What do you think guys, did he do it?
*Ziiiiip flame suit on* I doubt there is anyone in division 1 professionial cycling that does not us some prefomance inhancers. Cycling is so demanding on your body especialy in a long multi stage race, there is no way you could compete at that level if you were 100% clean. My $.02
Indeed. There was this french MTBer who was quite succesful (can't remember his victories, but his name was Jerome Chiotti) and even though he was successful quit because of the "performance enhancement" crap. He came back and raced without doping ... and his best trophies are now national 2nd place ... and he's proud of it. Pretty bad.
I have a very close acquaintance who is directly connected to bike racing. I'm being intentionally vague, and I recently asked him about all the doping allegations. He said that AT LEAST every one of the top 100 riders are doping themselves. Also, after years of very close interaction with Lance Armstrong, he says that you will have to look far and wide to find a bigger prick in this world.
I recently read a biography of Anquetil and, while it was incredibly poorly written, the author constantly touched on the fact that Anquetil and contemporaries used performance enhancing substances throughout their careers. The author also narrated a tale of a race in which Anquetil and a friend decided to race without drugs. They found their endurance lacking and averaged several km/h less than normal. OK, so it's not EPO or similar, but it's always been prevalent.
09/27/04 An Australian researcher who helped develop a revolutionary blood-doping test said yesterday that more sophisticated versions are on the way that could nab all drug cheats within two years. Michael Ashenden was one of the team at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital which helped develop the blood doping test that caused American cyclist and time trial gold medalist Tyler Hamilton's positive test at the Athens Games. Ross Brown, who along with Margaret Nelson and Ashenden developed the Australian test at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, said Hamilton will likely be suspended due to samples taken from a Spanish race on September 11.
