The first non-European to wear the Maillot Jaune as leader of the Tour de France, Phil Anderson is a cycling legend. In 1994 the Aussie and his Motorola team, including 23-year-old Lance Armstrong, had a meeting regarding the peloton’s increasing pace.
“We had a discussion, we had the team doctor there, and he came out and said he thinks it’s because of this EPO product that’s come in,” Anderson told The Roar over the phone.
“We made a decision – I’m not sure if it was a medical decision or a direction of the team decision – nobody was going to do any of that shit.
“Firstly, it was illegal, but nobody knew what it was, what it could do.”
Catch up on the rest of World War Cycling
PART 1: The Prologue
PART 2: The United States of America
PART 3: Italy
PART 4: Doping learnings of America for make benefit glorious nation of Kazakhstan
PART 5: Spain
PART 6: Germany and Denmark
PART 7: France
PART 8: Belgium
By this stage of his career, Anderson said he had heard the stories of young, fit cyclists dying in their sleep, but it’s only with the benefit of hindsight that EPO was seen as the cause of these deaths.
Regardless, he said using the blood booster was never on the cards for him.
“I certainly wasn’t going to, because [1994] was my last year. My life started once I retired so I wasn’t going to jeopardise my health or that of my colleagues.
“So I think I got out at a very good time.”
Getting in at what was clearly not a good time was Stuart O’Grady, who in 1995 made the transition from the track to the road.
When O’Grady retired in 2013 he had ridden a record 17 Tours de France, wore the yellow jersey as race leader in two Tours, was the first Australian to win one of cycling’s Classics, and had even continued on the track, winning gold at the 2004 Olympics.
Arguably Australia’s greatest all-round cyclist, O’Grady’s entire career has been called into question after he admitted to doping during the 1998 Tour, having been listed as having “suspicious” levels in the French Senate’s July 2013 investigation into EPO.
While he has insisted he only doped the once, Anderson said O’Grady’s defence was “like being a little bit pregnant”.
“It’s his word and if you’re going to cheat your word’s not worth very much,” Anderson said.
“It’s gotta be really tough because, like Lance, he nearly got away with it.
“If he would have retired and nothing came out he would have been the hero of Australia, possibly bigger than Cadel Evans.
“I thought he was a clean rider and he was just such an all-rounder, to be able to ride at the front for hours on end, at the front of the peloton, suit up and still beat the majority of riders on certain days, just bury himself for his team.”
Now Anderson says he questions O’Grady’s results.
Though he rode for a variety of teams over the years, O’Grady’s final two years in the peloton were spent with Orica-GreenEDGE.
The first Australian team to be granted a UCI license, OGE have been a source of great pride for Aussie cycling fans, with their riders winning stages and wearing the leader’s jersey at all three Grand Tours, recording victories in Classics, and killing it on YouTube.
While O’Grady’s admission was an awkward one for OGE, it came after he had retired, and any issue had occurred over a decade before the team had even come into existence.
What was a stickier issue was USADA’s case against Lance Armstrong, which listed OGE’s directeur sportif, Matt White – who had ridden on Armstrong’s US Postal team from 2001-03 – as having used performance-enhancing substances as well.
White was stood down from OGE in October 2013, the second time his employment had been jeopardised due to doping issues.
In 2011 White was dismissed by Garmin-Cervelo, for whom he was a directeur sportif, as a result of sending one of the team’s riders to Dr Luis Garcia del Moral for Vo2 testing.
“All medical referrals are approved by our medical staff. In this instance, this vital rule was broken,” was the team’s official line.
However Garmin, under reformed doper and former US Postal rider Jonathan Vaughters, have been staunchly anti-doping. As such, sending a rider to Dr del Moral – who has since been given a lifetime ban by USADA for his role in the US Postal doping program – would have raised a pretty big red flag for Vaughters.
In May 2013 White opened up about his use of performance-enhancing substances, telling SBS’s Cycling Central, “I had already used doping products before I arrived at US Postal…
“I’d work very, very hard to get into the professional ranks and I realised everyone around me was using performance-enhancing drugs. I made wrong decisions because I thought I needed to use… drugs to keep my job.”
Interestingly, White did not ride on any of Lance’s Tour de France teams – although he was a domestique for Roberto Heras in his victorious 2003 Vuelta a Espana campaign – and said he had never discussed doping with Armstrong.
In June 2013, OGE released a report on best practices in anti-doping written by “world-leading expert in anti-doping policy” Nicki Vance, and reinstated White.
“We have reviewed and will constantly continue to review our management, and it was clear that Matt White is the right person for the job,” OGE general manager Shayne Bannan said.
“Matt White’s appointment is consistent with the framework for treating past and future offences recommended in the Vance Report, and the team has gone further by making Matt White’s appointment subject to a 12-month probationary period.”
OGE’s other directeur sportif, Neil Stephens, remained with the team throughout White’s absence, though as a member of the Festina team in the late ‘90s, he was the Aussie face of the Festina Affair.
Stephens said to reporters at the time, “We’ve all got families, I’ve got a child, I know I’ve got a good image, I’ve been a professional for 15 years, and I’ve passed more than 200 dope controls.”
Giving a shrug and a grin, he finished, “I’m clean.”
Stephens was later found to have used EPO, though he contested he had been deceived into using the substance, being told it was a vitamin injection. This excuse was good enough for Cycling Australia, and he was not given any ban.
When asked his thoughts on White and Stephens bringing through the next batch of Australian cyclists, Anderson described the situation as being “a really difficult one”.
“I think they’re doing a good job but I’m not sure if I’d want my kids being on a team led by a director who was… y’know whether it’s Bjarne Riis or Neil Stephens,” Anderson said.
“Those guys are getting on now and it’s just a matter of time before the new generation of directors comes through – it’s the evolution of the sport…
“I’m not sure where GreenEDGE would be without those guys. But the sport’s becoming a lot more scientific now, and you find there’s coaches and personnel coming over from other sports, so I think the life and times of having riders like that, or ex-riders, who have a record, I think their days are numbered [in terms of] how much longer it will be accepted for them to still be in that position.”
The Roar contacted Orica-GreenEDGE for comment, at time of publication they have not responded.
Next week: The final part of the series (for real this time), World War Cycling’s podium.
Klaas Faber
Guest
"I’m obviously not as intelligent as you." So what? [I'm probably also a better rider than you, but (possibly much) worse than many others.] That will often not prove to be a disadvantage for you in these and similar matters in and outside sport as long as you keep an open and independent mind. To the contrary I would say. "Chapeau Rohan Dennis!" Yes, cheers!
DB
Guest
Klaas unless I have misread your passion, I am taken aback with what I perceive to be the ferocity of your reply. I'm obviously not as intelligent as you. In my view, desk jobs have a different view of reality than to say a farmer, tradesman or a pro athlete, walk a mile in someone else shoes ... Maybe WADA did sweep evidence under the carpet, I am not qualified to comment. My comment is about the responsibility of all administrators from the grass roots to first class travel lounge inhabitants. Comments from a keyboard are simple, but there is a real world out there and it is inhabited by those flawed things known as human beings. Human rights? In many cases the guilty hide behind lawyers & "violating my human rights" claims so whilst unfortunately a pendulum swings back too far before starting to settle, it is part of the process. Better one? all ears... Eventually things come out and get dealt with is my point, its how we all deal with it that shapes us for the future. Hiding and ignoring them usually makes the problem come back worse later on, which is what I've taken from this series. Perhaps if the UCI had called Lance in the 99 tour and booted him then .... someone else would have won 7 .... the only thing certain is things would have been very different. I take that as part of this series, that point is not the origin but one of several / many key points along the way where things could have taken radically different paths. E.G. Why have the Spaniards not done the DNA analysis on all the blood bags? In hindsight people made the wrong calls .... I think the best things we can do is to our local bike or athletics club, stand the corner or field on a cold Saturday, coach on a wet Thursday evening, help someone pick themselves back up from a crash or broken leg, rebuild their dreams and contribute to building for the future. (Admiration if you are already doing this) Similarly if people like Kimmage & Walsh stand up and call in the future we look to understand the accuracy of the message not shoot them with black bans, omertas and lawyers ... from little things big things grow I would like to know what eventually happened to Martin Vinnecombes claims in case it comes back to haunt Cycling Australia ... The future is a heck of lot brighter, more so when we confront and learn the lesson of the past. Chapeau Rohan Dennis! Cheers.
Klaas Faber
Guest
"However painful Administrators & custodians must keep shining lights in dark corners & looking under rocks, eventually all the nasties come out and get dealt with … although never to every ones satisfaction" "...Administrators & custodians..." May I assume that you're referring to WADA and everything associated with that organization? Painful? What's so painful about collecting evidence while violating various human rights? Did you miss that WADA has swept evidence under the carpet against hundreds of riders? See above. All that evidence was obtained on a silver platter so to speak. It's a desk job. Is this line of thinking too far-fetched for you in the light of this great series? Can you think for your own? Take the following quite recent scandal: http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1024298/top-iaaf-official-claims-stories-on-150-athletes-with-suspicious-blood-values-are-misleading "As any half educated fan of athletics who has an interest in the science of anti-doping should know, a single reading in a longitudinal study of blood values in itself is worthless as evidence of doping, but is used as a MARKER. Tiernan-Locke and Pechstein were convicted on the basis of a single 'abnormal' blood value. Just to mention two cases that I like to believe to know quite well.
DB
Guest
Thanks what a great series. Neil "Sgt Schultz" Stephens? IMHO gets off a bit lightly, just denies it, I subscribe to the duck theory, "walks, swims, & quacks like a duck?" Its a duck, not a chicken wearing snorkelling gear Allan Davis at Liberty Sergouros (sic)? I recall some sort of (in hindsight) wet lettuce review by Australian Cycling of him & Stephens post Festina Not just the roadies though, what of our track scandals? Vinnecombe, (whatever happened to his allegations, evidence) Pate, Hall, other track cyclists? Similarly in the German instalment the Eastern European chemical factories, oops cycling (& athletic) schools Looks a bit like we were tossing rocks from inside our glasshouse. Perhaps the best comment is about breaking the closed circle of people in the system and bringing other thinkers, coaches etc. in who won't go for short-cuts and have different moral compasses. However painful Administrators & custodians must keep shining lights in dark corners & looking under rocks, eventually all the nasties come out and get dealt with ... although never to every ones satisfaction Must have been exhausting putting this together and, a litany of disappointment made all the worse when we believed the PR spin. Looking forward to the final instalment & the next few sleepless weeks!
Klaas Faber
Guest
Funny to see the 2003 Vuelta a Espana being mentioned. Blood values show that nearly 100% of the peloton was manipulating their blood values at that occasion: http://www.chemometry.com/Index/Anti-doping/The%20blood%20trail%20of%20cycling.pdf Cadel Evans rode for Telekom but was out early because he crashed. Regardless, what has Evans seen before, during and after that event? WADA decided to invalidate all that evidence in its 2009 Code revision. Blood values collected prior to January 1, 2009, could be used as reference but not for prosecution. Why? Afraid to lose a few cases? Imagine the police deciding to do the same with DNA evidence. It is clear to me that anti-doping has been sitting on all that evidence for years because mediocre scientists like Ashenden needed so much time to develop a so-called biological passport. Basically as a result of that anti-doping failure, we have these ongoing series about individual riders. A bit embarrassing.
Klaas Faber
Guest
"By this stage of his career, Anderson said he had heard the stories of young, fit cyclists dying in their sleep, but it’s only with the benefit of hindsight that EPO was seen as the cause of these deaths." EPO was INCORRECTLY seen as the cause of these deaths: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17460263.2011.555208 The Invention of a ‘Drug of Mass Destruction’: Deconstructing the EPO Myth Abstract In the wake of previous contributions by scholars like Verner Møller and Paul Dimeo, which have demonstrated the mythical nature of the accounts concerning two famous ‘doping deaths’ (the cyclists Arthur Linton and Knud Enemark Jensen), this article thoroughly examines the existing evidence (both anecdotal and scientific) concerning the much repeated claim that EPO ‘killed’ 18 Dutch and Belgian cyclists in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This examination shows that these claims almost absolutely lack empirical evidence, and that in fact the existing truly experimental and epidemiological research downplays or even rules out the existence of a casual link between EPO intake and sudden death in healthy adults. It is therefore concluded that EPO has been constructed by the expert literature and the lay press as the ‘drug of mass destruction’ of the war on drugs in sport, and that the story about the ‘EPO deaths’ is to be seen as anti-doping propaganda.
delbeato
Roar Guru
you need to suspend your disbelief to digest most of this stuff!