at Saeco. Is currently being investigated in the Mantova Enquiry.

The happy Cannondale trio of Angelluci, Corsetti, and Magni (photo from the Liquigas Cannondale team page)

Emilio Magni – Liquigas Cannondale

Emilio started out as Team Doctor at Mercatone Uno, where he was hired specifically to look after team leader Marco Pantani. In 2001 he moved to Fassa Bortolo where, in 2001, he was the subject of an investigation into doping practices. He was alleged to be responsible for doping the likes the of Bartoli, Casa Grande and Rumsas. Currently providing medical advice for young talent Peter Sagan.

Roberto Corsetti – Liquigas Cannondale

Believed to be one of the redacted names in the USADA documents. Corsetti represented Franco Pellizotti in his case against the Italian National Anti Doping Agency, which saw Pellizotti cleared.

Jesus Hoyos – Movistar

Formerly at Banesto, Hoyos was one of three doctors, along with Celaya and Fuentes, who went on the offensive in November 2000, attempting to refuting then-UCI President Hein Verbruggen’s claim that “organised doping may exist in the sport.” Oversaw Alejandro Valverde’s training in preparation for his return to cycling as a Movistar rider following a two-year doping suspension.

Jose Ibarguren Taus – Quickstep

Ibarguren really needs no introduction. Formerly the doctor at Lampre, Euskaltel, Saunier Duval, and Footon Servetto. You can read more about him here.

Boonen sees the doctor during the Tour of Qatar 2011

Yvan Van Mol – QuickStep

Formerly the doctor at Mapei, he has now been with Lefevere in excess of ten years. Accused of administering doping products by numerous former riders. In 2007 he admitted being aware of doping at Mapei but denied actively participating in it. Also in 2007, an anonymous QuickStep rider – in a leaked email that forced Johan Museeuw to admit to his own doping – said, “At QuickStep there are three levels. The bottom level, who receive nothing, Lefevere barely knows their names. The second level, the key domestiques, they receive a little. And then you have the top guys, they receive EPO, HGH, Cortisone, whatever they need. You pay Van Mol a set amount each year, and he makes sure you have the supplies and tells you the quantities.”

Pieter Lagrou – Vacansoleil

Part of the 2009 Astana team that was investigated after transfusion products were found dumped in the trash.

Geert Leinders

Geert Leinders (Getty images)

Long and checkered past. Makes a cameo appearance in Joe Parkin’s 2008 book, A Dog in a Hat, as the doctor who doped riders as witnessed by the author during his career racing professionally in the European classics and kermesses. Most recently affiliated with Team Sky, the ex-Rabobank doctor has been in the press a lot of late. Accused by many former Rabobank riders of doping them during his time with the team. Michael Rasmussen named Leinders as being at the heart of the Rabobank doping culture. Leinders was questioned in January for three hours by Belgian cycling authorities as part of their ongoing criminal investigation of him. He joined Sky late in 2010 and left the team in 2012.

Team Sky have undoubtedly made a rod for their own back with their “clean team” policy by then hiring a doctor who we now know was behind much of Rabobank’s doping program during the last decade. But it demands that we all – journalists and fans alike – ask the question, “Why aren’t we asking a lot more questions of a lot more teams about a lot more people?”

Editor’s note: we acknowledge the work of http://www.dopingzaak.nl/ and http://www.dopeology.org/ in creating extensive databases where you can further research this topic.

Image courtesy velochrono.fr

Jose Ibarguren (Taus) and Italian pharmacist Guido Nigrelli, “between them procured, administered or in any case favoured the use of substances not justified by pathological condition, towards the ends of altering the performances of athletes on the Fuji-Servetto professional cycling team, or otherwise to modify the ant-doping controls by the use of pharmaceuticals, and among these, substances containing testosterone: in Mariana Mantova and elsewhere up to the end of 30 April 2009.” ~ Mantova Court Summons, April 2012

1995 – 1998 Euskadi

1999 Lotto

Willy Voet who said he obtained EPO from the Lotto medical team headed by Taus. Taus called Voet a “Liar”

It was in ‘99 that Dr. Ibarguren first came to public attention. A year after the Festina scandal, where Willy Voet was stopped by the police in a Festina car found to contain various doping products, including erythropoietin, amphetamines, and growth hormone. Amongst the fallout were allegations from Voet that Taus was doping his riders on the Lotto team. Voet appeared on Belgium TV and said, “Once I needed EPO and so I asked the masseuse at Lotto. He spoke to the Spanish medical team and within 24 hours I had [EPO].” Taus responded, “Voet is a liar. He is desperate, trying to say that everything is equal and dropping people in it.” [“Willy Voet Lies”]

His car was searched at Midi Libre, but again he was equally defensive: “Even products for diarrhea or sore throat… I keep receipts for.” He claims that not every doctor in the sport is ethical,  “In every herd there is a black sheep, but it is wrong to judge everyone with the same brush. Many drugs are dangerous for the liver when taken orally and yet alarm bells ring when a needle is seen. A diabetic who himself arranged to inject is still not an addict? Each team has their own measuring devices along for blood tests and when you see blood outside certain parameters you investigate. No, it is not easy work, but you take that away from you because you are so dearly love this sport.” [on the brink of illegality]

The Tour of that year was a tense affair following the previous year’s scandal. On the day of the prologue, 180 riders had their hematocrit tested. Ten days later before stage 10 in Sestrière, another 51 riders from ten teams (Mapei, Banesto, ONCE, Vita Licio, Casino, Cofidis, Credit Agricole, Festina, Cantina Tollo, and Mercatone Uno) were tested. Reassuringly, as expected all riders tested below their hematocrit levels for the prologue and all below the 50 level. Taus, though, queried the UCI testing. “When I saw the results of the checks in Le Puy du Fou got hold of, I did not know what I saw. Almost all of my riders had a higher hematocrit than those in the preceding days had myself measured.”

I tested my riders three times, on the day of the nationals and the Thursday and Friday before the Tour and all the results came back the same, yet then I got word from the UCI of higher levels. A rider with me a week before the Tour had 43%, two days before the prologue 45%, yet the UCI are telling me it is 49%. The UCI say that I use a (testing) device less effective than theirs.”

Three other teams questioned the UCI testing that year. Vita Licio Seguros, US Postal, and Cofidis said they, too, saw abnormalities. Cofidis, of course, would go on to be rocked by doping scandals of their own, US Postal were torn apart by the 2012 USADA report, and Vita Licio Seguros had their own doping problems in 2000 when Alvaro Gonzalez de Galdeano and Jan Hruska [ref] both tested positive for steroids. [Lotto doctor reveals large differences between blood tests]

2000 – 2001 Banesto

For 2000 Taus moved to the Spanish Banesto team. The Spanish team were in the news following the testimony of Thomas Davy, who rode on the team for two years from 1995. “In Banesto, there was a system of doping with medical supervision.” And when asked if everyone did it, “Yes. I think so,” he replied. Among the riders he appeared to accuse was multiple Tour de France Winner Miguel Indurain. Banesto responded “Without proof, no-one may touch Miguel Indurain, he undertook a hundred doping controls throughout his career that showed him to be clean.”

As far back as 1982 the team had problems with doping, Ángel Arroyo becoming the first winner of the Vuelta España to be disqualified in 1982 for failing a doping test.

The controversy of the Davy statement quickly died down, but in early 2001 it all blew up again. At the Giro police launched late-night raids on team hotels. Seven riders on the team, along with doctors and staff, were initially named by police, and in total 51 people would be named by authorities for a wide range of doping offences, including Jesus Hoyas (Team Doctor), Zurbano Galilea (DS), Vicente Iza (Masseur), and riders José Luis Arrieta, Marzio Bruseghin, Pablo Lastras, David Latasa, Jon Odriozola, Unai Osa, and Cesar Solaun. [Ref] [Ref] The investigation appeared to vanish. In 2002 CONI received the paperwork from the investigators.. What happened next? [Ref] (Eventually in 2005 Twelve people were charged with offenses related to the San Remo raids, six of the accused were handed suspended prison sentaces, while six went free as it as adjudged that the offenses they committed did not exist at the time.)

Several of the Banesto team during that time went on to be surrounded by controversy. Francisco Mancebo was linked to the Operación Puerto doping case as were Unai Osa Eizaguirre, Dariusz Baranowski, Adolfo Garcia Quesada, Koldo Gil, Eladio Jiménez, David Latasa, Aitor Osa, Rubén Plaza, and Javier Pascual Rodriguez. Alex Zulle, who had already confessed to taking EPO while at Festina, Leonardo Piepoli who would later join Taus at Saunier Duval, and Eladio Jiménez would test positive for EPO in 2009.

2002 – 2004 Lampre

Raimondas Rumsas struggles with his “I did it clean” face on the 2002 Tour de France Podium

July 28th, and just outside of Lyon, a Lampre-branded camper van is stopped by the police. In it they find suitcases allegedly belonging to Dr. Ibarguren containing corticoids, syringes, and other suspicious products. The French police invited Ibarguren to collect the suitcases and answer some questions, an invitation he declined. When asked, the doctor stated that “no form of doping had been administered at the Lampre team.”

Just a few days previously, Lampre rider Raimondas Rumsas had finished 3rd in the Tour de France. On the final day of the Tour, a car driven by Rumsas’ wife was stopped by police; in it they found corticoids, erythropoietin, testosterone, growth hormones, and anabolic steroids. His wife was jailed for several months, but claimed throughout that the medications were for her mother in law.

In May the following year, still riding for Lampre, Rumsas finished 6th in the Giro d’Italia, but tested positive for EPO and was banned for a year. And in 2006, now retired, both he and his wife received suspended prison sentences for importation of drugs, while Krzysztof Ficek, a Polish doctor at Lampre during 2002 received a one year suspended sentence.

The team suffered two further doping suspensions over those two years. Sergio Barbero was suspended for six months in the April of 2002 following a positive test for EPO the previous year at the Tour of Romandie. And in 2003 Gianluca Bortolami tested positive for cortisone during the Three days of de Panne and was suspended for six months

The stories didn’t stop there. Krzysztof Ficek, a soigneur on the team in 2002, was later given a one year suspended jail sentence for supplying drugs to Rumsas. Alberto Loddo tested positive in 2003 during the Tour of the Algarve for caffeine stimulants. Guido Nigrelli, a doctor on the team, is named in the Maldano investigation; the Ferrara investigation in 2004 concluded that Pavel Tonkov had doped while on the team but no charges were made. Bortalami had just had a positive test at Saunier Duval, but joined the team and was adjudged by the Ferrara report to have doped.

What’s interesting is that in his two years at Lampre, the teams recorded their lowest ranking performances (based on cq rank) in 12 years.

2005 – Euskaltel

For the 2005 season Taus returns to Euskaltel on a three-year contract. Ironically, he replaced Jesus Losa, who was dismissed following his involvement in the doping controversy surround David Millar and the Cofidis team. [Ref] [Ref]

At the ripe old age of 28, Inigo Landaluze suddenly wins the Dauphiné after doing nothing throughout his entire career. He tested positive for testosterone, and was suspended, before eventually being cleared later that season. He did nothing else for the rest of his career and was eventually banned in 2009 for CERA.

Aitor Gonzalez tested positive at the Tour of Spain for steroids. Gonzalez blamed it on a contaminated food substance (not steak, it must be pointed out), and the Spanish Federation acquitted him. The UCI then took it to CAS and he was eventually banned from 2005 to 2007.

Interestingly, as with Lampre, the year he spent at Euskaltel proved to be their worst ranking position of the last ten years.

Taus was released from the team at the end of 2005 with two years still remaining on his contract.

2006 – 2009 Saunier Duval [Ref]

Silliness from Ricco and Piepoli at stage 15 of the 2007 Giro d’Italia to Tre Cime Di Laveredo

You don’t really need to be reminded what went on at Saunier Duval, home of one of the most blatant cases of organised cheating ever seen in the sport. In 2007, youngster Riccardo Ricco won two stages of the Tirreno Adriatico, as well as the points jersey. Ninth in Amstel gold, sixth in Flèche Wallone (in his first ever Ardennes rides). Won a stage of the Giro ahead of teammate Piepoli, and finished sixth overall. And finished second In Lombardia. All at the age of 23. By 2008 Ricco had won another two stages of the Giro, second overall, and the young riders jersey. He then went on to win two stages of the Tour de France before finally testing positive for CERA on 17th July. Ricco originally had tried to dodge doping controls, and as a result the testers decided to test him daily. Ricco, by 2011, had been carted off to hospital after allegedly admitting to botching a home transfusion, an admission he later denied, and in April 2012 was banned for twelve years, putting him out of the sport until he is forty.

Leonardo Piepoli and Cobo on Hautecam in 2008

Meanwhile, teammate Piepoli (who had been on Banesto with Taus back in 2001), was also having a remarkably good couple of years. Eleventh overall in the Giro in 2006, he then followed up with a stage win, three second places, and the mountains jersey in the 2007 edition. In 2008 he won a stage in the Tour, helping Riccardo Ricco win two stages, before finally confessing to EPO usage. Two of his samples from that Tour were later found to be positive for CERA.

And of course Iban Mayo. He, too, won a stage in the 2007 Giro d’Italia. (The team total for that Giro was three stages, three second places, sixth overall and the mountains classification.) He then went to the Tour de France of that year, where he finished 16th before it being announced that he had failed a test for EPO and was subsequently banned.

Note: It would appear that following the 2008 Tour, team manager Giannetti attempted to put a stop to doping on the team. He was losing sponsors and the team was under threat. Recorded conversations (see the Gazzetta transcript later on this page) suggest that Dr. Ibarguren doped the riders for the 2008 Vuelta but kept the products at his home as “Giannetti did not want them.”  A year later the relationship between Giannetti and Taus ended.

In 2009 the team was renamed Fuji Servetto, but still controversy continued. Ricardo Serrano was suspended in July of that year after testing positive for CERA, at the same time it was announced that Euskaltel rider Inigo Landaluze had also been found positive for the same drug. Interestingly, also on that team in 2009 was the now-retired Daniel Nardello. Nardello famously being one of the trio – including Armstrong and Pozzato – that allegedly threw abuse at Filippo Simeoni.

In October of 2009, Fernandez De La Puebla became fifth rider on the team to fail a test when he tested positive for EPO after being targeted for having abnormal biological passport readings. Others investigated include Koldo Gil (Formerly at Banesto – Puerto), Manuele Mori (Mantova), Francisco Ventoso (tested positive in 2008 after leaving Saunier Duval), Carlos Zarate (Puerto), and Ruben Lobato Elvira (Bio Passport Irregularities in 2010). Sometime during 2009 (date uncertain) Taus left the team.

Something changed at Saunier Duval. At his previous teams they under-performed, and in fact had their worst years in recent history. And yet at Saunier Duval we saw a sharp rise, before the incredible decline in 2008 and 2009, as their riders tested positive.

2010 – 2012 Omega Pharma Lotto/Omega Pharma Quickstep

And so to the present day. And in 2011 we saw him at Lotto, where they recorded their best year in recent history by a dramatic amount. Phillipe Gilbert dominated all year, winning Stages in the Algarve, Tirreno Adriatico, Eneco Tour, and the Tour de France, and won Strade Bianche, Brabantse Pijl, Amstel Gold, Flèche Wallone, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Tour of Belgium, Ster ZLM Toer, Belgian road and time trial championships, San Sebastian, GP Quebec, and GP de Wallonie (before his form somehow vanished in 2012). Jelle Vanendert wore the polka dot jersey in the Tour and climbed like a mountain goat, before forgetting how to climb in 2012.

And then to 2012, where at Quickstep we see them dominate the spring races totally. Winning overall in San Luis, Qatar, Oman, 3 days of West Flanders, and 3 Days of De Panne, before making the Northern Classics look easy with wins in Nokere Koerse (Chichhi), Handzame Classic (Chicchi), Dwars door Vlaandered (Terpstra), E3 Prisj, Gent Wevelgem, Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix (Boonen). Nine national championships followed in the summer, before their season finally slowed down.

“by hiring the services of the Spaniard, Boonen and his team have set the cat among the pigeons”

Arguments raged on Twitter about this. Is this a direct accusation of doping at Quickstep? No, the jury is honestly out, but by hiring a doctor who has such a history, there is always going to be suspicion. Ouest France reported today “by hiring the services of the Spaniard, Boonen and his team have set the cat among the pigeons. Speciality of the house” while earlier in April LavoixdesSport simply said “More than a return, a resurrection!” [Ref]

Big questions have to be raised about the wisdom of hiring Dr. Jose Ibarguren Taus.

Is this a doctor that is, as he has claimed all along, not doping his riders? Is he right when he says there was no doping at Lampre, or at Lotto? Was the Banesto team of Mancebo, Piepoli, and Zuelle clean? Did he have nothing to do with the doping at Saunier Duval? Was the performance of Lotto in 2011 just down to hard work? And if he is truthful, how is it that an experienced doctor, who by his own admission tested his riders regularly, who had advanced blood-testing equipment, was unable to detect that Rumsas, Barbero, Bortolami, Landaluze, Gonzalez, Ricco, Piepoli, Mayo, and Serrano were all doping? A doctor who by his own admission keeps receipts of all medicines he buys and religiously ensures that he only gives riders what they are allowed, has been stopped by police on multiple occasions and doping products found in his possession…

Maybe he’s telling the truth and he’s just been in the wrong place in the wrong time, on the wrong team too many times.

Or there’s the other side. A doctor who in the late nineties started distributing EPO and growth hormones but saw limited success. In fact, in the early days the teams he was on actually performed worse and he was fired after just one year of a three year contract at Euskaltel. But with the creation of the biological passport, a doctor such as him with a background in Haematology was able to get significantly better results. With the focus on Michele Ferrari, and in 2006 Eufemiano Fuentes, did that suddenly move him up the food chain and grant him access to the new drug of choice – the at-the-time-undetectable CERA? And does he now have one of the new generation of undetectable performance enhancing drugs?

Dr. Ibarguren is due to appear before CONI in July in relation to the Mantova Case surrounding doping in Italian Cycling during 2008 and 2009.

Of the persons listed as being of interest in the Mantova case, 10 have direct links to Ibarguren:

Alessandro Ballan (Lampre 2004-09)
Marco Bandiera (Currently at Quickstep)
Marzio Bruseghin (Banesto 99-02)
Manuele Mori (Saunier Duval 04-08)
Paolo Bossoni (Lampre 2004)
Mariano Piccoli (Lampre 99-04)
Sergio Gelati (Saunier Duval 2008-09)
Fabrizio Bontempi – (DS Lampre 2003-09)
Guido Nigrelli (Pharmacist Lampre 2002)
Maurizio Piovani (DS Lampre 99-2010)

Update 11th April

On Wednesday 11th April it was reported by Gazetta that he is suspected by the Office of Mantua (Northern Italy) of either supplying, or being aware of the supply of, doping products to riders on the Fuji Servetto team. “[He] supplied or at least favored the use of substances” to “alter the performance of athletes in the team (Spanish) Fuji-Servetto” or to “Modify the results of testing done on them [the riders].”  They also report on transcripts of conversations between him and Guido Nigrelli (who managed the Mariana Manovana Pharmacy). [Ref] What is interesting that he is quoted as asking for products to be delivered to his home, but “not much as Gianetti does not want them” implying that Gianetti was not party to the doping. Gianetti’s response: “Bitterness is an understatement. I’m not even comment because I am so disappointed …”

La Gazzetta dello Sport – 11th April 2012

 

Medic Ibarguren investigated in Mantua case: From Piepoli and Riccò to Omega Pharma

There aren’t only directors’ names, racers and staff in the Mantova doping investigation. At the end of March case director officer Antonio Condorelli ended his investigation on the Mantova pharmacy, Mariana Mantovana, managed by Guido Nigrelli, which, according to the investigators, was an international doping center that has sent 31 people to court, many of whom connected with Lampre. The first hearing will be held on July 13. Among them is a very important Spanish medic José Ibarguren Taus. He’s a person of great relevance, because, for three years Ibarguren was part of the medical staff of Omega Pharma. In 2011 this was the team of Philippe Gilbert, 18 victories; this year that team was fused with Lefevre’s Quick Step and, if Gilbert has flown to the American BMC squad, Omega has become the sponsor of Tom Boonen.

The name of Ibarguren, a Basque from Eibar who lives at Alicante, appears on page 3 of the court mandate. A few pages after states the reasoning of the attorney general: “Nigrelli and Ibarguren, as per art. 110 of the penal code (involvement in a criminal act) and 9 law 376/2000 (anti-doping penal law), for having between them procured, administered or in any case favored the use of substances (among those classified in art. 2 of law 376) not justified by any pathological condition, toward the ends of altering the performances of athletes on the Fuji-Servetto professional cycling team, or otherwise to modify the anti-doping controls by the use of such pharmaceuticals and, among these, substances containing testosterone: in Mariana Mantovan and elsewhere, up to the end of 30 April 2009.”

Ibargure was at Lampre between 2002-2004 (in the team the Rumsas case exploded), then Euskaltel 2005 (Landaluze positive for testosterone, but absolved for a procedural error) an then the team of Gianetti: Saunier Duval between 2007-2008 (Mayo positive for EPO, Piepoli and Riccò for Cera), and Fuji in 2009. Now, this year, we can also refer to the telephone taps by the NAS Carabinieri of Brescia, which appears in the investigation folder on p. 69.

On 15 April, 2009 Ibarguren was described thusly by NAS: “He’s the medic of the Fuji-Servetto, he knows Nigrelli from his time at Lampre. He makes use of prohibited substances and, by his same admission, which he hides in his own domicile because of problems with Gianetti.”

Ibarguren: “Now I’m going to send you a fax. However, you send the stuff to me at my home!”
Nigrelli: “Ok, afterward give me the address.”
Ibarguren: “With a copy of the reciept for the transport and later send the recipet to the usual one, that guy!”
Nigrelli: “To the usual on then! Write me, José, whatever you want…”
Ibarguren: “There’s a little something I want! Nothing big, because Gianetti doesn’t want it…what you sent me for the Vuelta I had kept at home.”

Update December 2012

After being planned to take place on December 11th (the original hearings were delayed due to earthquakes in the Emilia Romagna region causing 1000’s of cases to be delayed), the Mantova hearings will finally take place in January of 2013. [Ref]

Image credits: Reuters,  Ouest France,  La Gazzetta dello Sport
Source Credits:  Dopeology.org

US Postal, 1999 vintage

Lance Armstrong 1999-2005: Disgraced former Tour de France winner, former husband, former boyfriend, former respected member of the peloton. Since banned for life, stripped of his Tour de France titles, and now revealed as being at the centre of the biggest sporting conspiracy of all time. Still competes, beating up on kids and amateurs in unsanctioned triathlon races while all the time protesting his innocence. What he doesn’t realise is everyone stopped listening long ago.

Kevin Livingston 1999: Named in Dr Ferrari’s papers but never prosecuted. Makes a living renting the basement of Lance’s bicycle shop for his training centre and working with race organisers putting on Livestrong Events. Named by Hamilton of being present during, and having taken part in, tranfusions.

Frankie Andreu 1999, 2000: One of the first to speak out about doping at US Postal while at the same time admitting his own doping during his time on the team. Has spent the last ten years being hassled, ridiculed, and accused of being a liar – along with his wife, Betsy.

Tyler Hamilton 1999, 2000, 2001: Twice banned, and now author of the whistle-blowing “The Secret Race.” For many years denied doping, but when he finally spilt the beans there was no shutting him up.

George Hincapie 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 : Best known as being Lance’s most loyal lieutenant, having a gorgeous French wife, and never winning Paris-Roubaix. Most said that when Hincapie confessed the game would be over for Lance. Hincapie confessed. The game is over.

Peter Meinert Nielsen 1999:  Little-known Danish rider who tested positive in 1993 while riding for the TVM squad. Joined Postal in 1997 and rode in Lance’s first victory in 1999.

Christian Vande Velde 1999, 2000, 2001:  The quietly spoken American avoided controversy throughout his career despite riding for Postal, Liberty Seguros and CSC. Turned over a new leaf by spending the four years since on Jonathan Vaughters’ anti-doping Garmin team. Confessed to doping in testimonies to the federal enquiry and to USADA.

Jonathan Vaughters 1999:  Now the Owner-Manager of the Garmin-Sharp team. Finally confessed in 2012, after years of speculation, to doping while at US Postal before leaving for Credit Agricole and retiring a few years later.

Benoit Joachim 2000, 2002: Joined US Postal in 1999 and raced with them, Discovery, and Astana through to 2008.  He tested positive for nandrolone in 2000 but a friendly Luxembourg Cycling Organisation allowed him to escape on a technicality and 6 months later he was re-signed by US Postal.

Cedric Vasseur 2000:  Joined US Postal in 2000 and rode the Tour, but after being left off of the squad in 2001 he threw his toys out of the pram and left to join Cofidis, citing personal differences with Armstrong as being one of the key factors. Was later arrested along with the rest of the Cofidis team in 2004, banned from the 2004 Tour before later being cleared and claiming evidence was tampered with.

Roberto Heras 2001, 2002, 2003:  Joined US Postal from Kelme in 2001 and went straight into the Tour squad. Left Postal in 2004 and quickly, like so many other riders to leave the team, tested positive for EPO after winning the Vuelta of 2005. That win was given to Dennis Menchov, but bizarrely in 2011 Heras successfully appealed that disqualification in a civil court of Castilla y León.

Floyd Landis 2002, 2003: Has won the same number of Tours de France as Lance Armstrong. Convicted of doping, banned, protested innocence, came back, didn’t get an invite to the Tour of California, sent a load of emails, and promptly confessed all. Has created over 500 twitter accounts without testing positive.

Pavel Padrnos 2002, 2003, 2005:  Was arrested in the 2001 San Remo doping raids and immediately identified as a suitable rider for US Postal. Rode for the American team from 2002 to 2007. Amassed an impressive palmares of a single win in the Rokycany criterium between 1996 and retirement in 2007.

Manuel Beltrán 2003, 2005:  Rode for renowned clean teams Mapei and Banesto and after a brief diversion to Team Coast joined US Postal in 2003. Left the team in 2007 and within a year, like so many others, had tested positive for EPO and was banned.

Yaroslav Popovych 2005: Named by Floyd Landis and then had his house raided in 2010 by Federal officials who discovered doping products, drug testing documents, medical supplies, and evidence of links to controversial Italian doctor Michele Ferrari. Popovych denied the allegations although it’s not clear if he denied the raid, denied the results of the raid, or simply denied. Appears to have escaped scot free and now rides for RadioShack-Nissan.

 The ones that got away:

Pascal Derame 1999: Previously rode for Gan before joining US Postal and riding in the 1998 and 1999 Tours before leaving the team in 2000. Retired in 2002 suffering from “burnout.” Says he was never part of Armstrong’s inner circle.

Victor Hugo Peña 2001, 2002:  The Mr. Teflon of cycling. Has succesfully ridden for four of the dodgiest teams in the sport, US Postal, Phonak, Unibet, and Rock Racing, all the while hanging out with his best friend Santiago Botero and never once tested positive. Peña was mentioned briefly in the USADA report on 10th October as having worked with Michele Ferrari. Outside contender for new head of the UCI.

Lance Armstrong with Vjatceslav Ekimov

Viatcheslav Ekimov 2000, 2002, 2003:  Rode for Postal in two stints, 1997-98 and 2000 until his retirement in 2006. Never tested positive, in fact he was the lucky recipient of the Olympic Gold Medal after Tyler Hamilton was stripped of his. Was on the 2000 Tour team investigated for use of Actovigen after French media spotted a team worker dumping doping equipment in a bin. Ekimov is the new boss of the Katusha Cycling Team.

Steffen Kjaergaard 2001: Norwegian time triallist who was a pro for a matter of years and spent four years at Postal. Current  head of Sports at the Norwegian Cycling Federation

Jose Azevedo 2004, 2005: Rode for ONCE from 2001 to 2003 before joining US Postal in 2004. Currently a sports director on the RadioShack-Nissan team.

Jose Luis Rubiera 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005:  Strong rider who spent the bulk of his career at Postal/Disco, Astana before ending his career at RadioShack. Reported in the USADA decision of October 10th, 2012 of having made a payment (or a payment being made in his name) to Michele Ferrari of  $15,000 in 2002.

Benjamin Noval 2004, 2005: Rode for Postal/Disco and then Astana before joining SaxoBank in 2011

Paolo Savoldelli 2005: Rode the 2005 Tour with Lance despite claiming to only ever have ridden with him in a training camp with him in Tenerife once. Openly critical of the USADA investigation.

The interview, to date, has not been used. Maybe because just a few days later UCI President Pat McQuaid revealed that the UCI had tested Lance just 215 times. Maybe because on the morning of the interview I had a pretty major panic attack, and being confined in a 6ft by 3ft room with a microphone in front of me and someone in my ears that was 400 miles away didn’t make for a great interview, or maybe, the BBC werent quite ready to stir up the hornets’ nest that is the Lance lies. Maybe they weren’t ready to put their name to a number reached by a fan, a knowledgeable fan, but a fan nonetheless. A number based partly on undeniable evidence, but partly on conclusions of peoples whose names I couldn’t give them, and second-hand reports over the last ten years.

The night before the interview I wrote down some notes. One of the key things they seemed interested in was not just the final number, not how that number was reached, but how and why the famous “500” has been so readily accepted over the years, and where did that number come from.

Before we reach five hundred we have to start at twenty eight.

On the final stage of the Tour de France in 2010, the RadioShack team controversially wore their now famous “28” shirts in Paris. I was among the crowd on the Champs Elysées hearing various reports of delays, rumours of riders changing numbers, holding up the race; the reception that RadioShack got as they entered Paris was decidedly mixed. Accusations of self-promotion and lack of respect to the organisers followed, but in the middle of all that those two simple numbers had a very huge impact.

28 Million. Sounds great, accurate, who knows, do we have any idea how many cancer survivors there are? We know in 2007 about 7.6m people died worldwide of cancer, we’ve no idea how many survived. Why has that number never increased, should it now be 29 million, or have some lost their fight and it’s gone down to 27 million? The truth is, nobody really cares, not even the most ardent critics; it’s just a number, you don’t question things like how many cancer survivors there are in the world. But for Lance it was a hugely important lesson, it taught him that one short statement, or a simple number, could be a whole lot easier than churning out lengthy statements about all the good work you do, how much you do for the cancer community. 28 million. Its social-media friendly, you can tweet it, retweet it, put it on a t-shirt, it looks good, the numbers complement each other, they look good together, two and eight go together so well, far better than three and four or one and nine – who cares if it’s accurate? It looks good, and it makes a statement. 28 Million.

Give Lance credit where it’s due, he became one of the quickest to adapt to the power of the social media, recognising the limits of the 140-character statement and adapting his message and intent to fit those restrictions.

For so long it was “I’m the world’s most tested athlete, nobody has been tested more than me, I’ve never tested positive.” Its a mouthful, its not friendly, it lacks impact. It is easily arguable, but by the time you’ve started saying to somebody “Didn’t Marion Jones claim the same thing?” or “So did Jeannie Longo,” or “Eric Zabel won over 200 races, 9 grand tour Points jerseys,” or “Hang on, according to USADA, even Kristin Armstrong has been tested more times than Lance,” the target of your moral lesson has already turned off.

So by 2010 it was changing, and by July of 2010 Tim Herman was stating, “ We don’t know exactly the number but we think it’s around 300 separate tests that he’s undergone and he has never had a positive test.” By 2011 Lance was quoted as saying, “I have been tested over 500 times and not once tested positive,” and by 2012 it had become the slightly ridiculous “Throughout his twenty-plus year professional career, Mr. Armstrong has been subjected to 500 to 600 drug tests without a single positive test.”

But the 500 number was the key; like the 28 million, it was a nice round number, easy to remember, fitted nicely in tweets, sounded good, and Armstrong no longer had to come out with long sprawling defences as he had in the past, now it was simply “500 tests, 28 million cancer survivors, end of story,” and “I don’t need to say anymore than that, I’m lance armstrong, those are the facts.” The fans, supportive journalists, other riders all had something they could repeat, retweet, they had their proof.

And so Lance had cut his entire defence down to three simple lines and two simple numbers, 500, 28 and “never tested positive.”

Of course the problems with numbers is they are tangible, they are measurable. The most-tested claim demands that you have to get results for multiple sportsmen or women, compare them, check their accuracy, and it’s painstaking and likely fruitless. But numbers, they can be challenged, researched, questioned.

So work began on finding the true number. USADA – formed in 2001 – helpfully put all of their testing on their website so you can check every athlete under their jurisdiction, while other figures for the UCI are available via L’Equipe articles, articles on notable websites such as cyclisme-dopage and others, including first-hand sources who raced on the American scene in the nineties with Lance. In coming up with the final figures we were generous.

In 2004 L’Equipe reported 63 tests between 1999 and 2004. This figure has never been questioned, and L’Equipe is highly respected, but the figure we use for that period is more than 40 tests higher, based on the “possibility of being tested.” We know that there was very little testing in the American domestic scene in the early part of the 1990’s, but we have credited Lance with a test for every win and indeed every podium spot during this time. We do know that for his comeback, Lance promised the biggest in-house anti-doping testing protocol the sport had ever seen, hiring Don Catlin to mastermind the procedure. Catlin took one sample from Lance before the program was shelved.

The final total we came up with was 236, not 300, nor 400, nor 500. This figure was drawn up by a number of people with in-depth experience of the racing scene. In truth, the likelihood that 236 is the correct number is about 1%, if that, but what we can be sure of with 99% accuracy is that 236 is the absolute maximum. Once you look further into that 236 – and let’s say we reduce it by 42 to fall in line with the L’Equipe results – we find ourselves with 194. We then look at the bio-passport tests. These are tests taken on blood samples that are generally not tested for PEDs, instead they are just used to get markers for red blood cells, plasma, and reticulocytes, and over a period of time can show up blood transfusions or manipulation.

It was in 2010 that Lance’s passport figures were published in the interests of transparency before disappearing again within hours after it was noticed by many observers that they bore all the characteristics of blood doping. And it is these Bio-Passport anomalies, or non-analytical positives, that form part of the USADA case against Lance. Of the 50 Bio-Passport controls, only around 10 were actually tested for EPO, so we are now down to around 154 tests that have been actually tested for PEDs.

If we look further, we can go into testing for EPO. EPO, or Erythropoietin, has been around in sports since the mid-nineties. It was, in fact, the drug that Lance credited with saving his life during his cancer treatment. In a rather ironic twist, one of the best known manufactures of EPO is Amgen, who produce EPOgen, and one of their early investors was the Montgomery Securities Group (Later Thom Weisel Partners), owned by Thom Weisel who as well as giving Lance his first chance in cycling at the Montgomery Subaru team, then went on to be one of the main shareholders behind Tailwind, the company that owned the US Postal Cycling team. Amgen to this day rather strangely continue to sponsor a major American cycling race, the Amgen Tour of California. We know that there was no test for EPO, the sport’s most commonly used PED prior to 2001, so already we know that of our remaining 154 tests a further 82 would not have been tested for EPO. We know of a further 19 samples between 2001 and 2005 that were not tested for EPO, bringing us to the result that Lance Armstrong – widely accused since 2001 of using EPO, including defending himself in court cases – has been tested for it as few as 53 times across his career.

People say, 200, 500 it’s a difference, but it’s still a lot of tests. It is, or is it? When we consider the true amount is probably under 200, is it a lot of tests for a guy who had a twenty-year career, who won 7 tour de France titles, who won 22 stages of the Tour de France, who spent 83 days in the yellow jersey?

In July Travis Tygart wrote:

USADA has requested that Armstrong’s counsel provide USADA the factual basis for this claim (of 500-600 tests) and Armstrong’s counsel has, to date, refused”

 

Lance never replied to the publication of our results, never questioned them, never commented on them – and supporters such as Phil Liggett continue to peddle the 500 myth – which was disappointing. A short while previously, I had published another article on Cyclismas looking at his various business connections. How the owner of his team, the guy who started him on the road to being a professional, gradually took over US Cycling, bought shares in Amgen (the manufacturers of the EPOgen brand of EPO), and installed friends and colleagues in positions of power all over cycling. A huge sprawling flowchart that traced its sources back as far as early articles by Bill Gifford in 2006, and recently to writings by my colleagues at Cyclismas in 2011. Work borne out of five years of research by many, followed up by many man-hours of research and presentation by myself.

The following day after my flowchart came out Doug Ullman, CEO of Livestrong, and Lance both tweeted a simple response. A single sheet of paper with two yellow boxes. In the bottom box, the Livestrong logo, a line to the top box and the words “28 million cancer survivors we serve.”

At first I was flattered, then a little dumbfounded thinking, “Is that the best you can do? Hours of man hours or work spent bringing to the public in a readable, understandable format for the first time the sheer scale of your complete and utter corruption of US cycling, from medical companies, to the national governing body, to race organisers, to component manufactures, journalists and commentators, energy drink companies, sports companies, public strategy companies, gold mines, private jets and all you can come back with is the number TWENTY EIGHT?”

And then I sat back, and thought, whatever you think of the guy, whatever your opinions of him, you have to doff your cap to him, and admire his ability to make a single unquantifiable number so incredibly powerful.

Postcript

The UCI have confirmed that Lance was tested by them some 215 times over his career, add to that the number of tests done by USADA that were not done on behalf of the UCI and you have a figure of 233. Just three different from our estimations.