BaconChiliBurger
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from
http://cyclinginfo.co.uk/blog/procycling/cycling-doping-scandals/
Doping is almost as old as professional cycling itself. When Henri Desgrange had the brain wave of instituting a tour around France, he wanted to create an event which required ’superhuman effort’. Those intrepid cyclists who entered early editions had to pay a 5 Franc entrance fee and were also told they must supply their own dope – which in those days included alcohol, cocaine and chlorofoam.
The Tour did not take a completely blind eye to cheating, in 1906 3 riders were expelled for taking a train. Compared to the skull dugdery of poisoning rivals, and throwing nails on the road surface, dope taking hardly seemed a priority. The early organisers were most keen to encourage the superhuman feats which helped sell papers. It is perhaps from this perspective that we can better understand why doping became such an intrinsic part of cycling’s culture.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/27/1075087997230.html?from=storyrhs
Disgraced French cyclist Philippe Gaumont claimed today that 90 per cent of professional riders had used, or were currently using, performance enhancing drugs
"However in no way do I want to blame the riders, because we are victims of a rotten system.
"It is this rotten system that I am going to take on in the coming weeks," added Gaumont, who already served a drugs ban after failing a test in 1997.
Gaumont claimed that to be successful the riders came under pressure from the team sponsors to take drugs.
"We quit our schooling early, and embark on a sport where we can't control anything that goes on.
"We are under enormous pressure from the sponsors, where we are compelled to get good results.
"There is nothing to be done by them because we can easily get round the drugs tests," he said.
"The thing we can't get round are the customs officers, the police, the bugging of telephones.
http://cyclinginfo.co.uk/blog/procycling/cycling-doping-scandals/
Doping is almost as old as professional cycling itself. When Henri Desgrange had the brain wave of instituting a tour around France, he wanted to create an event which required ’superhuman effort’. Those intrepid cyclists who entered early editions had to pay a 5 Franc entrance fee and were also told they must supply their own dope – which in those days included alcohol, cocaine and chlorofoam.
The Tour did not take a completely blind eye to cheating, in 1906 3 riders were expelled for taking a train. Compared to the skull dugdery of poisoning rivals, and throwing nails on the road surface, dope taking hardly seemed a priority. The early organisers were most keen to encourage the superhuman feats which helped sell papers. It is perhaps from this perspective that we can better understand why doping became such an intrinsic part of cycling’s culture.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/27/1075087997230.html?from=storyrhs
Disgraced French cyclist Philippe Gaumont claimed today that 90 per cent of professional riders had used, or were currently using, performance enhancing drugs
"However in no way do I want to blame the riders, because we are victims of a rotten system.
"It is this rotten system that I am going to take on in the coming weeks," added Gaumont, who already served a drugs ban after failing a test in 1997.
Gaumont claimed that to be successful the riders came under pressure from the team sponsors to take drugs.
"We quit our schooling early, and embark on a sport where we can't control anything that goes on.
"We are under enormous pressure from the sponsors, where we are compelled to get good results.
"There is nothing to be done by them because we can easily get round the drugs tests," he said.
"The thing we can't get round are the customs officers, the police, the bugging of telephones.
