How this page is written
Each entry names the body that decided, the date, the sanction and the result as that body now lists it. Where we could see a decision only in a search summary, the page says so. Nothing here goes beyond what an official body recorded.
Laws and institutions
The French encyclopedia Larousse sets out how anti-doping rules developed:
| Year | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 to 1963 | Doctors supervising Tour de France teams met from 1960; a congress at Uriage in 1963 reached agreement in favour of an anti-doping law | Larousse |
| 1965 | France's first anti-doping law, the "Herzog" law, which Larousse says penalised only riders who tested positive at a race finish | Larousse |
| 1966 | The first anti-doping control at the Tour de France, after a stage | Larousse |
| 1967 | The IOC sets up an anti-doping medical commission | Larousse |
| 1984 | The Council of Europe adopts a European anti-doping charter | Larousse |
| 1989 | The Council of Europe's Anti-Doping Convention signed in Strasbourg; France's "Bambuck" law of 28 June extends sanctions to athletes' entourages and brings in unannounced out-of-competition testing | Larousse |
| 1999 | France's "Buffet" law of 23 March creates a national council for doping prevention; the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is founded on the IOC's initiative | Larousse |
| 2008 | The UCI creates the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation (CADF) and introduces the biological passport | UCI |
| 2016 and 2018 | The UCI begins a large-scale campaign against technological fraud (hidden motors) and reinforces it | UCI |
| 2021 | The UCI delegates its operational anti-doping work to the International Testing Agency (ITA) | UCI |
Decisions that changed Grand Tour results
1904 Tour: not a doping case
The first decision on this page was not about doping. Universalis records that the French federation, the Union Velocipedique de France, disqualified the first four finishers of the 1904 Tour for race irregularities and gave the win to Henri Cornet. The story, including the dispute over the date of the ruling, is on how the Grand Tours began.
1998 Tour: Festina and TVM
Larousse records that the Festina and TVM teams were excluded from the 1998 Tour de France in connection with doping products. This rests on that one reference work: we did not find the organiser's or the UCI's own decision, and we did not check accounts of whether TVM was excluded or withdrew.
2006 Tour: Floyd Landis
Canadian Cyclist reported on 30 June 2008 that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) had unanimously dismissed Floyd Landis's appeal, confirming his disqualification from the 2006 Tour and a two-year suspension that began on 30 January 2007.
Oscar Pereiro, who finished second in 2006 by 57 seconds, is listed as the 2006 winner. A search summary of Cyclingnews says he had been declared champion before the CAS ruling; the date of that declaration is unconfirmed.
2010 Tour and 2011 Giro: Alberto Contador
On 6 February 2012 CAS ruled on appeals by the UCI and WADA against the Spanish federation's decision to clear Alberto Contador. A search summary of the CAS media release says it partly upheld the appeals and imposed a two-year period of ineligibility over clenbuterol found in a sample taken on 21 July 2010, a rest day of that year's Tour; the release itself returned an error when opened. The same summary says the Spanish federation had proposed a one-year suspension in January 2011 and then cleared him in February 2011, that the UCI and WADA appealed in March 2011, and that the hearing took place in Lausanne from 21 to 24 November 2011.
Radsport-news reported on the day of the ruling that the ban ran from 25 January 2011, credited with the five months and 19 days already served, and that Contador lost his 2010 Tour and 2011 Giro wins, with Andy Schleck awarded the 2010 Tour. A search summary of the Express and Star says Michele Scarponi was elevated to winner of the 2011 Giro; that is unconfirmed.
The end date of the ban differs: the CAS release, in a search summary, gives 5 August 2012, and Radsport-news gives 6 August 2012.
1999 to 2005 Tours: Lance Armstrong
road.cc reported the sequence on 24 August 2012. A federal court in Austin, Texas, had dismissed Lance Armstrong's lawsuit on 20 August, and he then declined to contest the charges at arbitration. On 24 August the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced a lifetime period of ineligibility and the disqualification of all his competitive results from 1 August 1998. Results before that date, including his 1993 road world championship title, were not affected. Search summaries say USADA published its reasoned decision on 10 October 2012, which we could not confirm.
The UCI then acted twice:
- 22 October 2012. Canadian Cyclist reported that the UCI would recognise USADA's sanctions, would not appeal to CAS, and that the seven Tour titles from 1999 to 2005 were removed.
- 26 October 2012. In a release reproduced by Pedal Magazine, the UCI Management Committee decided not to award those victories to any other rider and not to move anyone up in the affected events, applying this to results disqualified for doping from 1998 to 2005. It also set up an independent commission to review the UCI itself, due to report by 1 June 2013.
The Tours of 1999 to 2005 therefore have no winner listed, as Larousse and a search summary of The Local both record.
Search summaries of Associated Press coverage say the IOC withdrew Armstrong's bronze medal from the Sydney 2000 Olympic time trial in a letter dated 16 January 2013, after a decision in principle by its Executive Board in December 2012, and did not give the medal to anyone else. We did not open an IOC page, so this is unconfirmed.
A closed case: no violation
The UCI recorded that on 2 July 2018 it closed anti-doping proceedings against Christopher Froome over a salbutamol result from the 2017 Vuelta a Espana. It did so after WADA told it on 28 June 2018 that, on the specific facts, WADA did not consider the result an anti-doping rule violation; WADA said it would not appeal. In its questions and answers, the UCI cited the WADA technical document then in force, with a decision limit of 1,200 ng/ml, and WADA's newer document TD2018DL, in force from 1 March 2018, which allows that limit to be adjusted for the specific gravity of the urine sample. The UCI and WADA recorded the case as closed with no violation asserted, and road.cc reported it the same way.
Summary of results changed
| Race | Deciding body and date | Result as now listed |
|---|---|---|
| Tour de France 1904 | Union Velocipedique de France, 30 November or 2 December 1904 | Henri Cornet |
| Tour de France 2006 | CAS, 30 June 2008 (as reported by Canadian Cyclist) | Oscar Pereiro |
| Tour de France 2010 | CAS, 6 February 2012 | Andy Schleck |
| Giro d'Italia 2011 | CAS, 6 February 2012 | Michele Scarponi (unconfirmed) |
| Tours de France 1999 to 2005 | USADA, 24 August 2012; UCI, 22 and 26 October 2012 | No winner listed |
Race safety today is covered in the Safety section. The dates on this page are in the timeline.
Sources
- Larousse encyclopedia, dopage
- UCI, 125th anniversary of the UCI: the institution's road to coherence
- Universalis, Maurice Garin
- Canadian Cyclist, Landis loses final appeal (30 June 2008)
- Cyclingnews, Landis appeals to CAS (seen as search summary only)
- Court of Arbitration for Sport, media release of 6 February 2012 (seen as search summary only; the page returned an error)
- Radsport-news (6 February 2012)
- Express and Star, Contador stripped of Tour title (seen as search summary only)
- road.cc, USADA formally bans Lance Armstrong for life (24 August 2012)
- Cyclingnews, UCI confirms life ban (seen as search summary only)
- Canadian Cyclist, UCI accepts USADA findings (22 October 2012)
- Pedal Magazine, UCI release of 26 October 2012
- The Local (26 October 2012, seen as search summary only)
- Bangor Daily News, AP report (17 January 2013, seen as search summary only)
- UCI, Q&A: response to public comments on the proceedings involving Mr Froome (2018)
- road.cc, Chris Froome cleared in salbutamol case (2018)