Daily Cycling Facts 11.07.2014

Tour de France 1998
21 stages + prologue, 3,877.1km.

For the first time, the Tour visited Ireland - the prologue was in Dublin, Stage 1 started and ended in Dublin and Stage 2 ran from Enniscorthy to Cork; then the teams sailed to Roscoff in Brittany for the start of the rest of the race. The number of teams was reduced from 22 to 21 in order to also reduce the number of riders, this having been declared the reason for a large number of crashes in 1997.

British rider Chris Boardman, a time trial specialist, won the prologue and started the race in the maillot jaune for the third time in his career. Erik Zabel took it in Stage 2, then lost it to Bo Hamburger the next day; next it went to the Australian Stuart O'Grady who kept it for three stages until 1997 winner Jan Ullrich got it in Stage 7. Ullrich handed it over to Laurent Desbians the following day but won in back in Stage 9 and, a few days later, looked very much as though he was going to keep it.

Then the race reached the Alps and Marco Pantani blew it apart. 48km from the end of Stage 15, he attacked so hard on Galibier that Ullrich was left reeling, completely and utterly unable to respond to the Italian's power. Pantani even stopped on the way to put on a rain jacket, but still took 8'57" from the man who was no longer his rival and finished the stage as overall leader with an advantage of 3'53" over new second place Bobby Julich (and 5'56" on Ullrich). The following day, Ullrich had to win simply to remain in contention and he did a very impressive job of doing so, leading the peloton over the stage's fifth and final climb; but Pantani stayed with him, and the gap between them remained the same. The German made up time with more superb performances, including his excellent ride in the Stage 20 time trial when he took back 2'35"; but what Pantani had done on Galibier was insurmountable and he won by 3'21" overall.

Pantani was one of the finest grimpeurs in cycling history; had it not have been for the problems he would later face, leading to his tragic death on Valentine's Day in 2004, he might even have topped the achievements of Federico Bahamontes and Charly Gaul. It is, therefore, a great shame that his only Tour victory was overshadowed by the scandals that hit the 1998 race. The first the world knew about a massive investigation into doping was when the Festina team's Belgian soigneur Willy Voet was stopped at the French border in a car packed with enough drugs to open a small but well-stocked pharmacy (he tells his story in his book, Breaking the Chain; a must-read despite suffering a little from Voet being a soigneur rather than a writer). Next came police raids on the teams' hotels, with another huge stash of doping products being seized from the TVM team, then a riders' protest in Stage 17 and the nullification of the stage. It didn't end there and, before long, what became known as the Festina Affair mushroomed into the biggest and most damaging scandal to have ever hit cycling and its effects are still being felt to this day.

Top Ten Final General Classification
1 Marco Pantani (ITA) Mercatone Uno 92h 49' 46"
2 Jan Ullrich (GER) Telekom +3' 21"
3 Bobby Julich (USA) Cofidis +4' 08"
4 Christophe Rinero (FRA) Cofidis +9' 16"
5 Michael Boogerd (NED) Rabobank +11' 26"
6 Jean-Cyril Robin (FRA) US Postal Service +14' 57"
7 Roland Meier (SUI) Cofidis +15' 13"
8 Daniele Nardello (ITA) Mapei +16' 07"
9 Giuseppe Di Grande (ITA) Mapei +17' 35"
10 Axel Merckx (BEL) Polti +17' 39"


Gérard Saint, born on this day in 1935, was a French cyclist who won the overall Combativity award and came ninth in the General Classification at the 1959 Tour de France. e became known as a good all-rounder, despite being unusually large at 1.91m tall for a rider who did as well in the mountains as he did, and was popular among fans because he worked as an unskilled farm labourer before becoming a professional cyclist. He died on the 16th of March 1960 after crashing his Citroen ID into a tree. A stadium in Argentan, the town of his birth, is named in his honour.

Ingrid Haringa, born in Velsen, Netherlands on this day in 1964, began her athletic career as a speed skater. She made her debut in international track cycling at the World Championships of 1991, where she won the Sprint and the Points race; then successfully defended the Points title for the subsequent three years.

Other cyclists born on this day: Davide Malacarne (France, 1987); Artem Ovechkin (USSR, 1986); Jacques Michaud (France, 1951); Gérard Saint (France, 1935); Adolf Heeb (Liechtenstein, 1940); Miloslav Kejval (Czechoslovakia, 1973); Julio Sobrera (Uruguay, 1927); Ingrid Haringa (Netherlands, 1964); Edgardo Pagarigan (Philippines, 1958); Roland Lacombe (France, 1938, died 2011); Cossi Houegban (Benin, 1964); Johan Kankkonen (Finland, 1886, died 1955); Franz Lemnitz (Germany, 1890, died 1942); Ion Cosma (Romania, 1937).

Daily Cycling Facts 11.07.2013

Tour de France 1998
21 stages + prologue, 3,877.1km.

For the first time, the Tour visited Ireland - the prologue was in Dublin, Stage 1 started and ended in Dublin and Stage 2 ran from Enniscorthy to Cork; then the teams sailed to Roscoff in Brittany for the start of the rest of the race. The number of teams was reduced from 22 to 21 in order to also reduce the number of riders, this having been declared the reason for a large number of crashes in 1997.

British rider Chris Boardman, a time trial specialist, won the prologue and started the race in the maillot jaune for the third time in his career. Erik Zabel took it in Stage 2, then lost it to Bo Hamburger the next day; next it went to the Australian Stuart O'Grady who kept it for three stages until 1997 winner Jan Ullrich got it in Stage 7. Ullrich handed it over to Laurent Desbians the following day but won in back in Stage 9 and, a few days later, looked very much as though he was going to keep it.

Then the race reached the Alps and Marco Pantani blew it apart. 48km from the end of Stage 15, he attacked so hard on Galibier that Ullrich was left reeling, completely and utterly unable to respond to the Italian's power. Pantani even stopped on the way to put on a rain jacket, but still took 8'57" from the man who was no longer his rival and finished the stage as overall leader with an advantage of 3'53" over new second place Bobby Julich (and 5'56" on Ullrich). The following day, Ullrich had to win simply to remain in contention and he did a very impressive job of doing so, leading the peloton over the stage's fifth and final climb; but Pantani stayed with him, and the gap between them remained the same. The German made up time with more superb performances, including his excellent ride in the Stage 20 time trial when he took back 2'35"; but what Pantani had done on Galibier was insurmountable and he won by 3'21" overall.

Pantani was one of the finest grimpeurs in cycling history; had it not have been for the problems he would later face, leading to his tragic death on Valentine's Day in 2004, he might even have topped the achievements of Federico Bahamontes and Charly Gaul. It is, therefore, a great shame that his only Tour victory was overshadowed by the scandals that hit the 1998 race. The first the world knew about a massive investigation into doping was when the Festina team's Belgian soigneur Willy Voet was stopped at the French border in a car packed with enough drugs to open a small but well-stocked pharmacy (he tells his story in his book, Breaking the Chain; a must-read despite suffering a little from Voet being a soigneur rather than a writer). Next came police raids on the teams' hotels, with another huge stash of doping products being seized from the TVM team, then a riders' protest in Stage 17 and the nullification of the stage. It didn't end there and, before long, what became known as the Festina Affair mushroomed into the biggest and most damaging scandal to have ever hit cycling and its effects are still being felt to this day.

Top Ten Final General Classification
1 Marco Pantani (ITA) Mercatone Uno 92h 49' 46"
2 Jan Ullrich (GER) Telekom +3' 21"
3 Bobby Julich (USA) Cofidis +4' 08"
4 Christophe Rinero (FRA) Cofidis +9' 16"
5 Michael Boogerd (NED) Rabobank +11' 26"
6 Jean-Cyril Robin (FRA) US Postal Service +14' 57"
7 Roland Meier (SUI) Cofidis +15' 13"
8 Daniele Nardello (ITA) Mapei +16' 07"
9 Giuseppe Di Grande (ITA) Mapei +17' 35"
10 Axel Merckx (BEL) Polti +17' 39"


Gérard Saint, born on this day in 1935, was a French cyclist who won the overall Combativity award and came ninth in the General Classification at the 1959 Tour de France. e became known as a good all-rounder, despite being unusually large at 1.91m tall for a rider who did as well in the mountains as he did, and was popular among fans because he worked as an unskilled farm labourer before becoming a professional cyclist. He died on the 16th of March 1960 after crashing his Citroen ID into a tree. A stadium in Argentan, the town of his birth, is named in his honour.

Ingrid Haringa, born in Velsen, Netherlands on this day in 1964, began her athletic career as a speed skater. She made her debut in international track cycling at the World Championships of 1991, where she won the Sprint and the Points race; then successfully defended the Points title for the subsequent three years.

Other cyclists born on this day: Davide Malacarne (France, 1987); Artem Ovechkin (USSR, 1986); Jacques Michaud (France, 1951); Gérard Saint (France, 1935); Adolf Heeb (Liechtenstein, 1940); Miloslav Kejval (Czechoslovakia, 1973); Julio Sobrera (Uruguay, 1927); Ingrid Haringa (Netherlands, 1964); Edgardo Pagarigan (Philippines, 1958); Roland Lacombe (France, 1938, died 2011); Cossi Houegban (Benin, 1964); Johan Kankkonen (Finland, 1886, died 1955); Franz Lemnitz (Germany, 1890, died 1942); Ion Cosma (Romania, 1937).

Daily Cycling Facts 11.07.12

Tour de France 1998
21 stages + prologue, 3,877.1km.

For the first time, the Tour visited Ireland - the prologue was in Dublin, Stage 1 started and ended in Dublin and Stage 2 ran from Enniscorthy to Cork; then the teams sailed to Roscoff in Brittany for the start of the rest of the race. The number of teams was reduced from 22 to 21 in order to also reduce the number of riders, this having been declared the reason for a large number of crashes in 1997.

British rider Chris Boardman, a time trial specialist, won the prologue and started the race in the maillot jaune for the third time in his career. Erik Zabel took it in Stage 2, then lost it to Bo Hamburger the next day; next it went to the Australian Stuart O'Grady who kept it for three stages until 1997 winner Jan Ullrich got it in Stage 7. Ullrich handed it over to Laurent Desbians the following day but won in back in Stage 9 and, a few days later, looked very much as though he was going to keep it.

Then the race reached the Alps and Marco Pantani blew it apart. 48km from the end of Stage 15, he attacked so hard on Galibier that Ullrich was left reeling, completely and utterly unable to respond to the Italian's power. Pantani even stopped on the way to put on a rain jacket, but still took 8'57" from the man who was no longer his rival and finished the stage as overall leader with an advantage of 3'53" over new second place Bobby Julich (and 5'56" on Ullrich). The following day, Ullrich had to win simply to remain in contention and he did a very impressive job of doing so, leading the peloton over the stage's fifth and final climb; but Pantani stayed with him, and the gap between them remained the same. The German made up time with more superb performances, including his excellent ride in the Stage 20 time trial when he took back 2'35"; but what Pantani had done on Galibier was insurmountable and he won by 3'21" overall.

Pantani was one of the finest grimpeurs in cycling history; had it not have been for the problems he would later face, leading to his tragic death on Valentine's Day in 2004, he might even have topped the achievements of Federico Bahamontes and Charly Gaul. It is, therefore, a great shame that his only Tour victory was overshadowed by the scandals that hit the 1998 race. The first the world knew about a massive investigation into doping was when the Festina team's Belgian soigneur Willy Voet was stopped at the French border in a car packed with enough drugs to open a small but well-stocked pharmacy (he tells his story in his book, Breaking the Chain; a must-read despite suffering a little from Voet being a soigneur rather than a writer). Next came police raids on the teams' hotels, with another huge stash of doping products being seized from the TVM team, then a riders' protest in Stage 17 and the nullification of the stage. It didn't end there and, before long, what became known as the Festina Affair mushroomed into the biggest and most damaging scandal to have ever hit cycling and its effects are still being felt to this day.

Top Ten Final General Classification
1 Marco Pantani (ITA) Mercatone Uno 92h 49' 46"
2 Jan Ullrich (GER) Telekom +3' 21"
3 Bobby Julich (USA) Cofidis +4' 08"
4 Christophe Rinero (FRA) Cofidis +9' 16"
5 Michael Boogerd (NED) Rabobank +11' 26"
6 Jean-Cyril Robin (FRA) US Postal Service +14' 57"
7 Roland Meier (SUI) Cofidis +15' 13"
8 Daniele Nardello (ITA) Mapei +16' 07"
9 Giuseppe Di Grande (ITA) Mapei +17' 35"
10 Axel Merckx (BEL) Polti +17' 39"


Gérard Saint, born on this day in 1935, was a French cyclist who won the overall Combativity award and came ninth in the General Classification at the 1959 Tour de France. e became known as a good all-rounder, despite being unusually large at 1.91m tall for a rider who did as well in the mountains as he did, and was popular among fans because he worked as an unskilled farm labourer before becoming a professional cyclist. He died on the 16th of March 1960 after crashing his Citroen ID into a tree. A stadium in Argentan, the town of his birth, is named in his honour.

Ingrid Haringa, born in Velsen, Netherlands on this day in 1964, began her athletic career as a speed skater. She made her debut in international track cycling at the World Championships of 1991, where she won the Sprint and the Points race; then successfully defended the Points title for the subsequent three years.

Other cyclists born on this day: Davide Malacarne (France, 1987); Artem Ovechkin (USSR, 1986); Jacques Michaud (France, 1951); Gérard Saint (France, 1935); Adolf Heeb (Liechtenstein, 1940); Miloslav Kejval (Czechoslovakia, 1973); Julio Sobrera (Uruguay, 1927); Ingrid Haringa (Netherlands, 1964); Edgardo Pagarigan (Philippines, 1958); Roland Lacombe (France, 1938, died 2011); Cossi Houegban (Benin, 1964); Johan Kankkonen (Finland, 1886, died 1955); Franz Lemnitz (Germany, 1890, died 1942); Ion Cosma (Romania, 1937).

So what happens if Lance is stripped of his Tour wins?

Armstrong in 2010

In an article published by The Guardian this morning, William Fotheringham says that "Lance Armstrong could be stripped of his record seven Tour de France victories" after being accused of doping in 2010 and 2011 (the complete letter sent by USADA has since been made public). That'd be a turn up for the books! In a way, quite a welcome one too, because I get bored explaining to people why it is that despite having won two more Tours than anyone else Lance isn't the greatest Tour rider of all time.

So if he's convicted and disqualified from all his Tours, that leaves us with...

1999 - Alex Zülle
2000 - Jan Ullrich
2001 - Jan Ullrich
2002 - Joseba Beloki
2003 - Jan Ullrich
2004 - Andreas Klöden
2005 - Ivan Basso

Zülle admitted to using EPO during the Festina Affair investigations. Ullrich, of course, is a proven doper and was convicted in February this year. Basso says he planned to dope, but didn't get round to it before Operacion Puerto (which CONI decided - quite rightly - as much the same as actually doping, and handed him a two-year ban). Klöden has been accused (but not proven) to have received an illegal blood transfusion at the Tour in 2006. Only Beloki, who was caught up in Operacion Puerto but cleared, seems to be in the clear.

Which means there's a possibility that the USADA are about to prove that the one cyclist everyone (including people with no interest in cycling, even if they do think he was the first man to sing "Wonderful World" on the moon) is a doper, thus firing off a great big media shitstorm; then replace him with other riders who don't exactly have whiter-than-white track records either.

There's no alternative - the timing couldn't be worse, but it's not USADA's fault. If Lance is a cheat, which hasn't yet been proven, he must be stripped of his victories. It's completely unthinkable that the whole thing be swept under the carpet to avoid a fuss because cycling must be seen to be taking action against doping, because justice must be done and because if it happens any other way cycling risks losing fans just as it did after Willy Voet's mobile pharmacy was stopped by customs officials in 1998 and again when the murky world of Dr. Fuentes came under the microscope eight years later. Fans know that there are clean riders and that professional cycling has done a great deal more than any other sport to end doping; but once again the general public's (mistaken) belief that "they're all on drugs, aren't they?" may be about to be reinforced, just months after the Contador case did the same and weeks before the Tour when cycling is more in the public eye than at any other time. The newspapers are not going to miss that; and this is not, as some fans may think, a time to look on in glee as the mighty fall.

Lance was wrong when he accused Christophe Bassons of wanting to destroy cycling. It's the dopers who spit in the soup, not those who speak up about it nor those who seek to catch the cheats.