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| |  Thursday, 27 June, 2002, 12:27 GMT 13:27 UK Drugs fiasco drags on Simoni tested positive for cocaine at the Giro After last year's race, when only Txema Del Olmo of the Euskaltel team failed a drugs test, Le Tour's organisers were hoping for a race free of the innuendo surrounding the sport's doping problem. Developments over the past two months may have put paid to that, most notably the drugs revelations of the Giro d'Italia. The regularity of these "scandals" means that few eyebrows are raised when a rider is questioned about illegal substances, or found guilty of abuse. But the build-up to the Giro and the race itself continue to hand an unenviable task for the public relations men and women trying to smooth over an already immensely tarnished sport. The latest chapter in the on-going debate erupted on 13 May when Antonio Varriale was arrested after being filmed injecting doping products.
It spiralled increasingly out of control as Gilberto Simoni, Lance Armstrong's tip as his closest rival in Le Tour, and Stefano Garzelli both failed drugs tests. Simoni, 2001 Giro winner, tested positive for cocaine, blaming a visit to the dentist. Garzelli, the 2000 winner of the Giro, failed two tests for the banned substance diuretic probencid. The debate over what happend at the Giro looks likely to continue and Simoni's positive test led to his Saeco team being withdrawn from July's Tour de France. As if Italian cycling did not have enough on its plate - Marco Pantani, the 1998 Tour winner, was recently banned for eight months after a syringe was found in his hotel room during the 2001 Giro. There are few ways imaginable that the Tour de France and cycling as a whole could be any more tarnished, although even more stringent drug testing this summer could uncover even greater problems. It was back on the 1998 Tour when the lid was massively blown off drug taking in the sport. Richard Virenque was the first high-profile cyclists to admit to taking banned substances and was subsequently banned. Added to that, a series of police swoops on all 21 teams that year turned the race into the now infamous "Tour de Farce".
Other incidents have featured Belgian star Frank Vandenbroucke, recently cleared of a ban imposed after drugs were found at his house. Lance Armstrong and his US Postal team have also been the subject of French investigations but the inquiry has not turned up any irregularities. The three-time Tour winner has never tested positive for banned substances and continually protests his innocence to the media and the authorities. Perhaps he is right to suggest that he is among those being singled out. Meanwhile the sponsor of the sport's biggest team, building materials firm Mapei, are to pull out in protest at their perceived lack of action from the governing body. But it is hard to fault the unenviable task of the sporting bodies to try and clean up the sport. Does the sport do more testing than others? Certainly. Is the sport cleaner since the efforts of the International Cycling Union, UCI, and the organisers of Le Tour and the Giro? It remains to be seen. Will more scandals follow this Tour or will the race, for once, be better documented for the riders's achievements, hopefully drug free, than what is happening behind the scenes? That also remains to be seen. One thing is for certain. The shadow of suspicion still looms large for everyone and anyone. | |
See also:  01 Jun 02 | Cycling 21 May 02 | Cycling 25 Jun 02 | Cycling 25 Jun 02 | Cycling Top Cycling stories now: Links to more Cycling stories are at the foot of the page. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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