Doping In Cycling

The following is an incomplete list of doping cases and recurring accusations of doping in professional cycling, where doping means "use of physiological substances or abnormal method to obtain an artificial increase of performance." It is neither a list of shame nor a list of illegality, as the first laws were not passed until 1965 and their implementation is an ongoing developing process. Thus the list contains doping incidents, those who have tested positive for illegal performance-enhancing drugs, prohibited recreational drugs or have been suspended by a sports governing body for failure to submit to mandatory drug testing. It also contains and clarifies cases where subsequent evidence and explanation has shown the parties to be innocent of illegal practice.

In 1963, the Council of Europe gave the following definition of doping:

"Doping is the administration to a normal subject in any possible way of a foreign agent or abnormal quantities of physiological substances with the sole purpose of increasing artificially and in an unfair manner the performance of the subject participating in a contest."

The International Olympic Committee slightly modified this, and adopted this definition:

"The administration of or use by a competing athlete of any substance foreign to the body or any physiologic substance taken in abnormal quantity or taken by an abnormal route of entry into the body with the sole intention of increasing in an artificial and unfair manner his/her performance in competition. When necessity demands medical treatment with any substance which, because of its nature, dosage, or application is able to boost the athlete's performance in competition in an artificial and unfair manner, this too is regarded as doping."

1880s

1886

In 1886, a Welsh cyclist is popularly reputed to have died after drinking a blend of cocaine, caffeine and strychnine, supposedly in the Bordeaux–Paris race. This was included in the 1997 International Olympic Committee study on the ''Historical Evolution of Doping Phenomenon'', and listed as the presumed first death due to doping during a competition. The report did allow that in this period it was common practice, and not illegal. This is alternatively reported as trimethyl poisoning. However, the main Bordeaux–Paris race did not start until 1891, and the cyclist who supposedly died in 1886, Arthur Linton, actually finished second in 1896 and died a few weeks later, reportedly from a combination of drug-induced exhaustion and typhoid fever. Linton was managed by the notorious Choppy Warburton - see 1896 below. The story may be apocryphal.

1890s

1896

* Arthur Linton from Aberdare in Wales died aged 24 of 'exhaustion and typhoid fever' a few weeks after finishing second in the Bordeaux–Paris race and a race at Catford. Linton was managed by the notorious Choppy Warburton, whose success was questioned, with claims that he drugged his charges. Jimmy Michael is said to have accused Warburton of poisoning him, before he was taken to court for libel. Rudiger Rabenstein claims that Arthur Linton was "massively doped" for the 1896 Bordeaux–Paris. The British and French cycling union announced that Michael would be banned, even though there was no rule at that time against doping. In the end, Michael was not banned, but he left to ride in the United States.

Nitroglycerine was used to stimulate the heart after cardiac attacks and was credited with improving riders' breathing. Riders suffered hallucinations from the exhaustion and perhaps the drugs. The American champion Major Taylor refused to continue a New York race, saying: "I cannot go on with safety, for there is a man chasing me around the ring with a knife in his hand."

1897

* Choppy Warburton of Haslingden, England died aged 52. He was described by the Lancashire Family History Society:
Warburton was banned from the sport after unproven claims of massive doping in the 1896 Bordeaux–Paris. His activities may have contributed to the early deaths of Arthur Linton, Tom Linton and Jimmy Michael.

1900s

1904

* Jimmy Michael of Wales, world cycling champion, died aged 27, en voyage to New York City. The cause of death was noted as delirium tremens, probably brought on by drinking. Michael was managed by Choppy Warburton. Michael was reported to have taken a potion and within a few laps collapsed on the track, picked himself up and then in a daze, set off in the wrong direction. Michael is said to have accused Warburton of "poisoning him", before he was taken to court for libel.

1910s

1911

* Paul Duboc of France was doped or poisoned during the Tour de France. He was favourite but collapsed in a ditch in the Pyrenees after drinking from a spiked or poisoned bottle, allegedly given by a rival team manager. He finished in second place.

1920s

1924

* Henri Pélissier, Francis Pélissier, and Charles Pélissier of France – In 1924, following their abandoning of the Tour de France, the first real drug scandal arose when the Pélissier brothers gave an extraordinary interview to journalist Albert Londres. They said that they used strychnine, cocaine, chloroform, aspirin, " horse ointment" and other drugs to keep going. The story was published in ''Le Petit Parisien'' under the title "Les Forçats de la Route" ('The Convicts of the Road'). Francis is reported as saying "In short, we run on dynamite." Henri is reported as saying "Do you know how we keep going? Look, this is cocaine, chloroform, too. And pills? You want to see pills? Here are three boxes - We run on dynamite." Francis Pélissier said much later: "Londres was a famous reporter but he didn't know about cycling. We kidded him a bit with our cocaine and our pills." Even so, the Tour de France in 1924 was no picnic. See Doping at the Tour de France - The Convicts of the Road.

1930s

1930

The acceptance of drug-taking in the Tour de France was so complete by 1930 that the rule book, distributed by Henri Desgrange, reminded riders that drugs would not be provided by the organisers.

1940s

1949

* Fausto Coppi of Italy admitted in a television interview in 1952 that he used 'la Bomba' as there was no alternative if you wanted to remain competitive. This referred to amphetamines, which had been developed for military use during World War II to keep aircrew, merchant seamen and submariners awake, alert and energetic. After the war they found a ready market among endurance sportsmen. Coppi also said, "One day I will take the wrong pill and pedal backward." He also joked on camera that he only took drugs when absolutely necessary, which is nearly always.

1950s

1955

* Jean Malléjac of France collapsed on Mont Ventoux during the 1955 Tour de France; it was widely attributed to drug abuse. Ten kilometres from the summit he was: "Streaming with sweat, haggard and comatose, he was zigzagging and the road wasn't wide enough for him... He was already no longer in the real world, still less in the world of cyclists and the Tour de France."Woodland, Les ''Yellow Jersey Guide to the Tour de France'', Yellow Jersey, London Malléjac collapsed, falling to the ground with one foot still trapped in a pedal. The other leg pedalled on in the air. He was "completely unconscious, his face the colour of a corpse, a freezing sweat ran on his forehead.Chany, Pierre (1988) ''La Fabuleuse Histoire du Tour de France'', Éditions La Martinière, France He regained consciousness after 15 minutes attention, oxygen, water, and an injection of solucamphre (a decongestant). In the ambulance he insisted that he had been drugged against his will and that he wanted to start legal proceedings. He denied wrongdoing right up to his death in September 2000.

1956

* Following the 14th Stage of the 1956 Tour de France, the entire Belgian team went down with a mystery illness. It was officially attributed to their having eaten 'bad fish' at dinner, an excuse also used in 1962 and 1991.

1958

* Roger Rivière of France admitted, after his career was finished, to having taken "amphetamines and solucamphre" during his hour record of 1958—including taking tablets during the attempt.Jean-Paul Olivier, La Tragédie du Parjour : Roger Rivière (Glenat, 1992)

1959

* Charly Gaul of Denmark participated in the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome riding under the influence of amphetamines; he collapsed during the 100 km team time trial during the Games, fracturing his skull, and in a nearby Rome hospital shortly thereafter, he was pronounced dead. The autopsy showed he had taken amphetamine and another drug, Ronicol (Ronicol Retard) (nicotinyl alcohol tartrate), a direct-acting peripheral vasodilator that causes flushing and may decrease blood pressure. (He was also reported as swallowing 8 pills of phenylisopropylamine, 15 pills of amphetamine and coffee.) The chairman of the Dutch cycling federation, Piet van Dijk, said of Rome that "dope - whole cartloads - ereused in such royal quantities." Jensen's death led to pressure on the International Olympic Committee, which studied a report on doping drawn up by doctors demanding dope controls.
* Gastone Nencini of Italy was discovered by Tour de France doctor Pierre Dumas in his bedroom with plastic tubes running from each arm to a bottle of hormones; retransfusion was a legal practice at the time. In the 1930s, Scandinavian runners were believed to have used retransfusion to increase the number of corpuscles that carry oxygen to the muscles. In 1972, Dr Björn Ekblom of the Sport and Gymnastics Institute in Stockholm found that retransfusing cells increased oxygen uptake by nine per cent and athletic potential by 23 per cent.
* Roger Rivière of France admitted that his career-ending crash in the 1960 Tour de France was probably attributable to using Palfium ( Dextromoramide), a painkiller that affects reflexes and judgment, during the descent of the Col de Perjuret on Mont Aigoual. Palfium was used to deaden pain in leg muscles where it was directly injected (sometimes while riding). It was suggested that it had so numbed Rivière's fingers that he could not feel the brake levers. He said he had an injection of solucamphor and amphetamine before the start and swallowed several amphetamine tablets. He said he was an addict who downed thousands of pills a year.

1962

The Wiel's-Groene Leeuw affair – At the stage from Luchon to Carcassonne of the 1962 Tour de France, twelve riders fell ill and said 'bad fish' was the cause. Tour doctor Pierre Dumas realized they had all been given the same drug by the same soigneur. Hans Junkermann of Germany had been ill overnight so the start was delayed by 10 minutes, but at the first hill he got off his bike and sat by the roadside, telling onlookers "I ate bad fish at the hotel last night." Eleven other riders abandoned the Tour that day, including the former leader, Willy Schroeders, the 1960 winner Gastone Nencini and a future leader, Karl-Heinz Kunde. Jacques Goddet wrote that he suspected doping but nothing was proven - other than that none of the hotels had served fish the previous night.

1964

France passed its first anti-doping law in November 1964.''The Unknown Tour de France'' by Les Woodland, Van der Plas Publications, 2000.

1965

* Jacques Anquetil of France never hid that he took drugs – a common practice at the time - and in a debate with a government minister on French television said that only a fool would imagine it was possible to ride Bordeaux–Paris on just water. He and other cyclists had to ride through "the cold, through heat waves, in the rain and in the mountains", and they had the right to treat themselves as they wished, he said in a television interview, before adding: "Leave me in peace; everybody takes dope." There was implied acceptance of doping right to the top of the state: the president, Charles de Gaulle, said of Anquetil: "Doping? What doping? Did he or did he not make them play the Marseillaise he French national anthemabroad?" The veteran reporter Pierre Chany said: "Jacques had the strength - for which he was always criticised - to say out loud what others would only whisper. So, when I asked him 'What have you taken?' he didn't drop his eyes before replying. He had the strength of conviction."
* French amateurs André Bayssière and Charly Grosskost collapsed in the Tour de l'Avenir in July. They were banned when they confessed to using amphetamines.
* Peter Post of the Netherlands acknowledged that he had doped at the Tour de France.
* Luis Santamarina of Spain was disqualified from the Milk Race in Great Britain, as one of four competitors who were caught in the first official blood tests. (See below - ''Performance-enhancing drugs became illegal'') Having won a stage which started at Scarborough and crossed Rosedale Chimney, riding ahead of the race on one of the race's hardest climbs, he rode into the back of a car parked beside the road as an official waited to time him. He remounted and won the stage and led the race. Two days later, he and three others (Canet and Usamentiaga of Spain and Ken Hill of Great Britain) were disqualified for doping. The Spanish team went home.Woodland, Les (1980), Dope, the use of drugs in sport, David and Charles, UK, p 112

Performance-enhancing drugs became illegal on 1 June 1965. The first riders to be caught were four amateurs, three Spanish (Luis Santamarina, Canet and Usamentiaga) and one Briton (Ken Hill), who were thrown out of the Milk Race when they tested positive for amphetamines after Professor Arnold Beckett first applied sensitive gas chromatographic techniques to monitor drug abuse.

1966

On 29 July testing began at the Tour de France. Raymond Poulidor was the first rider to be tested in the Tour at the end of a stage to Bordeaux. He said "I was strolling down the corridor in ordinary clothes when I came across two guys who asked if I was a rider. They made me go into a room, I pissed into some bottles and they closed them without sealing them. Then they took my name, my date of birth, without asking for anything to check my identity. I could have been anyone, and they could have done anything they liked with the bottles." The next morning, on the way to the Pyrenees, the riders climbed off, began walking and shouting protests.

1967

* Tom Simpson of Great Britain died of exhaustion on the slopes of Mont Ventoux during the 13th stage of the 1967 Tour de France. The post mortem found that he had taken amphetamines and alcohol, a diuretic combination which proved fatal when combined with the hot conditions, the notoriously hard climb of the Ventoux and a pre-existing stomach complaint. Investigators discovered more drugs in his hotel room at Sète and the pockets of his jersey.
* Evert Dolman of the Netherlands was stripped of his 1967 Dutch National Road Race Championship title because of doping.

1968

* Felice Gimondi of Italy tested positive at the Giro D'Italia.

1969

* Eddy Merckx of Belgium tested positive for the stimulant Reactivan at Savona during the 1969 Giro d'Italia, after leading the race through 16 stages. Merckx was found positive at doping control and expelled from the Giro. Merckx steadfastly denied the charges. The controversy began to swirl when his test results were not handled in the ordinary manner. The positive doping control was released to the press before all parties (Merckx and team officials) involved were notified and happened just after Merckx refused to accept money for not competing in general classification.
* Joaquim Agostinho of Portugal tested positive in the Tour of Portugal.Alguns dos maiores escândalos da história do ciclismo
He subsequently tested positive again in 1973, and the Tour de France of 1977.

1970s

1972

* Jaime Huélamo of Spain finished third in the 1972 Summer Olympics men's individual road race but was later disqualified after he tested positive for coramine.
* Aad van den Hoek of the Netherlands tested positive for Coramine at the Munich Olympics, a drug allowed by the International Cyclists' Union but not the IOC.

1973

* Eddy Merckx tested positive for a banned substance in the Giro di Lombardia classic. He was disqualified from first place. Runner-up Felice Gimondi was declared the winner.

1974

In 1974, an advance in testing caught 13 prominent riders including Herman Van Springel.
* Roger Legeay of France tested positive for amphetamines at the Paris–Nice race.
* Claude Tollet of France tested positive for amphetamines at the Tour de France.

1975

* Bernard Thévenet of France won the 1975 Tour de France by using cortisone. In 1982, after retiring from racing, he said "I was doped with cortisone for three years and there were many like me. ..The experience ruined my health".Chany, Pierre: L'angoissant combat de Bernard Thévenet, ''Vélo'', France, no 125, 1978
* Erik De Vlaeminck of Belgium never failed a drugs test in his racing career, but he was treated after it for amphetamine addiction at a psychiatric institute. Many stories circulate about his reported wild behaviour after races and when he put his career on hold. When he returned to racing, the Belgian federation would offer him a licence for only a day at a time until it saw how his life would progress. He refused to speak of this period of his life.

1976

* Rachel Dard of France was reported to have raced across France to avoid a positive dope finding and then ended up in a row which exposed organised drug-taking in cycling in the 1970s. Dard and a teammate, Bourreau, were caught trying to defraud the doping control with a condom of untainted urine in their shorts to give the impression they were urinating. A few weeks later Dard went to ''L'Équipe'' and spilled the inside story, including the prescriptions for dope that Bellocq, the team doctor, had given him. He said riders treated with cortisone and steroids were now in "a pitiful state".
* In the 1976 Vuelta a España, Belgian cyclist Eric Jacques took over the lead in the eighth stage, but it was later revealed that he failed a doping test, and he was penalized by having ten minutes added to his total competition time.

1977

* Bernard Thévenet of France won the 1977 Tour de France with the aid of cortisone.
* Joop Zoetemelk of the Netherlands tested positive for Pemoline in the 1977 Tour de France, although Pemoline was a legal substance at that time. In the 1979 Tour de France he tested positive for 'hormones'.
* A Belgian doctor, Professor Michel Debackere, perfected a test for the detection of Pemoline, an amphetamine-like drug, and caught three of the biggest names in Belgium: Eddy Merckx, Freddy Maertens and Michel Pollentier.

1978

* Michel Pollentier of Belgium was caught trying to cheat the drugs control with someone else's urine in a rubber bulb in his shorts after victory at Alpe d'Huez. He was ejected from the Tour. Ironically his own urine tested negative. ''See Doping at the Tour de France - The Pollentier incident''
* José Nazabal of Spain anticipated a positive test at the Tour de France, and so left the race immediately after being tested. ''See Doping at the Tour de France - The Pollentier incident''
* Antoine Gutierrez of Spain caused doctor Le Calvez to be suspicious during a test, thus raising his jersey to reveal a system of tubes and a bottle of urine. ''See Doping at the Tour de France - The Pollentier incident''
* Gilbert Glaus of Switzerland, the World Amateur Champion, tested positive for steroids.
* Jean-Luc van den Broucke of Belgium confessed that "In the Tour de France, I took steroids. That is not a stimulant, just a strengthener. If I hadn't, I would have had to give up. What do you think? I'm on the bike all year from February onwards, I have to do well in the classics in all the little races, and also in the Tour de France. On the first rest day, before we went into the Pyrenees, I had a first hormone injection. I had another one on the second day, at the start of the last week. You can't call that medically harmful, not if it's done under a doctor's control and within reason." ''See Doping at the Tour de France - Steroids and allied drugs''

1979

During the 1979 Tour de France, the leader of the mountains classification Giovanni Battaglin tested positive for doping in stage 13. He was penalized by 10 minutes in the general classification, lost the points that he earned in stage 13 and received 10 penalty points in the mountains classification. Battaglin was still able to win the mountains classification.

Frans Van Looy and Gilbert Chaumaz also tested positive for doping during the Tour. After the Tour de France had finished, Joop Zoetemelk was found to have used doping, which he confessed later. Zoetemelk was penalized by 10 minutes in the general classification, but kept his second place.

1980s

1980

* Vicente López Carril of Spain, died on 29 March 1980 aged 37 from a heart attack. His death was noted by Willy Voet in his book ''Massacre à la chaîne'' although he acknowledged the impossibility of proving the link between these early deaths and the drugs taken while racing.
* Freddy Maertens of Belgium, admitted to the French newspaper L'Équipe, after his retirement, that "like everyone else", he had used amphetamines in round-the-houses races but he insisted that he had ridden without drugs in important races - not least because he knew he would be tested for them.
* Dietrich Thurau ("Didi") of Germany tested positive on 3 occasions in 1980 and again in 1987. After he stopped his career in 1989, he admitted in an interview in Bild that he used doping, and that most cyclists did.

1982

* Maarten Ducrot was a Dutch professional road bicycle racer. In January 2000, on the Dutch TV-show ''Reporter'', he admitted that he had used cortisone and testosterone, as well as Synacthen, "a very bad medicine", and he still regrets using it. Ducrot said he used synacthen in 1982 when he was an amateur.
* Ángel Arroyo of Spain, received a penalty for testing positive for the stimulant Methylphenidate (Ritalin) on stage 17 of the 1982 Vuelta a España. Three other riders also failed the doping test after stage 17 for the same drug: Alberto Fernández, Vicente Belda and Pedro Muñoz Machín Rodríguez. Methylphenidate was a popular performance-enhancing drug in cycling at that time. Arroyo and his team denied the allegations and asked for a second analysis of the sample. The B analysis confirmed the first positive test. Arroyo was assigned a 10-minute penalty and stripped of his Vuelta win which was given to Marino Lejarreta. With the 10-minute penalty Arroyo went down to 13th place in the overall classification. The disqualification of the winner of the Vuelta has been called the worst scandal that has ever hit the race on the official La Vuelta website.
* Marc Demeyer of Belgium died on 20 January 1982, aged 31 from a heart attack. His death was noted by Willy Voet in his book ''Massacre à la chaîne'' although he acknowledged the impossibility of proving the link between these early deaths and the drugs taken while racing.
* Steven Rooks was a Dutch cyclist whose professional career ran from 1982 to 1995. On the Dutch TV-show ''Reporter'' in 2000, Rooks admitted (together with Maarten Ducrot and Peter Winnen) that they had doped in their careers. Rooks said he used testosterone and amphetamines during his whole 13-year career. In 2009, he extended his confession, by also admitting the use of EPO after 1989, which was something he took together with two other Dutch riders Gert Jakobs and Mathieu Hermans.
* Willy Voet wrote about Bert Oosterbosch riding the 1982 Grand Prix des Nations in his 2002 book ''Massacre à la Chaîne'' ("Breaking The Chain"). ''Oosterbosch was flat from the start due to the Synacten he had taken. The drugs initially blocked his ability to work hard. An hour after the injection it started working as planned and his tempo increased.'' Note - Voet may have been referring to the 1979 or 1984 events.
* Bernard Hinault refused to submit to a doping control at the 1982 Critérium de Callac and was fined and given a one-month conditional suspension.

1983

* Adri van der Poel the Dutch world cyclocross champion and Tour de France stage winner tested positive for strychnine. He said that his father-in-law had served a pigeon pie for Sunday lunch, and only when he tested positive did he realise that the pigeons had been doped with strychnine.
* Track rider Fernando Vera of Chile was disqualified after testing positive for a banned substance at the 1983 Pan American Games.

1984

* Francesco Moser of Italy broke the hour record of Eddy Merckx in 1984. In 1999, he admitted blood doping to prepare for the attempt, helped by sports doctor Francesco Conconi. Such doping had not been declared illegal at the time.
* John Beckman, Brent Emery, Steve Hegg, Pat McDonough, Leonard Nitz, Rebecca Twigg and Mark Whitehead of the U.S. admitted to receiving blood transfusions in preparation for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. (See ''Systematic Blood Doping'' below for details) The practice was not against Olympic rules although Games medical guidelines discouraged it. The U.S. team coach Eddie Borysewicz set up a clinic in motel room. The US federation banned blood-doping in January 1985.

Systematic blood doping at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The U.S. cycling team's successes were coloured by revelations that riders had blood transfusions before their events, a practice known as blood-doping. The transfusions were to increase red blood cells in riders' blood. That would take more oxygen to their muscles. They received the blood of others with similar blood types. The practice, instigated by national coach Eddie Borysewicz, was not against Olympic rules although Games medical guidelines discouraged it. Borysewicz and a colleague, Ed Burke, set up a clinic in a Los Angeles motel room and four of the seven athletes who had transfusions won medals. The U.S. federation banned blood-doping in January 1985. Borysewicz and Burke were fined a month's pay. Mike Fraysse, a former president of the federation, was demoted from first to third vice-president.

Riders who received transfusions included Steve Hegg, who won a gold and a silver, and Rebecca Twigg, Pat McDonough and Leonard Nitz who all won silver medals. The others who received transfusions were John Beckman, Mark Whitehead and Brent Emery. The rest of the team had refused.

1986

* Peter Winnen is a Dutch former road racing cyclist. He was professional from 1980 until 1991. In January 2000, on the Dutch TV-show ''Reporter'', Winnen admitted that he had doped. He came third in the 1983 Tour de France (undoped) but he said that in the 1986 Tour de France "I was very bad and had the choice: go back to home or to provide me with testosterone." - Winnen reached Paris. During his career with Raleigh, Panasonic and Buckler, Winnen used testosterone, amphetamines and corticosteroids.

1987

* Kim Andersen of Denmark tested positive for doping in 1987, and was banned for life, a sentence that was later changed to a one-year quarantine. In 1992 he was tested positive again, and fired from his team. He rode as an individual for the rest of the year, before finally retiring.

1988

* Pedro Delgado of Spain tested positive for probenecid at the 1988 Tour de France. Probenicid interferes with chemicals which the kidneys secrete, and thus aroused a suspicion that he was using it as a masking agent for steroid use. Though other sports governing bodies, such as the IOC, recognized probenecid as a doping agent, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), which oversaw cycling, did not, and thus Delgado was allowed to continue in the event without sanction.
* Gert-Jan Theunisse of the Netherlands tested positive for testosterone in a blood test during the Tour de France and received a ten-minute penalty which moved him from fourth to eleventh place overall. He admitted in 2000 to using illegal substances during his career, according to an interview published by the Dutch regional newspaper Dutch "Eindhovens Dagblad". He confessed "to having used a great deal of Celestone", a corticoid, but he denied having taken testosterone.
* Geert Van de Walle of Belgium died on 26 November 1988, aged 22, from a heart attack. His death was noted by Willy Voet in his book ''Massacre à la chaîne'' although he acknowledged the impossibility of proving the link between these early deaths and the drugs taken while racing.
* In 1988, the first rider was banned for using EPO.

The emergence of EPO - In the late 1980s a recombinant drug created for people suffering from kidney failure became a substance abused by athletes seeking enhanced stamina and performance. The drug is recombinant erythropoietin, known as EPO, which was developed by the Amgen company. Recombinant EPO is a bio-manufactured copy of a hormone normally produced in the kidney and was not detectable by any test at the time.

EPO stimulates the bone marrow in order to increase red blood cell production and thus the body's ability to carry oxygen. A study of 15 Swedish athletes by the Stockholm Institute of Gymnastics and Sports found an improvement of nearly 10 percent in aerobic performance. "Average" red blood cell volume of the population at sea level is about 45% red blood cells. About 5% of the population has less than 40% red blood cell, which is defined as "anemia" and 5% of the population, including many world class athletes, have a natural red blood cells volume of 50%... 1% of the population has 54% red blood cell volume.

The increased thickness of the blood (above 70% red blood cells) increases the risk of blood clotting which can block blood vessels causing a heart attack or stroke, especially in the middle of the night when the heart's rate is lowest. Doctors and blood specialists concluded that the drug could have been implicated in the deaths of as many as 18 European professional bicycle racers between 1987 and 1991. One of them was Johannes Draaijer, a 27-year-old Dutch rider who finished 130th in the 1989 Tour de France, and died from a heart attack in February 1990. Although the autopsy did not specify the cause of death, Draaijer's wife later told the German news magazine '' Der Spiegel'' that her husband became sick after using EPO. ames Deacon & Paul Gains, A Phantom Killer, Maclean Hunter Limited, 27 November 1995, at 58/ref>Schlamm in den Adern
Der Spiegel (1991-06-10)Teil 3: Todesfälle (nicht nur) im Radsport und Doping – gibt es einen Zusammenhang?
cycling4fans.de

1989

* Laurent Fignon of France tested positive for amphetamines at the Grand Prix de la Liberation in Eindhoven on 17 September 1989.
* Bert Oosterbosch of the Netherlands died on 18 August 1989, aged 32, from a heart attack and poor health. His death was noted by Willy Voet in his book ''Massacre à la chaîne'' (translated as "Breaking the Chain") although he acknowledged the impossibility of proving the link between these early deaths and the drugs taken while racing. It is widely presumed, but not proven, that the death is attributable to EPO use but this is disputed. Voet also talked about Oosterbosch riding the 1982 Grand Prix des Nations. ''Oosterbosch was flat from the start due to the Synacten he had taken. The drugs initially blocked his ability to work hard. An hour after the injection it started working as planned and his tempo increased.'' In fact, Voet may have been referring to the 1979 or 1984 events.
* Johan van der Velde of the Netherlands undertook hospital treatment for his addiction to amphetamines at the end of his career. He said in an interview with the author Jan Siebelink ("Pijn is genot") that he had trouble coping when that success began to dry up. Van der Velde said he remembered shivering at the start of an Italian race, the skin of his arms wrinkled in goosebumps, because of the amphetamine he had taken just to start. He was also disqualified from the 1981 Liège–Bastogne–Liège race.
* Sean Yates tested positive in the first stage of Torhout-Werchter.

1990s

1990

* Johannes Draaijer from the Netherlands. It is widely presumed, but not proven, that his death was attributable to EPO use. The autopsy did not specify the cause of death, but Draaijer's wife later told the German news magazine, Der Spiegel, that her husband became sick after using EPO.
* Belgian Nico Emonds tested positive after winning the third stage of the 1990 Vuelta a España. He was stripped from his victory and set to the last place of the stage.
* Steven Rooks was a Dutch cyclist whose professional career ran from 1982 to 1995. On the Dutch TV-show ''Reporter'' in 2000, Rooks admitted (together with Maarten Ducrot and Peter Winnen) that they had doped in their careers. Rooks said he used testosterone and amphetamines during his whole 13-year career. In 2009, he extended his confession, by also admitting the use of EPO after 1989, which was something he took together with two other Dutch riders Gert Jakobs and Mathieu Hermans.

The PDM Affair, In November 1997, Cyclingnews.com reported about an inquiry that had just been made public in The Netherlands. This inquiry appeared to reveal doping in the PDM cycling team. The doctor of the team from between 1990 and 1991 was Wim Sanders who was the centre of the investigation which was reported to have been initiated when the General Manager of the team, Manfred Krikke, called the FIOD (Fiscal Information and Investigation Service) to investigate the medical business of the team. It was said that Wim Sanders supplied anabolic steroids and EPO to the team and was responsible for the "intralipid affair" of the 1991 Tour de France, when the entire team withdrew due to what was reported at the time as food poisoning. In a 2008 TV documentary; team members and team doctor Wim Sanders explain how the cause was in fact careless storage of Intralipid, a nutritional aid with which the team members had been injected.

According to cyclingnews.com, 1990 was the height of the drug taking in the team and during this year, two riders had to stop with acute heart problems; whether this refers to stopping with professional cycling or performance-enhancing drugs is unclear. Team manager Gisbers denied any knowledge of doping in the team.

1991

* Carey Hall, the Australian track cyclist, tested positive for the use of banned substances and lost the medal he won in the World Championship at Stuttgart and placed on probation for 6 months.
* Sean Kelly of Ireland was described in Willy Voet's book 'Massacre à la Chaine': He won the Tour of Lombardy three times (1983, 1985, 1991 (also won amateur version in 1976)) and on at least one occasion he did it with the help of a corticoide injection. Kelly was controlled positive after Paris–Brussels in 1984 and that came as a surprise because he used the urine of a mechanic. But the mechanic was using a banned substance himself because he had to work long hours at night and needed the lift to stay awake."
* Stephen Pate, the Australian track cyclist, tested positive for the use of banned substances and lost the medal he won in the World Championship at Stuttgart and placed on probation for 6 months.
* Jesper Skibby of Denmark released his autobiography in November 2006, in which he confessed to having used doping for more than 10 years. In 1991 he started using steroids, in 1992 growth hormones and testosterone, and finally by 1993 he was also using EPO. He claimed that he requested the drugs himself, and he did not name any other riders or contacts in the book.

PDM. Some teams used sophisticated recovery techniques whereby riders were put on a drip during the night and fed nutrients such as Vitamin B12. This practice was blamed when the entire PDM team went down with a fever on the 10th Stage of the Tour de France. PDM management blamed a virus although only riders were infected. Ten days later a press release stated that the team had used recovery substances which were past their sell-by date.

1992

* Jesper Worre from Denmark tested positive for use of amineptine, a stimulant drug, which had been prohibited on 1 January that same year. He admitted the offence and received a conditional quarantine. He is now particularly known for his strong and uncompromising struggle against the use of doping in professional cycling.
* Óscar Vargas tested positive for caffeine after winning stage 20 of the 1992 Vuelta a España. He was stripped of his result and given a three-month suspension.

1993

* Claudio Chiappucci from Italy, confessed in 1997 that he had used drugs from 1993 to 1995, but later retracted that statement.Vrijgesproken Conconi moreel veroordeeld door Italiaanse gerecht
Chiappucci used the practice of Doctor Conconi, who was accused of providing EPO to cyclists. Conconi was found 'morally guilty', but was acquitted, because the evidence was considered insufficient to definitively prove that his involvement led to the deliberate ingestion of drugs by riders. The judge had looked at medical reports of 33 cyclists in the period 1993–1995, including Chiappucci's, and all blood tests showed largely fluctuating hematocrit-values, indicative for EPO-use.
* Lennie Kristensen from Denmark tested positive for a stimulant drug. The Danish Cycling organisation banned him but the UCI did not.
* Stephen Roche of Ireland. According to an investigation in Italy into the practices of Francesco Conconi, Roche was involved in the case, having received EPO in 1993. In May 1990, Paul Kimmage published '' Rough Ride'' exposing apparently endemic drug use in the peloton, and Roche threatened litigation. It was reported in the Rome newspaper, la Repubblica, in January 2000 that Francesco Conconi, a professor at the University of Ferrara involved with administering EPO to riders on the with which Roche had some of his best years, had provided riders including Roche with EPO. Roche denied the allegations. This was further reported in the Irish Times several days later, Roche again denying EPO. In March 2000 the Italian judge Franca Oliva published a report detailing the investigation into sports doctors including Conconi. This official judicial investigation concluded that Roche was administered EPO in 1993, his last year in the peloton. Files part of the investigation allegedly detail a number of aliases for Roche including Rocchi, Rossi, Rocca, Roncati, Righi and Rossini. In 2004 Judge Oliva alleged that Roche had taken EPO during 1993 but due to the statute of limitations, neither Roche nor his teammates at Carrera would be prosecuted.

1994

* Joachim Halupczok from Poland - died, aged 26, on 5 February 1994. In 1988 he was the World Champion cyclist, Olympic Silver medalist, and was voted 'best athlete in Poland'. In 1990 he turned professional and took part in the World Championships in Japan, but in autumn that year health problems (heart arrhythmia) caused his retirement from the sport, aged 24. It was suspected that the problems was associated with the abuse of drugs (EPO). His death was also noted by disgraced soigneur Willy Voet in his book ''Massacre à la chaîne'' although he acknowledged the impossibility of proving the link between these early deaths and the drugs taken while racing.
* Gianni Bugno from Italy in August was found positive to caffeine on the occasion of an anti-doping check.

1995

* Bo Hamburger from Denmark admitted taking EPO from 1995 to 1997 in his 2007 autobiography. He had vociferously denied taking banned substances throughout his active career.
* Marco Pantani of Italy recorded a haematocrit level of 60.1% in the Milan-Turin race in October.

1996

* Rolf Aldag of Germany admitted having used erythropoietin (EPO) in preparation for the 1996 Tour de France on 24 May 2007. In the press conference with Erik Zabel, they said that he experimented with EPO.
* Udo Bölts of Germany confessed publicly on 23 May 2007 to having used EPO and growth hormones in preparation for the Tour de France in 1996 when he was with Team T-Mobile, and continued in 1997. Consequently, Bölts resigned as the sports director of Team Gerolsteiner on 24 May 2007Bölts tritt zurück - 24 May 2007 (German)

* Bert Dietz of Germany confessed publicly on 23 May 2007 to having used EPO in preparation for the Tour de France in 1996 when he was with Team T-Mobile, and continued in 1997.
* Christian Henn of Germany used banned substances (including EPO) while riding for the T-Mobile team in the mid-1990s, which he admitted in May 2007.
* Brian Holm of Denmark admitted doping during the 1990s in his 2002 autobiography. This did not cost him his job as manager for the Danish national team, despite some concern about him being a role model for the young riders. In May 2007 he admitted having used EPO on two occasions in 1996 at Team Telekom.
* Levi Leipheimer of the United States used a banned substance as an amateur during the 1996 U.S. National Criterium Championships, when he lapped the field. It was later reported by ''VeloNews'' that Leipheimer tested positive for a banned substance after the Championship, and a disciplinary panel recommended that he return his title. The Leipheimer family confirmed the violation, claiming that Levi had innocently used the allergy medicine Claritin-D to relieve hay fever symptoms. The family claim that USA Cycling later relaxed its standards regarding the use of allergy medicines; however, ephedrine remains a banned substance. USA Cycling's official records name Matt Johnson as the 1996 event's champion. Retrieved 6-8-2010
* Rita Razmaite of Lithuania tested positive for Bromantan. She was suspended, along with a Russian coach and a Belarusian doctor, by the International Olympic Committee.
* Bjarne Riis of Denmark won the 1996 Tour de France under the effects of EPO, growth hormone and cortisone. On 25 May 2007, he admitted "for a time doping was a part of everyday life for me".
* Filippo Simeoni of Italy admitted in 2002 that he was instructed by doctor Michele Ferrari in 1996 and 1997 on how to use the EPO and Human Growth Hormone that were prescribed. He also testified in court that he had used doping since 1993. Dr. Ferrari was also Lance Armstrong's doctor and this led to a public falling-out at the 2002 Tour de France.Simeoni testifies: "Dr Ferrari prescribed EPO"
''CyclingNews'', 13 February 2002 In 2001 and 2002 Simeoni was suspended for several months for doping use.
* Erik Zabel of Germany, on 24 May 2007, admitted having used Erythropoietin (EPO) in preparation for the 1996 Tour de France. In the press conference he said that he experimented with EPO for a week, but then stopped due to severe side effects. Zabel also publicly apologized for having lied about his use of EPO in the past.

The Telekom Affair – In May 2007, several former riders admitted to using banned substances (including EPO) while riding for the team in the mid-1990s, including Erik Zabel, Rolf Aldag, Brian Holm, Bjarne Riis, Bert Dietz, Udo Bölts and Christian Henn including the seasons in which Riis and Jan Ullrich won the Tour de France. Team doctors Andreas Schmid and Lothar Heinrich also confessed to participating and administering banned substances. The latter was Team Telekom's sporting director until 3 May 2007, when he was suspended following allegations published in former team member Jef d'Hont's book.

On 25 May 2007, Riis issued a statement confessing to taking EPO, growth hormone and cortisone for five years, from 1993 to 1998, including during his victory in the 1996 Tour de France. Earlier in the week, five of Riis' former teammates from Team Telekom confessed to having used banned substances during the 1990s when Riis won the Tour. Riis said that he bought and injected the EPO himself, and team coach Walter Godefroot turned a blind eye to the drug use on the team. Riis was removed from the official record books of Tour de France, but in July 2008 he was written back into the books along with additional notes about his use of doping.

1997

* Djamolidine Abdoujaparov from Uzbekistan became the first rider to be disqualified from the 1997 Tour de France for taking banned substances after testing positive for Bromantan and the bronchodilator, Clenbuterol. It was later revealed that he had tested positive for drugs after six races in 1997, including the Tour de France. He was subsequently banned for a year after the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) appealed against a six-month ban imposed by the Uzbekistan Cycling Federation, claiming it was too lenient.
* Gilles Bouvard of France told French investigators in July 1998 that he had been supplied with drugs when he was on the Festina team in 1997 and also while he was on the Casino team during the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race in 1998.
* Brian Dalgaard Jensen of Denmark confessed in a DR TV documentary in March 2003, to using EPO during his career, especially during his 1997 success in Belgium. In 2004 he was awarded an anti-doping prize for his openness.
* Rune Jogert of Norway tested positive for Ephedrine during a stage race in Germany (the Berliner 4-Etappen-Fahrt). He was suspended for 2 months from 1 February 1998, fined 500 Swiss francs ($US345) and lost 15 UCI ranking points. Additionally the Norwegian Cycling Federation was fined 5,000 Swiss francs (about $US3,500) because it had not taken any action against Rune Jogert and not told the UCI.
* Emmanuel Magnien of France admitted on 28 July 1998 that he had doped when with his former team Festina.
* Michael Skelde from Denmark tested positive for testosterone.

1998

* Laurent Brochard of France was ejected from the Tour de France on 17 July 1998 with the entire Festina team. On 24 July he confessed being doped in the Tour by EPO, amphetamines, corticosteroids, nandrolone and Human Growth Hormones (HGH). He was suspended by the French Cycling Federation for six months from 1 November 1998 until 1 May 1999.
* Francesco Casagrande of Italy was caught in March 1998 with a positive testosterone finding. He was suspended for 6 months, later increased to 9 months from September 1998 until June 1999, and sacked by Cofidis.
* Laurent Dufaux of Switzerland was ejected from the Tour de France on 17 July 1998 with the entire Festina team. On 24 July 1998 he confessed being doped throughout the past 3 years with EPO, and received an 8-month suspension from 1 October 1998 until 1 June 1999.
* Pascal Hervé of France was ejected from the Tour de France on 17 July 1998 with the entire Festina team. On 25 October 2000 he admitted to doping (with amphetamines, cortisone and EPO) during the 1998 Tour de France. Beside of a short self-imposed suspension, he was given a 2-month suspension from 1 February until 31 March 2001.
* Luc Leblanc of France, the 1994 world champion, admitted to the court in the Festina trial (after having retired in 1999), that he had used performance-enhancing EPO to prepare for the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España throughout 1994–1998. He claimed the reason he started to use EPO in 1994 (while riding at the Festina team), was because he achieved a clean 5th place in the 1991 Tour de France, and then for the subsequent two years suddenly found he could not keep up with the pace of the peloton without. "It is true, but I could have taken a lot more to win these races", said Leblanc. He was riding for Team Polti in the 1998 Tour, where he opted to abandon the race in sympathy with the Festina riders. Despite confessing to doping use when riding all the Grand Tours, he insisted to have won the Rainbow Jersey in 1994 without any help of illegal substances. As the statute of limitation was only five years in 1994, his confession came at a time when he anyway did not risk to lose his title. As his confession moreover came at a time when he had retired, his national federation did not bother to launch disciplinary proceedings against him.
* Rodolfo Massi of Italy was arrested by the French police in the 1998 Tour de France for possession of cortisone, and was alleged to have sold EPO to several riders. He was thrown out of the Tour while wearing the Mountain's jersey. He was however only convicted guilty of the first part of the charge, and along with a fine of US$1800 he received a six-month suspension from the Italian Cycling Federation from 1 November 1998 until 1 May 1999.
* Armin Meier of Switzerland was ejected from the Tour de France on 17 July 1998 with the entire Festina team. On 24 July, he confessed using EPO throughout the past two years, along with amphetamines and growth hormones. He was suspended 8 months by the Swiss Cycling Federation from 1 October 1998 until 1 June 1999.
* Christophe Moreau of team Festina was ejected from the Tour de France on 17 July 1998 with the entire Festina team. On 24 July he confessed to using EPO and amphetamines. He served a six-month suspension by the French Cycling Federation from 1 November 1998 until 1 May 1999.
* Per Pedersen of Denmark, who raced the Tour de France on four occasions in the 1990s, and worked for Team CSC as a directeur sportif in 2001, confessed that he during his active career had used cortisone – but only in the days where it had not yet been added to the prohibited list of substances.
* Didier Rous of France was ejected from the Tour de France on 17 July 1998 with the entire Festina team. He confessed using EPO in the Tour, and was suspended by the French Cycling Federation for six months from 1 November 1998 until 1 May 1999.
* Neil Stephens of Australia was ejected from the Tour de France on 17 July 1998 with the entire Festina team, and although admitting he had taken EPO intravenously, he claimed to have doped unknowingly as the team had told him it was vitamin supplements. He was not suspended by his national federation, but decided to stop his active career at the same time he made his confession.
* Richard Virenque of France was ejected from the Tour de France on 17 July 1998 with the entire Festina team. On 24 October 2000, he admitted using doping (EPO, cortisone, ACTH, and growth hormones) at the 1998 Tour de France. On 22 December 2000, he was cleared by the French court from the criminal charge of "inciting the administration of doping and masking products to others and complicity in the importation of drugs". On December 30, 2000, the Swiss cycling federation gave him a nine-month ban and a 4,000 Swiss franc fine for his confessed doping use, which shortly afterwards was changed to a 6.5 months suspension by CAS from 1 February 2001 until 14 August 2001.
* Alex Zülle of Switzerland was ejected from the Tour de France on 17 July 1998 with the entire Festina team. On 24 July he confessed using EPO, growth hormones and amphetamines in the 1998 Tour. His hematacrit level was recorded as 52.3%, whereas the maximum allowed figure is 50%. He also stated in court by September 1998, that he has been employing EPO throughout the past four years (1994–1998); most lately it was administered to him by the Festina team doctor Eric Rijkaert, and while riding for ONCE it was administered to him by the two team doctors Nicolás Terrados and José Aremendi. He was suspended 8 months by the Swiss Cycling Federation from 1 October 1998 until 1 June 1999.
* Stuart O'Grady admitted in July 2013, after publication that a retrospective test had found one of his samples from the 1998 Tour de France positive for EPO, that he indeed had used this substance intensively during the two weeks ahead of the Tour. At this point of time, the positive test was not perceived as an individual rider scandal – but more as proof for a collective peloton behavior, as the retrospective test actually had found 92% of the tested riders (35 out of 38) positive for EPO in this edition of the Tour. As the statute of limitation is 8 years, a disciplinary proceeding was not launched, but the rider decided to retire, and he was also asked to retire from his recently appointed post in the Australian Olympic Committee.
* Nancy Contreras and Belem Guerrero were stripped from their medals won during the 1998 Central American and Caribbean Games, when they failed the doping test with Pseudoephedrine. Contreras have won the gold in the 500m time trial and Guerrero the gold in the points race and the bronze medals in 3000m Individual Pursuit and road race. The Dr. José Angel Covarrubias, then Contreras doctor, was later sanctioned.

The Festina Affair is the events that surround several doping scandals, doping investigations and confessions of riders to doping that occurred during and shortly after the 1998 Tour de France. The affair began when a large haul of doping products was found in a car of the Festina cycling team just before the start of the race, which led to a large-scale police investigation against the Festina Team, this was followed by the re-opening of a separate police investigation case into the TVM team, and a subsequent searching of many teams during the race for possession of illicit doping substances. The affair highlighted systematic doping and suspicion of a widespread network of doping in many teams of the Tour de France, and was characterised by the constant negative publicity of the cases, police searches of hotels, a spate of confessions by retired and current riders to doping, the detainment and arrest of many team personnel, protests by riders in the race, as well as mass withdrawal of several teams from the race.

1999

* Uwe Ampler tested positive for steroids and high testosterone level during the Sachsen Tour in August 1999. He admitted his error, blaming a cocktail of drugs taken during a bout of influenza.
* Frankie Andreu admitted in September 2006 that he had taken EPO to help prepare for the 1999 Tour de France, when he was riding for the US Postal team.
* Lance Armstrong tested positive for corticoids during the 1999 Tour de France. The small amounts of corticoids in a urine sample were explained by the prescription for skin cream (saddle sores / boil / allergy) that he subsequently presented to the UCI, thus he was cleared of any offence. He later admitted that saddle sores were a cover story for actually doping.
* Ludo Dierckxsens was removed from the Tour de France by his Lampre team after winning the 11th stage. At the post race drugs test he told the race doctor about his use of the corticoid Synacthene (Tetracosactide) under prescription to treat a knee injury from the previous month.
* Claus Michael Møller of the Dutch TVM team tested positive for banned substances and received a 2-year ban
* Marco Pantani, winner of the 1998 Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France, faced an automatic two-week suspension while leading the 1999 Giro d'Italia for a suspiciously high red blood cell count (52%) which could have meant that the rider had taken the banned substance EPO. He died of a cocaine overdose in 2004.
* Laurent Roux is a French former road bicycle racer. In 1999, he was found guilty of using amphetamines in the Flèche Wallonne race, and was suspended for six months. In 2002, he was again tested positive for amphetamines after an out of competition control, and received a 4-year suspension. In June 2006 he confessed at a doping trial in Bordeaux, that while being suspended he had both consumed and sold the drug known in the peloton as "pot Belge" (a mixture of amphetamines, caffeine, and sometimes cocaine and heroin), and he also confessed, that throughout his active career from 1994 to 2002 he had used EPO, human growth hormone, cortisone and testosterone.

1999 Tour de France - In 2005 the French sports daily ''L'Équipe'' accused Lance Armstrong of using the performance-enhancing drug EPO during the race. For years, it had been impossible to detect the drug, called erythropoietin, until UCI began using a urine test for EPO in 2001. According to the newspaper, tests on 1999 urine samples were done to help scientists improve their detection methods. The newspaper said 12 samples had revealed EPO use, including six from Armstrong.
In 2006 a UCI appointed independent lawyer, Emile Vrijman, released a report in 2006 claiming that Lance Armstrong should be cleared of any suspicion surrounding the retrospective testing of the 1999 Tour de France. Vrijman denounced the manner in which the doping laboratory in Châtenay-Malabry carried out its research, claiming that there were too many procedural and chain of custody gaps. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rejected it, calling it ''defamatory'' to WADA and its officers and employees, as well as the accredited laboratory involved.

In that same year, a second French daily newspaper, ''Le Journal du Dimanche'', reported that Spanish rider Manuel Beltrán, Danish Bo Hamburger and Colombian Joaquim Castelblanco were suspected of being among those whose frozen urine samples reportedly tested positive.

2000s

2000

* Eugeni Berzin was prevented from starting the 2000 Giro d'Italia because of Haematocrit level (due to the use of EPO) above 50%.
* Neil Campbell tested positive at a World Cup track meeting in Turin on 13 July and at the British Championships on 29 July. Both samples showed higher concentrations of human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) than permitted.
* Jan Hruška from the Czech Republic was thrown out of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games after testing positive for an unspecified banned substance.
* Emmanuel Magnien of France was banned for three months by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) after testing positive for corticoids during Tour de France.
* Tammy Thomas, US track cyclist, tested positive for testosterone at the 2000 US Olympic trials, and in 2001 tested positive for a previously unseen steroid Norbolethone. She received a lifetime ban from the sport. She was sentenced to five years of probation and six months of home confinement.

2001

* Niklas Axelsson tested positive for EPO in the 2001 UCI Road World Championships in Lisbon and later admitted his guilt. He was suspended for four years by the Swedish Cycling Federation but made an early comeback in 2004.
* Riccardo Forconi tested positive for blood doping/EPO use prior to the Giro d'Italia.
* Dario Frigo was expelled from the Giro d'Italia after police discovered banned substances in his hotel room. In 2005 he was arrested and banned from the Tour de France after police found 10 doses of erythropoietin (EPO) in his wife's car.
* Marcin Gębka of Poland was excluded from the 2001 Peace Race after failing a hematocrit test prior to the event. He was one of three riders for the Polish CCC Mat team who received a two-week ban.
* Bjoern Glasner of Germany and Team Cologne was excluded from the 2001 Peace Race after failing a hematocrit test prior to the event. He received a two-week ban.
* Bo Hamburger becomes the first rider to test positive for EPO under a new system introduced by the UCI in 2001. Hamburger was later acquitted by the Danish Sports Federation after irregularities in the handling of Hamburger's B sample analysis. Hamburger denied ever taking any banned substances, but in 2007 he published a book and revealed that he took EPO from 1995 to 1997.
* Pascal Hervé tested positive for EPO after the prologue in 2001 Giro d'Italia.
* Roland Meier from Switzerland tested positive for EPO at the end of la Flèche Wallonne on April 18. The Swiss Cycling Federation (SRB) stated that the B sample 'counter-evaluation' was carried out by the IUML (University Institute of Forensic medicine) in Lausanne and it confirmed the first analysis. He was suspended for 8 months by the SRB.
* Marco Pantani was banned for six months after an insulin syringe was found in his room at the Giro d'Italia. On appeal the ban was lifted.
* Piotr Przydzial of Poland was excluded from the 2001 Peace Race after failing a hematocrit test prior to the event. He was one of three riders for the Polish CCC Mat team who received a two-week ban.
* Ondřej Sosenka of the Czech Republic was excluded from the 2001 Peace Race after failing a hematocrit test prior to the event. He was one of three riders for the Polish CCC Mat team who received a two-week ban.
* Tammy Thomas, US track cyclist, tested positive for a previously unseen steroid Norbolethone. She received a lifetime ban from the sport.

2001 Giro d'Italia - The Giro was overshadowed by a series of scandals related to doping. Police raided the hotels of several teams during the race, uncovering a variety of banned substances. Italian Dario Frigo, who was fighting for the race lead at the time, was expelled from the race as a result. The week prior to the raid saw Pascal Hervé and Riccardo Forconi expelled from the race after testing positive for EPO. Italian police carried out anti-drugs raids on a number of hotels in the town of San Remo where the participants of the race were staying. About 200 officers were involved in the raid. Police officers search the rooms of riders from all 20 teams, confiscating medicines. The organizers decided to cancel the 18th stage after second-placed Dario Frigo was sacked by Fassa Bortolo team after illegal drugs were found in his room. Frigo later admitted carrying them as security in case he needed a boost during the final stages of the race. Italian Marco Pantani was banned for six months after an insulin syringe was found in his room. On appeal the ban was lifted.

2002

* Nicola Chesini was detained by Italian police as part of an investigation into the supply of performance-enhancing drugs during the 2002 Giro d'Italia. Chesini was taken from his hotel near Cuneo after the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia.
* Stefano Garzelli, the 2000 Giro d'Italia winner, tested positive for the banned diuretic and masking agent probenecid, and was expelled from the Giro d'Italia. He was given a nine-month ban.
* Jef D'hont was a masseur to professional cycling teams. In 1998, he was involved in a major doping scandal during the Tour de France, namely the Festina affair. For his involvement in doping in the Française des Jeux team, he got a 9-month prison term on probation in December 2000. In April 2007, he exposed the doping practices of the Team Telekom in the 1990s, and admitted his own use of amphetamines in 1963.
* Bas van Dooren, mountain biker form the Netherlands, tested positive for EPO in 2002 from a test two days before the 2002 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships, where he finished 11th. He bought it in Germany via internet and replied that 'it was a gamble'. He was suspended for one year and ended his career.
* David McCann, from Northern Ireland, tested positive for the Norandrosterone in 2002 during the Tour of Austria, which returned a reading 3 nanograms above the permitted blood concentration of the substance. Laboratory tests showed the presence of a legal glutamine supplement he was using contained norandrosterone not listed on the label. This evidence led to him being given the minimum allowed six-month suspension and fined 2000 Swiss Francs.
* In 2002, Gianpaolo Mondini was sacked from US Postal after it was revealed that police found EPO and growth hormones in his hotel room during the 2001 Giro d'Italia. He admitted using illegal substances.Mondini sacked from US Postal
The Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) demanded suspension of up to four and a half years for possession and use of the drug EPO and possession of insulin.
* Lars Brian Nielsen tested positive for high levels of caffeine and was removed from the Danish National Team for the World Championships in Ballerup in September.Cycling News, 2 August 2002
/ref> It was the second time Nielsen has been caught relating to doping. In 1997, he was found to have taken nandrolone and was suspended for two years.
* Kirk O'Bee of the US tested positive for an elevated testosterone-epitestosterone ratio at the 2001 USPRO Championships in Philadelphia on 10 June 2001 and received a 1-year suspension. O'Bee declared that his positive drug test "resulted from a special training regimen recommended by his coach, which involved dietary supplements and exercise."
* Juan Pineda of the US tested positive for 19-norandrosterone and 19-noretiocholanolone at the First Union Invitational in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on 4 June 2002. He received a 2-year suspension on 25 September 2002 from the USADA.
* Piotr Przydzial from Poland (CCC-Polsat) tested "non-negative" for EPO, at the 55th Peace Race/Course de la Paix in the Czech Republic. He was tested after the fourth stage that finished in Chemnitz on 13 May 2002. Both Przydzial's A and B samples showed signs of EPO and he faced a two-year ban. Prior to the start of the 2001 Peace Race, Przydzial and Sosenka failed a hematocrit test (above 50%) and were not allowed to start.
* Raimondas Rumsas was given a four-month suspended prison sentence in January 2006 by the Bonneville court for the importation of prohibited doping substances during the 2002 Tour de France where he finished third. His wife Edita was given the same sentence with a 3,000 euros fine on identical charges, while Polish doctor Krzysztof Ficek was handed a 12-month suspended sentence for prescribing the drugs. Edita Rumsas was arrested and jailed for 3 months after French police discovered a cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs including growth hormone and EPO in her car. She had claimed that the drugs were for her mother-in-law.
* Stefan Rütimann of Switzerland was given a 4-year ban by the Swiss Olympic Committee (COS) after testing positive for testosterone on May 5 during the Tour de Romandie. Rütimann declined to have his B test analysed, and was given a heavy suspension as he had also tested positive for banned substances in May 2001, when he was suspended for seven months.
* Roberto Sgambelluri was expelled from the Giro d'Italia after becoming the first professional cyclist to be caught using NESP, a stronger and longer lasting form of EPO. However, NESP is not produced naturally by the body, and is therefore easy to detect by doping tests as it stays in the body for a long time.
* Gilberto Simoni, the 2001 Giro d'Italia winner, tested positive for cocaine and was withdrawn from the Giro d'Italia, but was later cleared by the Italian Cycling Federation.
* Frank Vandenbroucke was arrested after the Belgium state highway patrol intercepted Bernard Sainz for travelling in excess of the speed limit and found a large quantity of amphetamines and syringes in the car. Sainz, known in the cycling world as ''Doctor Mabuse'', said he was leaving Frank Vandenbroucke's home, which led to the police searching the cyclist's residence, where they found EPO, morphine and clenbuterol. On 21 March Vandenbroucke was handed a six-month ban and a 10,000 Swiss francs fine by the Belgian federation.
* Faat Zakirov was expelled from the Giro d'Italia after becoming the first professional cyclist to be caught using NESP, a stronger and longer lasting form of EPO. However, NESP is not produced naturally by the body, and is therefore easy to detect by doping tests as it stays in the body for a long time. He received a one-year ban plus a one-year suspended ban from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announced on 17 April 2003.

2003

* Mario De Clercq of Belgium was implicated in a doping affair involving both trafficking and taking banned performance-enhancing drugs, human growth hormone and Aranesp, a genetically engineered recombinant EPO. The ring included six riders plus four others including the chief defendant, Belgian veterinarian Jose Landuyt. De Clercq used human growth hormone and Aranesp, a synthetic drug which increases red blood cell levels, which Museeuw obtained from Landuyt. On 24 January 2007, Museeuw confessed to these charges. The court proceedings were adjourned until 23 September 2008, pending a ruling from the Constitutional Court on the point of law.
* Igor González de Galdeano of Spain missed the Tour de France because of a six-month doping ban imposed on him by France's Council for Prevention and Fight against Doping (CPLD) after testing positive for Salbutamol during the 2002 Tour de France, as well after the final stage of the 2002 Midi Libre. The UCI did not consider the Tour de France positive as a doping offense, and began a face-off with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which insisted the case was indeed one of doping. The UCI declared that there was no limit placed on the amount salbuamol used under prescription.
* Philippe Gaumont of France admitted during police interrogation to an ongoing pattern of EPO use that continued into the 2003 Tour de France This was the end of a career in which in 1996 he tested positive for nandrolone in two races. In 1998 he tested positive twice for the nandrolone drug, but the case was dismissed. In 1999, a blood test conducted in the "Docteur Mabuse" justice case showed he was positive for amphetamines. In 2005 he wrote a book, ''Prisonnier du dopage'' ("Prisoner of doping") describing doping methods, masking methods and financial pressures.
* Geneviève Jeanson of Canada recorded a hematocrit level in excess of the allowable limit while with the Canadian National Team preparing for the World Championships in Hamilton, Ontario, in late 2003. She was required to withdraw from competition for two weeks. She explained the finding by reference to an oxygen tent which she used as part of her conditioning and training program. After years of denial, in an investigative documentary broadcast on Radio-Canada (the French-language CBC) on 20 September 2007, Jeanson acknowledged having taken EPO more or less continuously since age 16 (circa 1998).
* Jesús Manzano of Spain admitted doping during the 2003 season. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2007' stated that he was "Acquitted for legal reasons." He is famous as the whistleblower of systematic doping in Spanish cycling and his statements led the Guardia Civil to conduct the Operación Puerto investigation around the sport doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.
* Johan Museeuw of Belgium was implicated in a doping affair accusing him of both trafficking and taking banned performance-enhancing drugs. The ring included six riders (Mario De Clercq, Jo Planckaert and Chris Peers) plus four others including the chief defendant, Belgian veterinarian Jose Landuyt. Museeuw used human growth hormone which he obtained from Landuyt. The police recorded phone calls where Museeuw spoke of ''wasps'' (the Dutch word ''wesp'' rhymes with aranesp), a codeword for Aranesp, a synthetic drug which increases red blood cell levels. On 24 January 2007, Museeuw confessed to these charges. The court proceedings were adjourned until 23 September 2008, pending a ruling from the Constitutional Court on the point of law.
* Scott Moninger of the US was suspended for one year due to contaminated supplements which contained the banned substance - 19-norandrosterone. These supplements were bought off the shelf of the local Boulder, Colorado supplement store. It was later proven by lab results from the same batch of supplements that the banned substance was not labeled on the product container. Although Moninger was suspended, he is considered to be a clean rider by his peers.
* Amber Neben of the US tested positive for the banned substance 19-norandrosterone after the Montreal World Cup race. Neben chose to appeal the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and, in the meantime, accepted a provisional suspension which began in mid-July 2003. She claimed that it was the result of taking supplements which were contaminated with the banned substance. A formal hearing of the North American CAS Panel reported in October 2003, that a doping violation had occurred, but further stated that it was not an intentional doping violation. She was suspended for 6 months from any race activity dating back to the beginning of her voluntary withdrawal. In December 2007 Neben filed a lawsuit in a California district court against Hammer Nutrition, maker of Endurolytes, alleging that the product contained unlisted substances that caused all three plaintiffs to produce positive doping tests.
* Chris Peers was implicated in a doping affair involving both trafficking and taking banned performance-enhancing drugs, human growth hormone and Aranesp, a synthetic drug which increases red blood cell levels. The ring included six riders plus four others including the chief defendant, Belgian veterinarian Jose Landuyt. On 24 January 2007, Johan Museeuw confessed to the charges. The court proceedings were adjourned until 23 September 2008, pending a ruling from the Constitutional Court on the point of law.
* Jo Planckaert of Belgium was implicated in a doping affair involving both trafficking and taking banned performance-enhancing drugs, human growth hormone and Aranesp, a synthetic drug which increases red blood cell levels. The ring included six riders plus four others including the chief defendant, Belgian veterinarian Jose Landuyt. On 24 January 2007, Johan Museeuw confessed to the charges. The court proceedings were adjourned until 23 September 2008, pending a ruling from the Constitutional Court on the point of law.
* Mark Roland of Australia was suspended for 2 years by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) in September 2008 for having used prohibited substances in 2003 and 2004, although he never tested positive. He was found to have used human growth hormone on two occasions in 2003 and the anabolic steroid DHEA twice in 2003 and once in 2004. The World Anti-Doping Agency applied an eight-year statute of limitations.
* Raimondas Rumsas of Lithuania received a one-year ban after testing positive for EPO during the 2003 Giro d'Italia, in which he finished sixth overall.
* Adham Sbeih of the US, a former U.S. national time trial champion, tested positive in August 2003 for EPO. He was the first U.S. cyclist to be found guilty of taking EPO and he received a two-year ban.

Oil for Drugs was an Italian doping case against doctor Carlo Santuccione and a number of accomplices, started in 2003. He was accused of administering prohibited doping products to professional and amateur athletes, to enhance their performance as well as being involved in doping network across Italy.

2004

* David Fuentes of the US tested positive for an anabolic steroid at the Redlands Bicycle Classic. He protested the USADA and controversially raced, and won, during this protest period. He was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to a two-year suspension that included the year of protest in which he raced and won. He was never ordered to return any of his winnings.
* Lizandro Ajcú of Guatemala tested positive for Erythropoietin in the 46th Vuelta a Guatemala in 2005.
* Joey D'Antoni, received a 2-year suspension on 24 September from the United States Antidoping Agency. The track racer from Raleigh, North Carolina, tested positive for recombinant human Erythropoietin (rHuEPO)
* Christophe Brandt of Belgium tested positive for methadone during the Tour de France. He believed the test was a result of a tainted nutritional supplement that he had taken to cure a liver problem. The chemist who had prepared Brandt's prescription confirmed he had been working with methadone on the same day that he had prepared Brandt's prescription. His Lotto team fired him, but after he was exonerated by the Belgian Cycling Federation he was rehired.
* Dave Bruylandts of Belgium tested positive for EPO use in 2004 and was banned for 18 months.
* David Calanche of Guatemala tested positive for Erythropoietin in the 46th Vuelta a Guatemala in October 2004.
* María Luisa Calle of Colombia lost her bronze medal after testing positive for heptaminol. The Colombian Olympic Committee appealed the decision, and in November 2005 she got her medal back.
* Oscar Camenzind of Switzerland tested positive on 22 July for the banned drug EPO and was barred from attending the Olympic Games. Although he accepted full responsibility for the positive test, his cycling career became questionable after being fired by his Swiss professional cycling team Phonak. Soon after this occurrence, he announced his retirement from professional cycling.
* Stefano Casagranda and Martin Hvastija were asked to leave the 2004 Tour de France after race organisers received a letter from Padova's financial brigade, saying the riders were under investigation in Italy on doping charges.
* Yeisson Delgado of Venezuella tested positive for Erythropoietin in the 46th Vuelta a Guatemala in October 2004.
* Carlos López González of Mexico tested positive for Erythropoietin in the 46th Vuelta a Guatemala in October 2004.
* Abel Jocholá of Guatemala tested positive for Erythropoietin in the 46th Vuelta a Guatemala in October 2004.
* Danilo Di Luca was not eligible to participate in the Tour de France as he was under investigation by Italian officials for doping. Di Luca was recorded in several phone conversations with Eddy Mazzoleni in which he allegedly talked about doping products, the investigation led to Di Luca's non-participation in the 2004 Tour de France.
* Tyler Hamilton won the gold medal in the men's individual time trial at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. That medal was placed in doubt on 20 September 2004, after it was revealed that he had failed a test for blood doping (receiving blood transfusions to boost performance) at the Olympics. Two days after the announcement of his positive test result at Athens, the IOC announced that Hamilton would keep his gold medal because results could not be obtained from the second, backup sample. The Athens lab had frozen the backup sample, which made it impossible to repeat the blood doping test. Hamilton also tested positive for blood doping at the 2004 Vuelta a España, where he won the April 8 stage. In April 2005 he was banned for 2 years for blood doping. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated that for Homologous Blood Transfusion he would be sanctioned to "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years".
* Jesus Manzano of Spain exposed doping practices in a series of articles in the Spanish newspaper Diario AS in March 2004. This included his use of EPO, Cortisone, Testosterone, Human Growth Hormone, Nandrolone, Oxyglobin, and the extreme practices to administer them. The revelations were so strong that Spanish investigations were begun, and these in turn led to Operación Puerto.
* Filip Meirhaeghe the Belgian Mountain biker, tested positive for EPO at an out of competition control on June 25, two days before round 5 of the mountain bike World Cup in Mont St Anne, Canada, which he won. The 33-year-old World Champion told the Belga newsagency that he will stop competitive cycling immediately.
* Noel Armando Vazquez Mendoza of Venezuella tested positive for Erythropoietin and Nicethamide in the 46th Vuelta a Guatemala in October 2004. In July 2005 he was sanctioned by the Federacion Venezolana De Ciclismo, involving a four-year suspension from 10 November 2004 to 9 November 2008, disqualification of the race, and a fine of CHF 1,000.
* David Millar of Great Britain was preparing for competition in the 2004 Tour de France and track events at the 2004 Summer Olympics when police searched his house in June 2004, finding used Epogen syringes. Millar confessed to the use of EPO on three occasions: in August 2001 before the Vuelta a España, in May 2003 before the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré and in September 2003 before the World men's individual time trial championships. He was handed a two-year suspension.
* Janet Puiggros Miranda of Spain became the second Spanish athlete to commit a doping offence at the Olympics after also testing positive for EPO during a pre-Olympic test. Like Gonzalez, she was withdrawn from competing (in the Women's Cross-Country race). She also denied the administration of a "B Test", which is used to verify the first drug test.
* Federico Muñoz of Colombia tested positive for Erythropoietin in the 46th Vuelta a Guatemala in October 2004.
* José Reynaldo Murillo of Spain tested positive for Erythropoietin in the 46th Vuelta a Guatemala in October 2004.
* Santiago Pérez of Phonak team tested positive for a blood transfusion on 5 October, just over a week after he finished second in the 2004 Vuelta a España.
* Nery Velásquez of Guatemala tested positive for Erythropoietin in the 46th Vuelta a Guatemala in October 2004.
* Jeremy Yates of New Zealand who spent two years racing for Belgian teams, tested positive for high levels of testosterone after a race in Wanzele in March. The Belgian cycling federation banned him for two years plus a fine of $NZ900 plus costs.

2005

* Erwin Bakker of the Netherlands tested positive for Testosterone at Mont Sainte-Anne, Canada, on 26 March 2005, and for EPO on 23 June 2005 at an out of competition control. He was disqualified and sacked by his team, Heijdens-Ten Tusscher. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated both "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years and life" respectively.
* Roberto Ballestero of Costa Rica tested positive for Phentermine on 23 December 2005. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years".
* Marc Lotz of The Netherlands resigned at Quick·Step - Innergetic on 1 June when EPO was found in his house and he admitted using. The team accepted his resignation and he was suspended for two years in general and for four years for the UCI Pro-Tour. On October 3, 2008, the Belgium court gave him a 16,500 Euro fine for possession of EPO.
* Ludovic Capelle tested positive for EPO at a race on 7 June. He was initially suspended for 18 months by Belgian Cycling Federation but Capelle appealed his ban on a technicality. In the middle of December the Belgian Council of State overturned the suspension and Capelle was cleared on a procedural error of a testing officer.
* Maurizio Carta of Poland tested positive for Clostebol on 24 September 2005. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years".
* Ferney Orlando Bello Clavijo of Colombia tested positive for Stanozolol on 9 August 2005. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for life".
* Barry Forde of Barbados tested positive for Testosterone on 28 October 2005. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years and 2 months".
* Evgeni Petrov was ejected from the 2005 Tour de France on stage 10. Tests carried out in the morning found his haemetocrit to be over the legal 50% level. He was banned from cycling for two weeks 'for health reasons'.
* Dario Frigo, was ejected from the 2005 Tour de France before the start of stage 11. Police found ten doses of EPO in his wife's car as part of a border-crossing search. The couple were arrested for carrying prohibited substances. In September 2008 the court in Albertville gave him and his wife, Susanna, a six-month suspended prison sentence and an €8757 fine.
* Fabrizio Guidi tested positive for EPO on 17 August. The test was taken at the HEW Cyclassics on 31 July. Guidi's B test came back negative for EPO and the team's temporary suspension against him was lifted.
* Fredy Hamlet of France tested positive for Heptaminol on 16 July 2005. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 1 year".
* Nelito Hereida of the Dominican Republic tested positive for EPO on 17 September 2005. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for life".
* Roberto Heras, the winner of an unprecedented fourth Vuelta a España, tested positive for EPO prior to the penultimate stage of the 2005 Vuelta a España. He was stripped of his 2005 Vuelta win and the victory was given to Russian Denis Menchov. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years".
* Danilo Hondo of Germany tested positive for the stimulant Carphedone at the Vuelta de Murcia and subsequently received a 2-year suspension.
* Giorgio Landaeta of Venezuela tested positive for Norandrosterone and Noreticholanolone on 30 August 2005. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years".
* Iñigo Landaluze, made his breakthrough by winning the 2005 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, but it was soon announced he had tested positive for abnormally high testosterone and was suspended from racing until his case was heard out. In 2006, however, he was cleared to return to racing after he showed that the lab conducting tests committed procedural errors. The UCI then failed to show that those errors did not affect the outcome of the tests. The CAS panel reviewing the case said that it was "probable" that Landaluze had committed a doping violation, but the UCI had failed to meet its burden of proof in the case. New revisions to the WADA Code would suggest that Landaluze would have lost his case under the new rules. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' states 'Acquitted for legal reasons'
* Jenaro Ramos Lozano of Spain tested positive for Stanozolol on 8 April 2005. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years".
* Gabriel Pop of Romania "Failed to Comply" with test procedures on 22 April 2005. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "ineligibility for 2 years".
* Jorge Coto Riviera of Costa Rica tested positive for testosterone on 23 December 2005. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years".
* Sandro Rodriguez of Bolivia tested positive for Norandrosterone on 10 November 2005. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "ineligibility for life".
* Francisco Pérez Sanchez tested positive twice for EPO during the 2003 Tour de Romandie when he won two stages and took the overall lead in spectacular fashionrace. He was suspended for 18 months from 18 October 2003 to 17 April 2005.
* Zinaida Stahurskaya, the former world champion from Belarus tested positive at three European races in 2005, - once to anabolic steroid stanozolol and twice to hormone testosterone. In 2006 she was banned for 2 years. It was not her first positive test for doping substances, nor her first suspension: At the Giro d'Italia Femminile in 2001, she returned a positive test for a diuretic, and at the Circuito di Massarosa in 2003, for ephedrine. She was out of competition for four and two months respectively.

2006

* Wilmer Bravo of Venezuela tested positive for Prednisolone and Prednisone on 9 January 2006. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 4 months".
* Garcia Quesada Adolfo of Spain tested positive for Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in competition on 19 May 2006. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2007' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years."
* Stephen Alfred of the US, tested positive for Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in an 'out of season' test on 26 March, and an 'in competition' test on 10 June 2006. Further tests indicated that his testosterone imbalance resulted from the presence of exogenous testosterone. He was suspended for 8 years by the USADA. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2007' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 8 years."
* Victor Hernandez Baeta of Spain tested positive for EPO in an 'out of competition' test on 4 July 2006. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2007' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years."
* Ivan Basso was expelled from the Tour de France in the week prior to its commencement due to his involvement in the Operación Puerto doping caseInside the Blood Doping Investigation
'' Der Spiegel'', 10 July 2006 On 30 April 2007 Team Discovery Channel announced that Basso would be released from his contract on Basso's request. While still claiming to never have actually engaged in blood doping, Basso admitted contacting Dr. Fuentes' clinic with the intention to engage in blood doping.Agence France-Press
"Basso admits only to 'attempted' doping"
. ''VeloNews'' - 8 May 2007 On 15 June 2007, Basso received a two-year ban.
* Pawal Bentkowski of Poland tested positive for Norandrosterone on 25 July 2006. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years".
* Jaime Bretti of Chile tested positive for Phentermine in competition on 4 May 2006. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2007' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years."
* Santos Gonzalez Capilla of Spain tested positive for Triamcinolone acetonide on 4 March 2006. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "disqualification, warning and reprimand".
* Jose Balague Carvajal of Chile tested positive for Ephedrine 'in competition' on 11 May 2006. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2007' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years."
* Erick Castano of Ecuador tested positive for Metelonone on 14 May 2006. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years".
* Luis Coelho of Portugal tested positive for Norandrosterone, Clenbuterol, and hCG in competition on 15 July 2006. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2007' stated "disqualification and Ineligibility for 1 year".
* Juan Cotumba of Bolivia tested positive for Benzoylecgonine, methylecgonine, and cocaine metabolites on 11 May 2006. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years".
* Jhon Cunto of Peru tested positive for Norandrosterone in competition on November 9, 2006. he UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2007' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years."
* Kamil Dominian of Poland tested positive for Stanozolol on May 20, 2006. The 'Union Cycliste Internationale' (UCI) summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years".
* David Garbelli of Italy tested positive for Triamcinolone acetonide and salbutamol on 9 June 2006. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' stated "disqualification and warning".
* Christoph Girschweiler of Switzerland tested positive for Salbutamol and salmeterol in competition on 21 July 2006. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2007' stated "disqualification and warning".
* Aitor González, the winner of the 2002 Vuelta a España, tested positive twice in 2005, first during an out of competition test in August, and again during the 2005 Vuelta a España for a methyltestosterone metabolite. González claimed that the positive test was the result of a contaminated dietary supplement called ''Animal Pack'' prescribed by a doctor. González was handed a two-year ban and retired soon afterwards. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' listed 17 alpha methyl, 5 beta androstane, 3 alpha 17 beta dio and a 2-year ban.
* Oscar Grau of Spain tested positive for Finasteride. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' states "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years".
* Jon Pena Hernaez in competition on 1 August 2006. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2007' stated "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years."
* Christina Alcade Huertanos from Spain was disqualified for 2 years. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' listed Triamcinolone acetonide and a 2-year ban.
* Jörg Jaksche was one of the 9 riders held out of the 2006 Tour de France after being identified by investigators in the Operación Puerto investigation. On 30 June 2007 Jaksche admitted he was guilty of blood doping and that he was the ''Bella'' mentioned in the documents confiscated from Fuentes' clinic.Nesha Starcevic
German rider Joerg Jaksche admits blood doping from Spanish doctor
''International Herald Tribune'', 30 June 2007
* Vladimir Koev of Bulgaria tested positive for Stanozolol on 18 June 2006. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' states "disqualification and ineligibility for 2 years".
* Rafal Kumorowski of Poland tested positive for cannabis in competition on 4 August 2006. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2007' stated "disqualification and warning."
* Floyd Landis was fired from the Phonak team on 5 August 2006, after a test result indicated an abnormally high testosterone/epitestosterone ratio after stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France. On 20 September 2007, he was stripped of his title as winner of the 2006 Tour and placed under a two-year ban from professional racing, following an arbitration panel's 2 to 1 ruling. He appealed the result of the arbitration hearing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which subsequently upheld the panel's ruling. He remained suspended until 30 January 2009.
* Maxime Lefebvre of France 'Failed to Comply' with the 'in competition' testing on 29 December 2006 and 2 January 2006. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' states "disqualification and ineligibility for life".
* Christian Luce of France. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' listed Testosterone and a 3-year ban.
* Joseph M. Papp of the US tested positive for metabolites of testosterone or its precursors (6?-OH-androstenedione 6?-OH-androsterone) on 7 May 2006, at the International 42nd Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey. He received a 2-year suspension. When he testified for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) at the Floyd Landis trial he also stated that he had graduated to testosterone after starting on EPO (erythropoietin) in 2001.
* Evandro Luis Portela of Brazil tested positive for Phentermine and Stanozolol on 23 March 2006. The UCI summary of 'Decisions on Anti-Doping Rule Violations made in 2006' states "disqualification and ineligibility for life".
* Aitor Osa from Spain was involved in the Operación Puerto doping case. The Guardia Civil in Madrid linked numbers used by Dr. Fuentes to identify blood sample bags to names; number 1 to Ullrich, number 2 to Basso, number 4 to Botero, number 5 to Sevilla, number 7 to Aitor's brother, Unai Osa, number 8 to Aitor Osa himself.
* Unai Osa

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