As a fan of cycling, I’ve come to expect that something strange will happen in the week leading up to the annual sufferfest known as the Tour de France. It seems almost to be a part of the sport’s genetic makeup. Two of the biggest scandals to rock professional cycling — the Festina scandal in 1998 and Operacion Puerto just eight years later — reared their ugly heads as the days to the Grand Depart counted down. Though, to be fair to Operacion Puerto, the initial raids happened weeks before the Tour’s departure.
So what kind of bizarre story do we have this year? A three-time lanterne rouge (last place finisher) is under investigation by Belgian authorities for being the intended recipient of a package containing doping products. (Hat tip to MikeG for the link.) And, get this, he’s not an active professional cyclist at the moment, he’s retired.
The potentially guilty party is Wim Vansevenant, who (up until today) was connected to the Omega Pharma-Lotto team. Vansevenant was scheduled to serve as a glorified chauffeur for team VIPs during this year’s edition of the Grande Boucle. The drugs were only meant for the illustrious retired lanterne rouge, not any active members of the team.
“It was only a small amount, to improve my own condition,” said Vansevenant. “It was the second time I ordered. The order was not for the Omega Pharma-Lotto team. ”
According to the Belgian newspaper De Standaard the package contained several thousand Euros worth of “ultra-modern doping products.” Vansevenant told Belgium’s DeMorgen.be that the substance was TB-500, a synthetic peptide designed to promote muscle growth, which he said he used to maintain fitness since his retirement in 2008.
Well this certainly is an odd twist. Doping to maintain fitness after retirement? Really? How about maintaining fitness the old-fashioned way, by riding a bicycle? Vansevenant told Agence France Presse:
“I wanted [the drugs] to improve my own physical condition. I’ve been told it’s doping products, but I don’t know anything about it.
“I’ve heard they haven’t even analysed what is in the vials, so how can they be so sure ? In any case, I didn’t buy these products with a view to doping.”
Sure, since he’s no longer competing, it wouldn’t be doping, would it?
According to the VeloNews.com article, team director Geert Coeman claims that the Omega Pharma-Lotto team had nothing to do with Vansevenant’s online drug-purchasing escapades.
“This is bad news, especially just a few days before the Tour, even though our connection with the man is pretty limited,” Coeman said. “Vansevenant was going to spend a week at the Tour driving our VIP bus. Obviously, that isn’t going to happen now.
“We have a good reputation as a team and we want to protect that. I hope, for his sake, this is a minor controversy, but even if he is completely cleared we won’t be using him at the Tour.”
Meanwhile, the AFP article says that Phillipe Gilbert, a current member of the Omega Pharma-Lotto team, has taken quick steps to disassociate himself and his teammates from Vansevenant.
“I want to affirm in the strongest possible way that this story has absolutely nothing to do with me or my team,” [Gilbert] said in a statement addressed to AFP.
“Trying to link this person (Vansevenant) with us has come from the imagination of someone whose intentions are misplaced.”
[…]
“I heard the news this morning… and it was a big shock to me because this kind of news shouldn’t even exist whilst cycling is making huge efforts to get rid of doping,” Gilbert added.
“But the worst thing is the connections people will make. Today I even feel victimised because people will start associating my name with this rider. My only error is to wear the same jersey once worn by this guy.”
This certainly is an odd case. Probably one of the odder events in the days pre-Tour. But we still have a couple of days left before the racing gets under way. Things couldn’t get any stranger … or could they?
Just how surreal would it be if the grand jury out in California investigating a certain Texas/Colorado resident happened to hand down indictments on Friday. Nah. That’s too unreal. It’ll never happen.
yup. I think this was just the prologue.. the real scandals are yet to be delivered.
what about all the multiple twitter handles Floyd uses. Per the outside magazine article. I honestly don’t get it. I see all the middle school level stuff.. and I feel sorry for the guy.. the lying, the doping, etc.. got all that, I understand the driving points, but the tweets.. the greymanrod crap.. just embarrassing stuff.. maybe I’m getting too old.
While it may be strange for a retired lantern rouge to dope, it is quite reasonable that the sport take some action against him, given. That he still is employees by a team.
First of all, we only have his word that said products were for him and only him. It is not unreasonable to think that he might have been obtaining PEDs for riders on the team. Even if they were only for him, the general procedure throughout sport in general is that anybody connected should stay away from any activity that would be banned for competitors. I have a low level part time job with the athletic department here at MU, and we are frequently reminded about things that we are not supposed to do, like participate in gambling. Put a few bucks into a March Madness or Superbowl pool and I could lose my job, even though the idea that I could influence the outcome of a game is pretty farfetched.
BMC’s turn for a bit of discomfort by association:
http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/8908/BMC-Racing-Team-plays-down-links-with-soigneur-implicated-in-EPO-case.aspx
Jeff,
Reminiscent of Festina, circa 1998, but with the team denying any knowledge of the person arrested. Same for Vansevenant, kind of.
William,
Ol’ Mizzou. Haven’t been there in ages. Seems like the new excuse du jour is “personal use”. Seems that’s also the excuse for the guy who’s “remotely” connected to BMC.
AC,
What with the BMC stirring the pot today, and whatever else is to come, I think that Vansevenant was definitely just the prologue. We’ve got three weeks to see what the EPO-logue will be (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun).
It’s not that odd. Now, Mrs. Raimundas Rumsas: that was odd.
Plus ça change: Phonak has a drug problem — well, a publicity problem —
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bmc-soigneur-implicated-in-drug-investigation
You haven’t been enjoying Grey Manrod et al. ? It’s a brilliant piece of post-post-modern fiction. I bet Salman Rushdie is just kicking himself that he didn’t think of it first. Fun!
I didn’t know about Landis’ most recent idiotic/juvenile/assinine behavior til I read these comments. I’ve now gone to the mag article & read up. Geez, can this guy get any MORE PATHETIC?! It is humiliating to admit that I EVER thought that POS was not just a great cyclist but a great guy.
I take it he STILL doesn’t actually have a JOB?
But thanks to this artticle, I am now hopeful about 2 things. 1st, that Landis has basically made himself WORTHLESS as a witness against Lance. And even better -that FRAUD LANDIS is the “subject of an ongoing FBI investigation into fundraising activities by his Floyd Fairness Fund”. ABOUT FREAKIN TIME!
At least one person on this site once said that Landis just wanted to get on with his life & help “young cyclists” from being “forced” to dope in the sport. And that he had no vendetta against Lance at all. HA. HA. HA. HA. HA.
Complaining that Twitter is juvenile is like complaining that water is wet. But where else do you get this kind of discussion going? (in Fabianese — yes, it’s a real word now, for obvious reasons):
f_cancellara:: Dinner table discussion @leopardtrek…. Is the moon landing true….!!?? There are meany opinions about a big hugh lie. Is it true.??
The Tour de France is about to begin. Per usual, the race is best followed via police radio. http://is.gd/lkDZ5v
SMTML is going to LOVE this story.
http://es.pn/jyQXxY
What do you figure the “warning” sounded like? “Hey guys, we’re warning you, the next time you dope the warning you’ll get won’t be as nice as this one. It may include yelling, and our pounding our fists on the table.”
Lance, ya gotta admire his strategic thought. At a time when it seems his world will come crumbling down, he tweets a pic of him golfing with former president Clinton. I recall not too long back the pictures of him with former Speaker Pelosi, and then Former President Bush Jr. before that.. Connections in politics are a scary thing.. and he’s got connections at the highest level on both political parties..
A. Schleck is smart! If he’s caught doping, he’s already put a doping excuse in place. In fact, with the subtraction of the letter “f”, it’s the same doping excuse that Contador used last year.
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/tdf2011/news/story?id=6737170
Larry,
Funny story that. But it was older brother Fränk, not Andy who swallowed the bee. 😉
Here’s an interesting twist:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/wada-pairs-with-pharmaceutical-giant-for-doping-detection
We all completely trust large drug companies, and of course we completely trust WADA…right?!
I think the cooperation is great, but where-o-where is the scientific peer review and transparency?
It seems to me that a good line of investigation would be to look and see where the sources of PEDs are and then try to shut those down. You just don’t go down to your local pharmacy and buy a bunch of EPO or steroids. And I guess that many of these are not something you cook up I. A clandestine lab, like meth (a major industry here on MO). So somewhere, somehow PEDs are being siphoned off from legitimate channels. I guess if you have the cooperation of an unscrupulous doctor, this is possible, but then shouldn’t a doctor be able to account for all the drugs he acquires? And could his prescriptions be reviewed to see if they are for legitimate uses?