Re: Icarus - documentary film
Escarabajo said:
Has it ever been a case of someone talking without being caught?
The closest I can see are retired riders like Fignon, Rooks and others. But active riders?
In the 1997-1998 offseason Pascal Richard out of nowhere said to the press that members of the Telekom team had confided to him that Ullrich and Riis had tested positive at a training camp in Mallorca and the UCI had buried the positives.
And since it's an interesting story, I'll tell you how it panned out.
He and his team manager Vincent Lavenu were promptly summoned to a meeting with the UCI. After the meeting Richard said to the press that it wasn't actually true and he had made it all up for attention.
Immediately Lavenu and Richard's team called "Casino" proceeded to put in such a blatantly doped exhibition that even in the pre-Festina peloton other riders were calling it out as ridiculous. Several riders made cryptic references to how they had "friends" so they were allowed to run rampant.
They only toned it down when the Festina scandal happened in July. By that point they'd already won Tirreno, Amstel, Fleche and generally been at the front of every damned race they entered, with a squad that included zero guys who would be leaders on a big team.
They ended the year with 63 wins. The previous year with essentially the same squad they had 20, mostly stages of smaller stage races.
By the way, that team now goes by the name AG2R