The following is an incomplete list of doping cases and recurring accusations of doping in professional cycling, where doping means "use of physiological substances or abnormal method to obtain an artificial increase of performance." It is neither a list of shame nor a list of illegality, as the first laws were not passed until 1965 and their implementation is an ongoing developing process. Thus the list contains doping incidents, those who have tested positive for illegal performance-enhancing drugs, prohibited recreational drugs or have been suspended by a sports governing body for failure to submit to mandatory drug testing. It also contains and clarifies cases where subsequent evidence and explanation has shown the parties to be innocent of illegal practice.
In 1963, the Council of Europe gave the following definition of doping: "Doping is the administration to a normal subject in any possible way of a foreign agent or abnormal quantities of physiological substances with the sole purpose of increasing artificially and in an unfair manner the performance of the subject participating in a contest."
The International Olympic Committee slightly modified this, and adopted this definition: "The administration of or use by a competing athlete of any substance foreign to the body or any physiologic substance taken in abnormal quantity or taken by an abnormal route of entry into the body with the sole intention of increasing in an artificial and unfair manner his/her performance in competition. When necessity demands medical treatment with any substance which, because of its nature, dosage, or application is able to boost the athlete's performance in competition in an artificial and unfair manner, this too is regarded as doping."
1880s
1886 In 1886, a Welsh cyclist is popularly reputed to have died after drinking a blend of cocaine, caffeine and strychnine, supposedly in the Bordeaux–Paris race. This was included in the 1997 International Olympic Committee study on the Historical Evolution of Doping Phenomenon, and listed as the presumed first death due to doping during a competition. The report did allow that in this period it was common practice, and not illegal. This is alternatively reported as 'trimethyl" poisoning (a compound which does not actually exist). However, the main Bordeaux–Paris race did not start until 1891, and the cyclist who supposedly died in 1886, Arthur Linton, actually finished second in 1896 and died a few weeks later, reportedly from a combination of drug-induced exhaustion and typhoid fever. Linton was managed by the notorious Choppy Warburton - see 1896 below. The story may be apocryphal.
1890s
1896 Arthur Linton from Aberdare in Wales died aged 24 of 'exhaustion and typhoid fever' a few weeks after finishing second in the Bordeaux–Paris race and a race at Catford. Linton was managed by the notorious Choppy Warburton, whose success was questioned, with claims that he drugged his charges. Jimmy Michael is said to have accused Warburton of poisoning him, before he was taken to court for libel. Rudiger Rabenstein claims that Arthur Linton was "massively doped" for the 1896 Bordeaux–Paris.Odd, Nicholas and van der Plas, Rob (ed) (1998), Cycle History The British and French cycling union announced that Michael would be banned, even though there was no rule at that time against doping. In the end, Michael was not banned, but he left to ride in the United States.
Nitroglycerine was used to stimulate the heart after cardiac attacks and was credited with improving riders' breathing.Novich, Max M., Abbotempo, UK, 1964 Riders suffered hallucinations from the exhaustion and perhaps the drugs. The American champion Major Taylor refused to continue a New York race, saying: "I cannot go on with safety, for there is a man chasing me around the ring with a knife in his hand."Bearings, US, 24 December 1896, cited Ritchie, Andrew, Major Taylor, Bicycle Books, US, 1988
1897 Choppy Warburton of Haslingden, England died aged 52. He was described by the Lancashire Family History Society: Warburton was banned from the sport after unproven claims of massive doping in the 1896 Bordeaux–Paris. His activities may have contributed to the early deaths of Arthur Linton, Tom Linton and Jimmy Michael.Cyclers' News, 28 July 1896History Today, UK, vol 50
1900s
1904 Jimmy Michael of Wales, world cycling champion, died aged 27, en voyage to New York City. The cause of death was noted as delirium tremens, probably brought on by drinking. Michael was managed by Choppy Warburton. Michael was reported to have taken a potion and within a few laps collapsed on the track, picked himself up and then in a daze, set off in the wrong direction. Michael is said to have accused Warburton of "poisoning him", before he was taken to court for libel.
1910s
1911 Paul Duboc of France was doped or poisoned during the Tour de France. He was favourite but collapsed in a ditch in the Pyrenees after drinking from a spiked or poisoned bottle, allegedly given by a rival team manager. He finished in second place.
1920s
1924
Henri Pélissier, Francis Pélissier, and Charles Pélissier of France – In 1924, following their abandoning of the Tour de France, the first real drug scandal arose when the Pélissier brothers gave an extraordinary interview to journalist Albert Londres. They said that they used strychnine, cocaine, chloroform, aspirin, "horse ointment" and other drugs to keep going. The story was published in Le Petit Parisien under the title "Les Forçats de la Route" ('The Convicts of the Road'). Francis is reported as saying "In short, we run on dynamite." Henri is reported as saying "Do you know how we keep going? Look, this is cocaine, chloroform, too. And pills? You want to see pills? Here are three boxes - We run on dynamite." Francis Pélissier said much later: "Londres was a famous reporter but he didn't know about cycling. We kidded him a bit with our cocaine and our pills." Even so, the Tour de France in 1924 was no picnic.Woodland, Les: Yellow Jersey Guide to the Tour de France, Yellow Jersey, London, 2007De Mondenard, Dr Jean-Pierre: Dopage, l'imposture des performances, Chiron, France, 2000 See Doping at the Tour de France - The Convicts of the Road.
1930s
1930 The acceptance of drug-taking in the Tour de France was so complete by 1930 that the rule book, distributed by Henri Desgrange, reminded riders that drugs would not be provided by the organisers.Maso, Benji:Zweet van de Goden, Holland
1940s
1949 Fausto Coppi of Italy admitted in a television interview in 1952 that he used 'la Bomba' as there was no alternative if you wanted to remain competitive. This referred to amphetamines, which had been developed for military use during World War II to keep aircrew, merchant seamen and submariners awake, alert and energetic. After the war they found a ready market among endurance sportsmen. Coppi also said, "One day I will take the wrong pill and pedal backward." He also joked on camera that he only took drugs when absolutely necessary, which is nearly always.Rasmussen, Nicolas, On speed : the many lives of amphetamine, New York University Press, (New York), 2008, p.193.
1950s
1955 Jean Malléjac of France collapsed on Mont Ventoux during the 1955 Tour de France; it was widely attributed to drug abuse. Ten kilometres from the summit he was: "Streaming with sweat, haggard and comatose, he was zigzagging and the road wasn't wide enough for him... He was already no longer in the real world, still less in the world of cyclists and the Tour de France."Woodland, Les Yellow Jersey Guide to the Tour de France, Yellow Jersey, London Malléjac collapsed, falling to the ground with one foot still trapped in a pedal. The other leg pedalled on in the air. He was "completely unconscious, his face the colour of a corpse, a freezing sweat ran on his forehead.Chany, Pierre (1988) La Fabuleuse Histoire du Tour de France, Éditions La Martinière, France He regained consciousness after 15 minutes attention, oxygen, water, and an injection of solucamphre (a decongestant). In the ambulance he insisted that he had been drugged against his will and that he wanted to start legal proceedings. He denied wrongdoing right up to his death in September 2000.
1956 Following the 14th Stage of the 1956 Tour de France, the entire Belgian team went down with a mystery illness. It was officially attributed to their having eaten 'bad fish' at dinner, an excuse also used in 1962 and 1991.
1958 Roger Rivière of France admitted, after his career was finished, to having taken "amphetamines and solucamphre" during his hour record of 1958—including taking tablets during the attempt.Jean-Paul Olivier, La Tragédie du Parjour : Roger Rivière (Glenat, 1992)
1959 Charly Gaul from Luxembourg was implicated in July when French customs confiscated pills that were destined for him.
1960s
1960 Knud Enemark Jensen of Denmark participated in the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome riding under the influence of amphetamines; he collapsed during the 100 km team time trial during the Games, fracturing his skull, and in a nearby Rome hospital shortly thereafter, he was pronounced dead. The autopsy showed he had taken amphetamine and another drug, Ronicol (Ronicol Retard) (nicotinyl alcohol tartrate), a direct-acting peripheral vasodilator that causes flushing and may decrease blood pressure. (He was also reported as swallowing 8 pills of phenylisopropylamine, 15 pills of amphetamine and coffee.) The chairman of the Dutch cycling federation, Piet van Dijk, said of Rome that "dope - whole cartloads -[were] used in such royal quantities."Van Dijk, Pieter: Doping bestaat en doen we eraan, Het Vrije Volk, Holland, 13 December 1961 Jensen's death led to pressure on the International Olympic Committee, which studied a report on doping drawn up by doctors demanding dope controls. Gastone Nencini of Italy was discovered by Tour de France doctor Pierre Dumas in his bedroom with plastic tubes running from each arm to a bottle of hormones;Dictionnaire du dopage par Jean-Pierre de Mondenard Dictionnaire du dopage retransfusion was a legal practice at the time.Woodland, Les (1980) Dope, the use of drugs in sport, David and Charles, UK In the 1930s, Scandinavian runners were believed to have used retransfusion to increase the number of corpuscles that carry oxygen to the muscles. In 1972, Dr Björn Ekblom of the Sport and Gymnastics Institute in Stockholm found that retransfusing cells increased oxygen uptake by nine per cent and athletic potential by 23 per cent. Roger Rivière of France admitted that his career-ending crash in the 1960 Tour de France was probably attributable to using Palfium (Dextromoramide), a painkiller that affects reflexes and judgment, during the descent of the Col de Perjuret on Mont Aigoual. Palfium was used to deaden pain in leg muscles where it was directly injected (sometimes while riding). It was suggested that it had so numbed Rivière's fingers that he could not feel the brake levers. He said he had an injection of solucamphor and amphetamine before the start and swallowed several amphetamine tablets.France Dimanche, France, cited Cycling, UK, 4 November 1967, p 17 He said he was an addict who downed thousands of pills a year.
1962