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PARIS—The final act of the 2008 Tour de France was not
the idyllic ride down the Champs Elysées for winner
Carlos Sastre, but yet another announcement that a rider
was caught doping.
That the
drugs bust involved a Kazakh rider who was never in
contention didn’t matter: It once again left a sour
aftertaste at cycling’s premier event.
Until
Sunday’s finale, the race had gone 10 days without a
doping scandal—three others had already marred the
three-week race.
Dmitriy
Fofonov tested positive for a “very heavy dose” of
heptaminol after Thursday’s 18th stage, said Pierre
Bordry, the head of France’s antidoping agency. Fofonov
was immediately fired by his Credit Agricole team. He
was detained by the police for questioning, a French
police official said.
“These
guys are crazy, and the sooner they start learning, the
better,” International Cycling Union (UCI) chief Pat
McQuaid said by phone. “You can never rule out at the
Tour de France—the biggest event of the year—that these
guys are going to take risks.”
Bordry
said the Kazakh rider could not provide a medical
exemption for heptaminol. The stimulant is used as a
vasodilator that helps relieve bronchial spasms.
“Fofonov
said he bought the product on the Internet,” said Roger
Legeay, sporting director of Credit Agricole. “He says
that it was for cramps, but that he forgot to tell the
team doctor.”
Fofonov,
known mainly as a strong climber, finished 19th on the
Tour, 28 minutes, 31 seconds after Sastre.
Word of
Fofonov’s failed test came as some teams were still
riding farewell laps on the Champs Elysées. It
compounded the damage of positive tests for the banned
blood booster EPO—cycling’s designer drug—on Italy’s
Riccardo Ricco and Spaniards Manuel Beltran and Moises
Duenas Nevado.
Ricco’s
Saunier Duval team quit the race and fired him, and the
sponsor announced it was ending its relationship with
pro cycling. Barloworld, a South African conglomerate
behind Duenas Nevado’s team, said it would, too.
After
the positive test on Ricco, who won the sixth and ninth
stages, was announced before Stage 12, it looked as
though cheats had been chastened—if not deterred.
Tour
officials appeared relieved to see riders suffer
afterward, as though that was a telltale sign that they
hadn’t relied on pick-me-ups to get power in the pedal
and squelch the pain of the more than 3,500-kilometer
journey.
Christian Prudhomme, the head of the Tour, insisted
there were “a lot of good things” this year: “The faces
of the riders, burnt out, exhausted, mouths wide open at
the end....The fight against doping has made enormous
progress.
“The
difference between those who cheat and those who chase
after them has considerably narrowed.”
Bordry
pointed to laboratory proof. From the July 5 start in
Brest until the first rest day in Pau 10 days later,
blood parameters culled from dozens of antidoping tests
showed fewer anomalies—on average, he said.
“That
means that either the riders were in better health, or
that it’s proof they’re not taking as many substances,”
he said.
Better
yet, the race improved as a spectacle after the Ricco
bust. As racers began three treks through the Alps by
riding into Italy in the 15th stage, five riders were
within 49 seconds of then-leader Frank Schleck of
Luxembourg—the last of them Sastre.
That was
when the 33-year-old Spaniard, who has six top-10 Tour
finishes, took over. The dramatic climax for him came in
the last and most punishing day in the Alps in Stage 17,
which he won, and took the prized yellow jersey off
Schleck—his CSC teammate.
Sastre
had one final big hurdle: Saturday’s time trial.
Australia’s Cadel Evans, known as an ace in the
discipline, was regarded as a favorite to recover the
yellow jersey that he seized in the Pyrenees—but had
lost to Schleck.
Sastre
knew he needed the time trial of his life to hold a 1:34
lead against the Australian, and he got it. Evans made
up only 29 seconds against the Spaniard, paving the way
for his victory cruise—champagne in hand—into Paris.
By the
finish on the Champs Elysées, Sastre won by 58 seconds
from Evans, runner-up for the second straight year.
Bernhard Kohl of Austria was 1:13 back in third, the
second-tightest podium finish in the 105-year-old race.
Sastre
crossed arms and butted helmets affectionately with CSC
teammate Stuart O’Grady as they crossed the line behind
Gert Steegmans of Belgium, who won the 21st and final
stage in a sprint.
Sastre
was then surrounded by his family after getting off his
bike.
“It’s
very moving,” Sastre said, hugging his two children.
This is
the third-straight year a Spaniard captured the Tour.
Alberto Contador won last year and wasn’t allowed to
defend his title, and Oscar Pereiro inherited the 2006
title lost by American Floyd Landis in a doping scandal.
Sastre,
who grew up in the Spanish town of Leganes south of
Madrid, became interested in racing at age eight, when
his father, Victor, opened a cycling school.
“When he
was young, we thought that one day he could attempt the
Tour de France,” Sastre’s mother Teresa told Eurosport
television from Spain. She said her son had “sacrificed”
for this moment.
Television images showed hundreds of cheering fans
pouring into the streets on Sunday in the mountain
village of El Barraco, where Sastre has a home, to
celebrate his victory.
Sastre
began racing in 1997 and in 2000 made his professional
debut with the Once team, managed by Manolo Saiz. Saiz
was one of five people arrested in May 2006 as part of
the Operation Puerto doping scandal in Spain, and is no
longer involved in the sport.
Aware of
the doping cloud over cycling, Sastre put it bluntly
after his victory appeared certain on Saturday: “I’m
clean.”
Victory
over cheats
PARIS—Race director Christian Prudhomme hopes the 2008
Tour de France will be remembered as a victory against
doping cheats.
The
Tour, won by Spaniard Carlos Sastre on Sunday, saw four
cyclists kicked out. Three for using the banned blood
booster EPO—a drug of choice in cycling and used by
Sastre’s boss at Team CSC, Bjarne Riis, to win the 1996
Tour—and one for a banned stimulant.
Italian
rider Riccardo Ricco was the biggest name to get caught
this year, thrilling fans with his daring solo raids in
the Pyrenees and then letting them down when it was
announced that his performances were fueled by EPO.
“Without
doubt we are in a period of transition, I hope in a
period of reform,” Prudhomme told reporters. “In a few
months, I hope we can say that the 2008 Tour de France
was when the balance shifted the other way.”
The
fourth case was announced just after Sunday’s final
stage around Paris, giving the Tour finale a sour taste
amid the colorful celebratory scenes following Sastre’s
victory.
The last
two Tours were rocked by doping scandals, making this
year’s edition the real test for Prudhomme and the
Amaury Sport Organization, which owns the race and is at
loggerheads with the UCI, cycling’s governing body.
Astana
rider Alexandre Vinokourov was kicked out last year
after testing positive for a blood transfusion and his
team quit the race. Cofidis also left after Cristian
Moreni was caught using testosterone. Iban Mayo, who
rode for the Saunier Duval team, tested positive for EPO
but the result was announced after the Tour ended.
Prudhomme’s decision not to invite Astana back for this
year’s race meant there was no defending champion
because Alberto Contador of Spain had to stay home.
After
Ricco’s doping announcement, his Saunier Duval team
withdrew from the 2008 Tour and the sponsors ended their
deal.
“Saunier
Duval left, that suited us well,” Prudhomme said of the
team. AP |
