Twenty-seven years after the Festina affair, twelve years after Lance Armstrong's late confession, Cycling, even spared from major scandals in recent seasons, continues to face what has long been – and by far – its problem. number one.
“Cycling sport is a difficult, tough sport and therefore one of the sports which can be the most subject to temptations,” underlines Groupama-FDJ team manager Marc Madiot.
Thus the performances in 2024 of Tadej Pogacar, like those of Jonas Vingegaard the previous year on the Tour de France, raised doubts. When questioned several times, both forcefully denied any use of an illicit substance.
“There is no trust and I don’t know what we can do to regain it,” Pogacar noted in October, saying he hoped that “perhaps in a few generations people will forget the past, forget Armstrong and what they were doing at the time.
Pogacar and Vingegaard had to defend themselves against the inhalation of carbon monoxide which makes it possible to measure the benefits of training at altitude, but could have doping effects if its use was misused.
The problem of carbon monoxide
“Sensationalist controversy,” blasted Jeroen Swart, performance coordinator at UAE, Pogacar’s team, explaining that it was a “very standardized technique” that his team no longer used since the tests had been conclusive.
However, the International Cycling Union (UCI) has asked the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to ban the inhalation of this lethal gas, encouraged by the Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC) which insists on the need to keep “the lights on” in “a climate of latent suspicion”.
In its latest bulletin published in September, the MPCC, which brings together seven World Tour teams (1st division) aiming to be at the forefront of the fight against doping, identified 75 cyclists with professional licenses currently suspended for doping, with 15 to 20 new cases per year.
Half of these cases were progressing at the time of their control at the “Continental” level, i.e. the third world division, where riders, unlike the two higher divisions, are not subject to the establishment of a biological passport, “ one of the keystones of the fight against doping,” according to the MPCC.
Colombia, with 16 riders suspended, is the country most affected. EPO, at the heart of the Festina scandal, remains the first substance incriminated (25%) ahead of steroids (13%).
-Only 8% belong to the men's World Tour, which brings together most of the riders participating in the Tour de France.
600 checks on the Tour de France
At the biggest race in the world, 600 blood and urine samples were collected in 2024, and another 400 out of competition during the month preceding the event. After each stage, the winner and the yellow jersey were systematically tested by the ITA (International Testing Agency). Since 2021, the UCI, whose budget devoted to the fight against doping amounted to ten million euros at the end of 2024, has delegated operational activities to this independent agency which collected 15,200 samples in total in 2023.
For the first time, an endocrine module capable of detecting the use of human growth hormone has been included in the device.
No positive cases have been reported at the Tour de France. A selection of samples will be kept for possible reanalysis within ten years.
When it comes to tech fraud, the UCI says it's “impossible to slip through the cracks” with bike testing using magnetic tablets and x-ray inspection technology.
At the end of September, more than 8,000 bikes had been checked in 2024, according to the UCI, and no cases of cheating had been detected.
The UCI has also set up a “rewards program” consisting of financially remunerating informants providing information on possible cases of technological fraud.
In a professional race, the only proven case of a bike aided by a hidden engine dates back to January 2016 at the U21 Cyclo-cross World Championships. It earned Belgian Femke Van den Driessche, 19, a six-year suspension.
