Doped rider bans

northturton · July 2007

When a rider is banned for doping, do the authorities ever question and look into where the rider is getting their products?

Its fine banning the rider, but if they never get to the root cause of the problem this doping business will not go away. If it means working with the banned rider to obtain contact details and a successful arrest/jail for the suppliers, then I think they should reward the banned riders with a cut in the length of the ban (like 6 months) But next time they're caught its a life ban.

Any views?

John Stevenson · July 2007

Yes, they do, if there's an appropriate legal framework for such an investigation.

Italian police investigated Dr Michele Ferrari for allegedly supplying doped riders; he was subsequently exonerated.

Australian police investigated the source of the equine growth hormone found in Mark French's room at the Australian Institute of Sport, though I don't recall any charges being laid. The chain of custody was sufficiently messed up that French was not proven to have ever handled the EGH and therefore had his ban over-turned.

Some of the most effective anti-doping operations have been mounted by police and customs. The 1998 Festina affair started when French police intercepted a Festina soigneur with a car full of drugs at the French border.

iainf72 · August 2007

The problem these days is it's not that hard to get the products - You don't really need a doctor.

Credit card and internet will get you many of the things. Pick a few things like EPO / HGH or IGF and pop them into google. Ditto instructions on how to use to evade tests is out there.

Obviously much better if you're medically managed etc.

OffTheBackAdam · August 2007

It would vary from country to country and also a case of prooving the source too.
Possession of certain drugs without a valid prescription is illegal in the UK, I think that there are certain steroids on the list, EPO & HGH aren't on that list.
Other countries have laws against "Sporting Fraud" , "Administering Noxious Substances" & trafficing certain medicinal substances without a proper licence, at which point, their legal system can become involves. That's usually when cans of worms are opened, Le Plod come knocking & the threat of sharing a shower for a few years,with some depraved psychopath usually gets the tongue loosened on whichever minor figure has been caught first.
Then it's prooving the source, just saying that it's so-and-so who's supplying isn't enough and would probably have a nice law suit for defamation on its way too.
The internet will undoubtably lead you to a source, prior to me managing to dig the pop-up programme out of my NTL dialer, everytime I went onto Procycling's web site, I'd be deluged with pop-ups offering me growth hormone!

dave_1 · August 2007

I think prison sentences should be on the cards now, varying from 2 weeks to 3 months. The riders contracts with main sponsors, secondary sponsors should be kept at the UCI so that when the riders tests positive the courts can simply remove the winnings from their account or sell off their property to recover the loses and have a fund set up with that money for unemployed bike riders who are seeking alternative careers, training etc. It's time to really hurt dopers-prison and loss of everything...not merely lifeban and not beind invited to bike races...but the loss of your freedom and savings. Surely this will wake up the dopers?

e.g. Iban Mayo's mega salaires for 2004-2005 get removed, ot his property sold off because he's shown how he races

As it stands, the rider loses little when they get caught, assuming they have been a big name...they don't give a toss as they are financially secure for life

Doped rider bans

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