This raises a few questions. The source of this was the police? Or someone else? And why is this being published?

If this is true though, makes you wonder about a lot of things. 1. is anyone clean? 2. Was that part of a routine, or did BC try something just the once and never again, after it had that effect on him. 3. How many riders are being monitored by the police, and to what purpose? 4. If the police did have this evidence in 2001, why was nothing done with it?

Only questions, no answers.

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this was used in the trial of philippe boyer (1 year in prison for traffic of illegal substances). it was released recently. according to the french law, once the trial is finished, some (all?) becomes public domain.
this was of course not released in 2001 when the police investigation was going on.
There was further comments about PB telling BC how to use it and when...apparently, it was a syringue that had stayed there for too long...
it was mentioned by Boyer in 2002 (when he was arrested) but denied categorically by Madiot (team director of Francaise des Jeux, team of BC), but is now available to anyone.

the police could only arrest Boyer (and some others) but not BC (in France you are not prosecuted for using drugs, but for having drugs, selling etc...)

Thanks for the clarification. It can be difficult to make sense of things without context, but there are still loads of questions. I always figured, for no particular reason, that BC was one of the good guys. Now, I have no clue who is likely to be clean or not.

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So was the syringe supposed to be drugs of the recreational or performance-enhancing type?

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I see Cofidis has suspended further racing until their drug problem gets sorted out.

in an other interview Boyer said he was asked to get some "pot" in Belgium...I guess Pot belge (belgian mix) would make you kind of nervous for recreational...

Other people's recreational drug use doesnt bother me much (unless of course it's taken too far and ends up seriously hurting them). PED use on the other hand bug the crap out of me.

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If you read "Breaking the Chain" (and I'll admit I read it a while ago) I remember "Pot Belge" being an injectable cocktail of speed, coke, vitamins, caffeine, and heroine among other things and they of course used it to race, but the riders, mechanics, sougnieurs etc. would also take it to stay up partying all night or if the mechanics etc. had to do all night drives to get to a race.

Actually, I am more concerned (from a human point of view) by people using recreational drugs rather than PED...
why, because why the hell do you need to take drugs to have fun? If your friends and family are not enough for you to have fun, that's a sad life...
I am not talking about a beer or a coffee (typical french) with french which is more of a social thing (unless you drink til you puke), but about taking coke, xtasy, whatever, to have fun...

PED: well these guys are doing their job, one starts cheating, and it pushes everyone else to do the same. until we come up with a way to test people really well (meaning no false positive, no false negative, if that becomes possible), because it is human to cheat, then doping will be widespread in sports.

Francois,

Thanks for the link, info and translation.

Just think, the next ad in Triathlete Magazine about the newest PED from the makers of BioBuilde or whoever. Clinical trials conducted in the Peleton! Wouldn't that sell a lot of pills/vials and make someone rich! I can't wait.

Excuse me, I'm sorry. Its already been done except for running the ad.

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Ben Cline


Better to aspire to Greatness and fail, than to not challenge one's self at all, and succeed.

Thanks for the post, Francois.

Too bad for Boyer. He used abysmal judgment and damn near killed himself to boot.

Makes you wonder how much of this kind of stuff is going on still in ALL sports....

-Robert

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BioBuilde is indeed a PED...a pocket emptying drug.... ";-) other than that...that ain't gonna make you any faster

Australian news says Cooke will sue (though that's the usual response)

http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/s1086106.htm

"I always figured, for no particular reason, that BC was one of the good guys."

If taking PED's means you are not a good guy, it is unlikely there are more than a handful of professional cyclists who are good guys. Even if they aren't taking anything now, they most likely would have been in the mid 90's. The young guys like Basso, Landis, and Danielson who were phenoms even as teenagers may still be "pure" but it's hard to say for sure.

Virenque said the same thing...

it would be a say a comment from one guy that was arrested, I wouldn't believe it too much, but when it is a phone transcript, it's hard not to recognize the facts.

I truly would LOVE for BC to show that they were just trying to frame him, and that the press just want to put sh.t on riders (which it wants anyway...) but I am not really hopeful...

In any case, something has to be clear: whether many use drugs or not, the guys that are racing are the best riders in the world.

Yep, have to agree. As an ex-swimmer I'm well used to the drug scandals which raged through that sport, particularly in the 90s.

It has got to the point now that while I don't assume all athletes are on drugs, I'm not all that surprised when I hear of ones who are, regardless of how well known they are. Sad but true. '87 changed everything.

when I started racing cat 1 in France (not even talking about pros, even though sometimes the races were pros and 1) there were guys with prefilled syringes taped to the tubes of the bikes, injecting themselves 1h before the end...
sad indeed...

Wow! Never thought it would be that blatant!

I guess when noone is hiding anymore, it means that nearly everyone does it...

Francois, I have intimate experience with someone with a rec drug problem. . .I can tell you that the issues surrounding such abuse are FAR more complex than simply taking the drugs "to have fun" or "friends and family (not being) enough." Deep down, most of them aren't using the drugs "to have fun" even if that seems the catalyst. Dismissing them or holding yourself above their situation by judging their "sad life" isn't the answer. Unfortunately, that is all too easy to do.

I also believe it is far easier to dismiss the PED arguments for folks who are mostly competing for their own pleasure. The issue really comes in when you put big financial or status gains on the outcomes. If I'm a pro just barely making ends meet because I'm getting beaten by folks on PEDs I'm going to have a different view of the situation. If I'm an ameteur with huge talent but can't compete with the PED takers making the national teams, I'm going to see the situation differently. Neither of these folks can hold themselves outside of the arguments very long. They have a very painful choice to make. I don't envy them. I like to think my ethics would help me make the "right" decision. In fact I'm fairly sure I would. But I don't have to make that decision. So its easy for me and others to sit back and pass easy judgement on those that "fail" the test. Its easy to place my own arbitrary test of what does and does not constitute "cheating." Its very easy to take the high road on this and just dismiss all the really hard philosophical questions, just the same as it is easy to dismiss the folks living the "sad life" above.

I think the best road through these problems lies in taking on the hard questions, though. In the end, however, there are always going to be folks on both sides of the bell curve with these issues. No matter where you draw the line, there are going to be folks who cheat, and those who crusade against them.

Some folks might think I'm arguing for inaction or clouding the issue here, when I say that I think the situation is right where it is supposed to be. On the contrary, I think there is a great need for some wide open, DOGMA FREE, discussion and solutions. There aren't any easy answers. "Zero tolerance" works. . .but it doesn't.

I don't think that a little recreational drug use now-and-then is worse than systematic PED use by athletes paid to race full-time and endorse the products we buy. I'm also not sure how recreational drug use is an insult to family and friends, or how it displays a lack of ability to enjoy life and have fun otherwise. If you *need* to use drugs to have fun then you are likely not a recreational user, but an addict.

[reply]BioBuilde is indeed a PED...a pocket emptying drug.... ";-) other than that...that ain't gonna make you any faster[/reply]

Francois,

You are so perceptive and right on target!!! I love you.

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Ben Cline


Better to aspire to Greatness and fail, than to not challenge one's self at all, and succeed.

Jhendric, I think that's really well put.

Now that Pot Belge semes a little much for me.....

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half the people in the pro1-2 and even many 3 races are popping some form of pill or using steriod inhalers. Ephedra is VERY common in the states, especially before crits and time trials. Steriod inhalers are easy, easily passed off as asthma inhalers, and are very effective.

You'd also be surprised by the number of good (as in cat 1 or pro) cyclist and very good (as in you've probably read about them before) triathletes who toke up from time to time. Just like people who consume caffiene, i have no problem with people who recreationaly use other drugs.