This is the question that hangs over each Tour de France, which pollutes the sporting results of the riders who start the Grande Boucle: are they doped? Since 1998 and the Festina affair, the shadow of doping has regularly darkened this mythical event. A question that will surely trot again in the minds of (tele) spectators on the occasion of the Tour de France 2020.
► 1924: “Cocaine for the eyes, chloroform for the gums”
The first revelation of drug use on the Tour dates back to 1924 with the “Pélissier affair”. On the third stage connecting Cherbourg to Brest, Henri and Francis Pélissier as well as Maurice Ville, three of the favorites for the final victory, retire.
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Reporter covering the test for the newspaper The Little Parisian, Albert Londres meets them in Coutances. The article published the next day reports on the suffering endured by the athletes but also the products used by the runners to keep up with the pace. ” Do you want to see how we are doing? Hold. From his bag, he takes out a vial: This is cocaine for the eyes, this is chloroform for the gums. »
The testimony is none other than that of Henri Pélissier, winner of the Tour in 1923. As a reaction to these revelations, the leaders of the event decided to sanction Henri Pélissier for having abandoned the Tour de France ” without plausible reason “. The use of doping products is not treated.
► 1965: establishment of a first legislation, the Herzog law
Until the 1960s, no legislation cracked down on the use of doping products in sports in France. In 1965, the law “ tending to the repression of the use of stimulants during sports competitions , Or Herzog Law, is enacted.
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From the 1966 edition, anti-doping controls were set up during the race. In reaction, the riders began a strike in Bordeaux before resuming the course of the event. Raymond Poulidor becomes the first runner to undergo an anti-doping test which does not reveal any illegal substance. In this edition, six cyclists out of twelve tests carried out tested positive for amphetamines. However, no sanction is taken.
► 1998: Festina, a global scandal
In 1998, France awaited the Tour with passion. Richard Virenque, third in 1996 and second in 1997, seems destined to win, thirteen years after the last French success. However, two days before the start of the event, the trainer and the sports director of the Festina team, which includes Richard Virenque, were taken into custody. A few days later they will admit the existence of a collective doping system, in particular at EPO. The media explosion is immense.
The Festina team is excluded from the Tour, the riders go on strike and the newspaper The world even goes so far as to demand that the race be stopped. This will finally go to its end with a victory for the Italian “pirate” Marco Pantani. But the imprint of the Festina affair is not about to fade.
► 1999-2005: Lance Armstrong and the dark years
To fight against doping, in 1999 the world anti-doping agency was created. Ironically, it was also in 1999 that the hegemony of the American Lance Armstrong began. Until 2005, he became the “boss” of the Tour, winning seven editions in a row.
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An undivided domination that questions and ends up being erased from the history of the Tour de France. In 2012, the American was stripped of all his titles after the revelations of the American anti-doping agency (Usada) updating the use of EPO, steroids as well as blood transfusions.
► 2006-2010: From Floyd Landis to the Contador affair
The following years, the Tour de France remains in the trap of suspicion of doping because the business multiplies. During the 2006 edition, the Tour is still shaking. The crazy ride of the American Floyd Landis towards Morzine just after a sudden failure does not go unnoticed. After the final finish, the ax falls, the runner is tested positive for testosterone and dispossessed of his final victory.
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In 2010, it was Spaniard Alberto Contador’s turn to test positive. It is his runner-up, Andy Schleck, who will be declared the winner a posteriori. Since then, other former glories of the little queen have confessed to having doped, such as the German Jan Ullrich, winner of the Tour in 1997. More recently, the Briton Chris Froome, four-time winner, who was prosecuted after abnormal doping control but the International Cycling Union (UCI) finally cleared the rider.
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