O'Grady admits to doping on '98 Tour
Source: Agencies |
July 26, 2013, Friday
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ONLY days after retiring from professional cycling, Stuart O'Grady admitted to using a blood-booster during the scandal-plagued 1998 Tour de France.
The 39-year-old Australian rider, a six-time Olympian who wore the leader's yellow jersey for a total of nine days in 17 Tours de France, announced his retirement earlier this week after the 100th edition of the race. He admitted he had used erythropoietin (EPO) for two weeks before the 1998 event, saying he had acquired it himself and used it without the knowledge of his team.
His admission in an Australian newspaper came after the French senate inquiry into doping in sport released its findings and implicated dozens of cyclists for suspicious test results, uncovering evidence that 1998 Tour de France champion Marco Pantani and runner-up Jan Ullrich used EPO to fuel their performances.
"You win Olympics, Paris-Roubaix and now all of that is going to be tainted by this action," O'Grady, who won the Madison gold medal at the 2004 Olympics and was a silver medalist in the team pursuit at the 1992 Olympics, was quoted as saying yesterday in News Corp Australia newspapers. "That's the hardest thing to swallow out of all this - it was such a long time ago and one very bad judgment is going to taint a lot of things."
Australian Olympic Committee spokesman Mike Tancred said: "He won't be remembered as a fantastic competitor that we all thought he was. Instead he'll be remembered as an athlete who succumbed to the temptation of drugs in sport just to get an edge on his fellow riders."
The 1998 Tour de France was notable for the major scandal that emerged with the discovery of widespread doping on the French Festina team. The subsequent police crackdown led to seven of 21 teams either withdrawing or being ejected from the Tour. O'Grady said this was the only time he ever used EPO.
The 39-year-old Australian rider, a six-time Olympian who wore the leader's yellow jersey for a total of nine days in 17 Tours de France, announced his retirement earlier this week after the 100th edition of the race. He admitted he had used erythropoietin (EPO) for two weeks before the 1998 event, saying he had acquired it himself and used it without the knowledge of his team.
His admission in an Australian newspaper came after the French senate inquiry into doping in sport released its findings and implicated dozens of cyclists for suspicious test results, uncovering evidence that 1998 Tour de France champion Marco Pantani and runner-up Jan Ullrich used EPO to fuel their performances.
"You win Olympics, Paris-Roubaix and now all of that is going to be tainted by this action," O'Grady, who won the Madison gold medal at the 2004 Olympics and was a silver medalist in the team pursuit at the 1992 Olympics, was quoted as saying yesterday in News Corp Australia newspapers. "That's the hardest thing to swallow out of all this - it was such a long time ago and one very bad judgment is going to taint a lot of things."
Australian Olympic Committee spokesman Mike Tancred said: "He won't be remembered as a fantastic competitor that we all thought he was. Instead he'll be remembered as an athlete who succumbed to the temptation of drugs in sport just to get an edge on his fellow riders."
The 1998 Tour de France was notable for the major scandal that emerged with the discovery of widespread doping on the French Festina team. The subsequent police crackdown led to seven of 21 teams either withdrawing or being ejected from the Tour. O'Grady said this was the only time he ever used EPO.
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