Will we see a clean Tour de France winner or another big bust?

The Tour de France has a great history with doping, it's been part of the race for as long as the riders have used bikes.

Status of Tour de France winners Years Name Status Details 2012 Bradley Wiggins Never tested positive 2011 Cadel Evans Never tested positive 2007
2009–2010 Alberto Contador Tested positive
Banned for two years Named in Operación Puerto doping case, but later declared clean.
Tested positive during 2010 Tour de France for the banned stimulant clenbuterol. Suspended for two years. Andy Schleck named as winner by default[98] 2008 Carlos Sastre Never tested positive 2006 Floyd Landis Tested positive
Banned for two years Tested positive for high testosterone to epitestosterone ratio;[48] Óscar Pereiro named as winner by default - Clean but cleared after testing positive for salbutamol. In 2010 admitted to taking EPO, testosterone, human growth hormone and blood transfusions along with female hormones and insulin.[clarification needed]
1999–2005 Lance Armstrong


Banned for life.

Retroactively stripped of all titles since August 1998.

Confessed doping use Tested positive for glucocorticosteroid hormone without prescription given in advance.[99]
Associated with Michele Ferrari, who is suspected of prescribing doping agents.[100]
Allegations by former assistant for Androstenine use.[101]
Alleged EPO use in 1999 Tour de France.[102]
According to court testimony by former teammate, Frankie Andreu, Armstrong admitted to doping to his doctor when in hospital for cancer treatment.[103]
Floyd Landis accused Armstrong of doping in 2002 and 2003, and claimed that U.S. Postal team director Johan Bruyneel had bribed former UCI president Hein Verbruggen to keep quiet about a positive Armstrong test in 2002.[104][105][106] Landis also maintains that he witnessed Armstrong receiving multiple blood transfusions, and dispensing testosterone patches to his teammates on the United States Postal Service Team.[107]
Former team-mate Tyler Hamilton accused Armstrong of doping with testimony to a federal grand jury during an investigation of Armstrong.[108] Hamilton implicated that Armstrong had used EPO on the TV news show 60 Minutes.[109]
Implicated in a massive doping scheme by findings by USADA in 2012. Consequently banned for life and stripped of all career titles since August 1998.[41]
Admitted to doping at all seven of his victorious Tours in a 2013 interview with Oprah Winfrey.[110]
1998 Marco Pantani Never tested positive
Banned for six months Failed a blood test in 1999 Giro d'Italia. Insulin found in his hotel room in the 2001 Giro d'Italia, but later declared clean "for not having committed any infraction." Nonetheless, the UCI confirmed the suspension.[111][112][113] 1997 Jan Ullrich Tested positive
Banned from the 2006 Tour
Retroactively stripped of titles 2005-2007.
Confessed doping use Tested positive for amphetamines (off season, not taken for athletic performance gain)[114]
Involved in the Operacion Puerto case. DNA subsequently linked to blood bag discovered during Puerto investigation[115]
Admitted to doping in a 2013 interview with the german magazine Focus.[116]
1996 Bjarne Riis Never tested positive
Confessed doping use Confessed having used EPO in 1996[117] 1991–1995 Miguel Indurain Tested positive
Never sanctioned Tested positive for salbutamol in 1994, however both the IOC and UCI allowed Indurain, and asthma sufferers to use Salbutomol at the time.[118] 1986
1989–1990 Greg LeMond Never tested positive 1988 Pedro Delgado Tested positive
Never sanctioned Tested positive for probenecid in the 1988 Tour de France, although it was not illegal for cyclists at that time[119] 1987 Stephen Roche Never tested positive
Never sanctioned According to an investigation in Italy into the practices of Francesco Conconi, Roche received EPO in 1993[120] 1978-1979
1981-1982
1985 Bernard Hinault Never tested positive 1983–1984 Laurent Fignon Tested positive In 1989 Fignon tested positive after a team time trial[121][122][123]
tested positive for amphetamines at the Grand Prix de la Liberation in Eindhoven on 17 September 1989.[124][125] 1980 Joop Zoetemelk Tested positive Tested positive in the 1977 (pemoline[126]), 1979 (steroids[127]) and 1983 Tour de France (nandrolon, although that was retracted later[126]). Admitted a blood transfusion on TV interviews right after winning the 10th (and 9th) stage of the 1976 Tour de France, as in that era it was seen as just medical aid. 1975
1977 Bernard Thévenet Never tested positive
Confessed doping use Admitted using steroids in the 1975 and 1977 Tour[30][128] 1976 Lucien Van Impe Never tested positive 1969-1972
1974 Eddy Merckx Tested positive Merckx has tested positive three times, but never at the Tour de France. He was expelled from the 1969 Giro d'Italia after testing positive for Reactivan.[129]
He tested positive for Mucantil after winning the 1973 Giro di Lombardia. The drug was later take off the banned list.[129]
In the 1977 Flèche Wallonne, Merckx tested positive for Stimul (pemoline), along with Freddy Maertens and Michel Pollentier .[130]
1973 Luis Ocaña Tested positive Tested positive in the 1977 Tour de France (pemoline) 18st stage. 1968 Jan Janssen Never tested positive 1967 Roger Pingeon Never tested positive 1966 Lucien Aimar Tested positive
Banned for one month Missed the 1969 Vuelta a España due to a one-month doping ban. 1965 Felice Gimondi Never tested positive 1957
1961–1964 Jacques Anquetil Confessed doping use Debated with French government minister on television, saying "Leave me in peace; everybody takes dope."
After winning Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 1966, was temporarily disqualified after refusing a drug test, saying he had already been to the toilet. He was later reinstated after he engaged a lawyer as the case was never heard.

 

It depends on what you mean by "big bust". It's a good bet that someone will get popped. I think it will be Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen, though, that will be the big news after they get caught in a hotel stairwell doing body shots of peach schnapps off of each other.

 

I think Armstrong should be hired as a commentator and undercover Narc. I would add that there are a lot of disgraced tour riders missing from the list , Rasmussen, Hamilton, Kessler,the entire Radio Shack team etc.

 

All of the living riders who completed the TDF are invited to 2013 race when it finishes on the Champs Elyssee.

It will be interesting to see who turns up for that one.

I hope that the winner this year is clean - although these days it's best to wait years until the tests prove conclusively one way or the other.

 

Note that there is supposedly a new test that's been in place since the Giro and accounted for the dopers caught in this year's Giro. That test could provide some surprises, I suppose, in the TdF. Rightly or wrongly, the TdF is the highest profile race, so I think it can be assumed that some will push their doping efforts a bit closer to the edge than they would in other races.

 

I dont think that there will be such as an easy to catch doping this year, thanks Lance, you're the $#@#@ /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif

Its probably gonna be played more "mob style" this year... /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif