Johan Bruyneel (born 23 August 1964) is a Belgian former professional

road bicycle racer Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

and a former

directeur sportif A ''directeur sportif'' (French for sporting director, although the original French term is often used in English-language media; plural ''directeurs sportifs'') is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event. It is s ...

for

UCI ProTour The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the UCI (International Cycling Union). Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of 'ProTour' cycling teams, e ...

team , and (later known as Discovery Channel), a US-based

cycling team A cycling team is a group of cycle sport, cyclists who join a team or are acquired and train together to compete in bicycle racing, bicycle races whether amateur or professional – and the supporting personnel. Cycling teams are most important i ...

. On 25 October 2018, the World Anti Doping Agency imposed a lifetime ban on Bruyneel for his role in a doping scandal that also saw

Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong ('' né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005 after recovering ...

stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.

History

Professional cyclist

Born in Izegem, Belgium, Bruyneel was a successful professional cyclist. Early wins included the 1990

Tour de l'Avenir Tour de l'Avenir ( en, Tour of the Future) is a French road bicycle racing stage race, which started in 1961 as a race similar to the Tour de France and over much of the same course but for amateurs and for semi-professionals known as independent ...

, the 1991 Rund um den Henninger Turm, the 1992 Grand Prix des Nations and Coppa Placci, and stage 6 (

Évreux Évreux () is a commune in and the capital of the department of Eure, in the French region of Normandy. Geography The city is on the Iton river. Climate History In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named ...

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

) and finishing 7th at the

1993 Tour de France The 1993 Tour de France was the 80th edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 3 to 25 July. It consisted of 20 stages, over a distance of . The winner of the previous two years, Miguel Induráin, successfully defended his title. The poi ...

. His stage win set the record for fastest stage at 49.417 km/h, since then only broken by two cyclists. His greatest successes as a pro cyclist came in 1995. At the 1995 Tour de France, he won stage 7, which began in

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

and ended in Liège,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, and took the

yellow jersey The general classification is the most important classification, the one by which the winner of the Tour de France is determined. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey (french: maillot jaune ). History Th ...

in his home country. Bruyneel launched an escape and was joined by eventual winner

Miguel Indurain --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places * Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands * São Miguel (disa ...

. The Spaniard took the lead and rode the stage as a time-trial to gain time on his main rivals, with Bruyneel latched onto his wheel, barely able to follow the tempo. He then beat Indurain in the end sprint to win the stage. Bruyneel admitted he felt somewhat uneasy about how he had won. However, the win into Liège afforded him a chance meeting with the King of Belgium during the prize presentations. That same year, Bruyneel achieved his only podium finish in a Grand Tour when he finished 3rd at the

1995 Vuelta a España The 50th Edition ''Vuelta a España'' (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 2 September to 24 September 1995. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of , and was won by Laurent Jalab ...

and won the ''Aalst criterium''. In the

1996 Tour de France The 1996 Tour de France was the 83rd edition of the Tour de France, starting on 29 June and ending on 21 July, featuring 19 regular stages, 2 individual time trials, a prologue and a rest day (10 July). It was won by Danish rider Bjarne Riis. T ...

, he missed a curve when descending a hill in stage 7 (

Chambéry Chambéry (, , ; Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the prefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. The population of the commune of Chambéry was 58,917 as of 2019, while the population of the Chamb ...

> Les Arcs), and disappeared into a ravine. The moment was captured by a camera team that was driving right behind the group of descenders. After some time, Bruyneel could be seen climbing out of the ravine and getting back onto his bike to continue the stage, apparently unscathed.

Team director

Following his retirement from cycling in 1998 at age 34, Bruyneel accepted the position of managing director of the

U.S. Postal Service cycling team U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team was a United States-based professional road bicycle racing team. On June 15, 2004, the Discovery Channel signed a deal to become sponsor of the team for the 2004–2007 seasons and its name changed to Disc ...

, whose star, Lance Armstrong, had finished fourth in the 1998 Vuelta a España, but whose team, in Armstrong's words, was the Bad News Bears, a mismatch of bikes, cars, clothing, equipment," with a total budget of only $3 million.Johan Bruyneel and Bill Strickland,
We Might As Well Win
', Houghton Mifflin, 2008, p. 4. Bruyneel's team promptly won eight of the next nine editions of the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consist ...

, with Armstrong winning seven straight prior to his retirement in 2005 and then

Alberto Contador Alberto Contador Velasco (; born 6 December 1982) is a Spanish former Road bicycle racing, professional cyclist. He is one of the most successful riders of his era, winning the Tour de France twice (2007 Tour de France, 2007, 2009 Tour de France ...

winning in 2007 with Levi Leipheimer finishing third. However, Discovery Channel, which had taken over as the sponsor of the team in 2005, decided to withdraw in 2007 in the wake of the sport's extensive doping scandals, and the team disbanded. At that point, Bruyneel's teams had won ten Grand Tour championships in nine years (8 Tours de France, 1 Giro d'Italia ( Savoldelli, 2005) and 1 Vuelta a España ( Heras, 2003). Seven of these victories have since been nullified with the disqualification of

from 1999 to 2005 from the Tour de France by

USADA The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA, ) is a non-profit, non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization and the national anti-doping organization (NADO) for the United States. To protect clean competition and the integrity of sport and prevent ...

with ratification from the

UCI UCI most commonly refers to: * University of California, Irvine, a public university in Irvine, California, United States * Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for the sport of cycling UCI may also refer to: * Uganda Cancer I ...

At the time, Bruyneel announced his retirement and his plans to write a book. Bruyneel's book, ''We Might As Well Win'', was published by Houghton Mifflin on 4 June 2008. Also, on 29 May 2008, Bruyneel joined the Board of Directors of World Bicycle Relief. But his retirement did not materialize. In October 2007, after negotiations with the Kazakh government, Bruyneel was signed to take over control of the embattled team, which had been kicked out of the 2007 Tour de France for doping violations and was in shambles over its doping connections. He brought Discovery's Contador and Leipheimer with him for the 2008 season. Although the team was banned from the Tour de France for its past doping history, Contador won both the

2008 Giro d'Italia The 2008 Giro d'Italia was the 91st running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. It began in Palermo on 10 May and ended in Milan on 1 June. Twenty-two teams entered the race, which was won by Spaniard Alberto ...

and the 2008 Vuelta a España, making Contador the youngest rider to win all three

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tu ...

championships. Additionally, Leipheimer finished second at the Vuelta. Contador's victory in the Tour de France meant that Bruyneel had won four of the last six Grand Tours that his teams entered, and thirteen Grand Tour championships in eleven years (seven of these victories have since been nullified with the disqualification of Lance Armstrong from 1999 to 2005 from the Tour de France by USADA with ratification from the UCI). In 2010,

Team RadioShack Team RadioShack was a professional road bicycle racing team, with RadioShack as the title sponsor, the creation of which was announced on July 23, 2009. Lance Armstrong co-owned and led the team, which raced in the Grand Tours and the UCI ProTour ...

was formed with sponsorship from

Radio Shack RadioShack, formerly RadioShack Corporation, is an American retailer founded in 1921. At its peak in 1999, RadioShack operated over 8,000 worldwide stores named RadioShack or Tandy Electronics in the United States, Mexico, United Kingdom, Austra ...

and Trek Bicycle Corporation. Bruyneel confirmed his departure from Astana at the end of the 2009 season to join Team RadioShack.

Conviction for doping

As of May 2010, he was under investigation by the Belgian cycling federation, after being accused by

Floyd Landis Floyd Landis (born October 14, 1975) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He finished first at the 2006 Tour de France, and would have been the third non-European winner in the event's history, but was disqualified after test ...

of involvement in systematic doping while director sportif of Lance Armstrong's US Postal team. On 28 June 2012, Bruyneel was accused by

(United States Anti-Doping Agency), although he is not an American citizen. Allegations include the assumption that Bruyneel was part of a long-running doping conspiracy, including the use of banned methods to augment the performance of the cycling teams that he directed. As a result of the allegations, Bruyneel declined to appear at the

2012 Tour de France The 2012 Tour de France was the 99th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in the Belgian city of Liège on 30 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 22 July. The Tour consisted of 21 stages, ...

, where he had been expected to direct the RadioShack-Nissan team. While some accused in this case, such as Lance Armstrong and Michele Ferrari, did not seek to formally contest the charges via arbitration, Bruyneel asked for an arbitration hearing. In October 2012, while still waiting for his hearing, Bruyneel left his position as managing director of , shortly after documents from the

case were released to the public. The termination was by mutual agreement with owners of Leopard SA. The day after Armstrong's acknowledgment that he doped during all of his Tours, Bruyneel announced that he would be in Brussels as soon as possible to speak to the Belgian national cycling organization and cooperate with its investigation. In November 2013, Armstrong settled a lawsuit with Acceptance Insurance Company (AIC). AIC had sought to recover $3 million it had paid Armstrong as bonuses for winning the Tour de France from 1999 to 2001. The suit was settled for an undisclosed sum the day before Armstrong was scheduled to give an oral deposition under oath. In a written deposition for the lawsuit, Armstrong stated under oath that, "Johan Bruyneel participated in or assisted with Armstrong's use of PEDs, and knew of that use through their conversations and acts." In April 2014, Bruyneel was given a ten-year ban by USADA, who noted that "the evidence establishes conclusively that Mr. Bruyneel was at the apex of a conspiracy to commit widespread doping on the USPS and Discovery Channel teams spanning many years and many riders." Said Bruyneel about the ban, "I do not dispute that there are certain elements of my career that I wish had been different. However, a very small minority of us has been used as scapegoats for an entire generation." In October 2018, the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's k ...

successfully increased his ten-year ban to a lifetime ban.

Palmarès

As rider

1989 * 2nd and 9th stages of the Tour of Switzerland * 3rd place,

Tour de Vendée Tour of Vendée is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in October (Previously May) in the region of Vendée, France, finishing in a circuit inside La Roche-sur-Yon town. From 2005 until 2009, the race was organized as a 1.1 event on ...

1990 * 1st,

1991 * 1st, Rund um den Henninger Turm * 2nd place,

Tour of the Basque Country The Tour of the Basque Country (Officially: ''Itzulia Basque Country'', es, Vuelta al País Vasco, links=no, eu, Euskal Herriko Itzulia) is an annual road cycling stage race held in the Spanish Basque Country in April. It is one of the races th ...

1992 * 1st, Coppa Placci * 1st, Grand Prix des Nations * 12th stage of

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the ...

1993 * 6th stage of

1994 * 3rd stage of

Vuelta a La Rioja The Vuelta a La Rioja ( en, Tour of La Rioja) is a regional Spanish road bicycle race held in La Rioja. From 2005 to 2008, it was a 2.1 category race on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing compet ...

1995 * 5th stage of Grand Prix du Midi Libre * 7th stage of

1996 * 3rd stage of Hofbrau Cup 1997 * 1st, La Flèche Namuroise

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Did not finish = DNF; In progress = IP; Voided results = ~~struck through~~.

As director

* Giro d'Italia (2): Winner of the general classification with Paolo Savoldelli in 2005, and with

in 2008. * Tours de France (2): Winner of the general classification with

in 2007 and 2009. :*

was disqualified from seven Tour de France victories directed by Bruyneel. *

(2): Winner of the general classification with Roberto Heras in 2003 and with

in 2008.

Written work

* ''We Might As Well Win: On the Road to Success with the Mastermind Behind a Record-Setting Eight Tour de France Victories'',

References

External links

*
Official Tour de France results for Johan Bruyneel
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruyneel, Johan 1964 births Doping cases in cycling Belgian sportspeople in doping cases Living people People from Izegem Belgian male cyclists Belgian Tour de France stage winners Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists of Belgium Belgian Vuelta a España stage winners Directeur sportifs Tour de Suisse stage winners Cyclists from West Flanders Sportspeople banned for life