"MagillaGorilla" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:
[email protected]...
> Deke_Rivers wrote:
>
>> bob sullivan wrote:
>>
>>>Well, really, he does have a point. Up until Tom Simpson died, nobody
>>>gave a **** what the riders were taking.
>>
>>
>> Not true, there were several incidents; in 1953 or '54 involving
>> Mallejac who collapsed on the Ventoux in a similar way Simpson did, but
>> they did revive him. There was an article the next day in l' Equipe
>> where the tour doctor complained how the riders took anything they
>> could find without regard for safety, they were already talking about a
>> series of measures to curb doping.
>> Also in 1962, a bunch of riders(Junkermann and others) got mysteriously
>> sick and had to leave the Tour, blaming the fish they had at the
>> restaurant the night before. Again, Dr Dumas voiced his concerns in L'
>> Equipe, and even thought about quitting the Tour. Cartoonist Pellos did
>> a drawing of a fish skeleton where the fish bones had been replaced by
>> syringes.
>>
>>
>>>Considering how vehemently Anquetil fought drug testing, I wonder
>>>if he was doped to the gills during his various GT wins.
>>
>>
>> Yes he was; there's this anecdote, where Anquetil was doing the Trophee
>> Barracchi with an Italian rider(forgot if it was Adorni or someone
>> else), and they decided not to take anything. They won, but after the
>> race Anquetil said it was the hardest and he'd never do it again! he
>> also refused to go through testing after he beat the Hour Record in
>> 1967, so his record was never accepted. Anquetil knew what he was
>> doing, he even said that he didn't care if he was going to die in his
>> 50's, which is what happened.
>> PL
>>
>>
>>
>>>~bob
>
>
> Benjo, is that you?
No, I don't use pseudonymes! But some remarks: Pierre/Deke Rivers is right
that the anti-doping movement didn't start with Tommy Simpson's untimely
death. It started fifteen years before, after the Olympic Games in Helsinki
when the Soviet-Union won more golds than any other country, to the dismay
of the USA who insisted thet the Russians must have used doping and that any
athlete should have been tested (if you're convinced you're the best and
you're beaten, you can only assume your opponents must be cheating). A
little later they were more and more supported by sports physicians who
wanted to protect their monopoly over the practice of medicine against the
non-medically schooled soigneurs who had moved into their territory. It was
surely no coincidence that the man who gained the nickname Monsieur
anti-doping in cycle sport was a medical man, Pierre Dumas. In 1955, his
first year as a Tour physician, he was at once confronted with several clear
cases of doping during the Marseille-Avignon stage, when the racers went
over the Mont Ventoux and the Frenchman Jean Malléjac was barely saved from
death.
Concerning Anquetil: yes, of course in any Tour he won, he was using
amphetamines (which by the way was still allowed), just like all of his
opponents. The `Italian rider' Pierre is referring to was Ercole Baldini,
and it was not the Trofeo Baracchi, but the Premio Forlì (a TT-classic in
Baldini's home town). The two were very good friends and Anquetil was always
staying the night at Baldini's house. At dinner one of them suddenly got an
idea: why should we risk our health? It's anyhow only between us and just
for once let's not use amphetamine. They trusted each other and the other
agreed. Next day the finished first and second, but both of them agreed it
had been terrible. They promised to do never such a stupid thing again.
There is also another very telling anecdote, told by a journalist who
during a reunion had to good fortune to share a table with Merckx, Anquetil
and Bobet. Of course, he didn't open his mouth and just listened. At a
certain moment they started to discuss the new anti-doping rules and Bobet
said he had never used it. Anquetil and Merckx didn't believe him for a
second. Winning three time a Tour de France without drugs, not even
amphetamine? Impossible! Nobody could! But Bobet insisted he had never used
doping. Till the moment he admitted: "Of course, I don't exactly know what
kind of products my soigneur was giving me...". Bingo! Merckx and Anquetil
were almost helpless with laughter...
Benjo
