It was July 20 2007, and Michael Rogers was dominating Stage 8 of the Tour de France.
Rogers was flying the virtual maillot jaune on the road and still gaining time as he rode in the break with Michael Rassmussen, Bernhard Kohl, David Arroyo, Antonio Colom and Stephane Goubert.
Cresting the top of climb of the day, Rogers seemed certain to be heading to a victory that could have set him on his way to Tour de France glory; but it was not to be.
Disaster struck on the descent as Rogers crashed, breaking his wrist in the process.
Thus ending his Tour assault, as Rassmussen climbed on to glory. At the time, viewers were devastated thinking that this was Australia’s best opportunity to win the Tour; but now, in hindsight, everyone can only think one thing – how did he do it?
Of the group Rogers was riding with, three of the riders have since been banned and/or have admitted to doping.
Michael Rassmussen was kicked off the race by his team for violating his whereabouts. At the time he denied all doping charges, but has since confessed to using drugs at the 2007 Tour.
Bernhard Kohl returned a positive test for CERA at the Tour in 2008. When he confessed to using drugs, Kohl stated that it is “impossible to win without doping”.
In 2009, Antonio Colom tested positive for EPO use and was handed a two-year ban. He later admitted to doping.
Rogers was the best rider of the group on the Cormet de Roselend.
A further discussion point was Rogers’s unexpected move from Team Sky to Saxo-Tinkoff was one that was claimed as being purely financial. Given Sky’s budget in cycling, this is unusual.
Sky made all of their riders and staff sign a declaration that they hadn’t and will not dope.
It is important to note that Michael Rogers has never failed a test. Neither has Lance Armstrong, nor the most recent disgraced rider, Stuart O’Grady.
In May 2011, a UCI report was leaked to the French daily sports newspaper L’Equipe. It was a list of the riders who competed in the 2010 Tour de France, ranking each on suspicion of doping.
Australians Michael Rogers, a triple world time-trial champion, and Matthew Lloyd were placed in a category that contained riders who showed “overwhelming evidence of some kind of doping, due to recurring anomalies, enormous variations in parameters, and even the identification of doping products or methods”.
Pre-race blood tests were compared with each rider’s UCI biological profile, with variations between the two determining the level of suspicion.
The UCI was quick to point out there had been no actual detection of illegal substances.
In a sworn affidavit American cyclist Levi Leipheimer, Armstrong’s former teammate, named Rogers as attending two training camps in 2005 run by Dr Michele Ferrari, Armstrong’s genius chemist.
Rogers has previously admitted it was an “error” to work with Ferrari, saying, “He didn’t have the best name in the industry, but that was the mistake I made. I can understand it tainted my reputation; but it’s an error I made.”
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