I was just wondering if anybody has any info on the Weinmann/Helvetia team from late 80s/early 90s.
This is what I have gathered so far.
It would seem that their DS Paul Koechli was very anti-drugs and didnt tolerate any form of doping. I remember Winning magazine interviewed him in 92 and he said he didnt like riders who took shotrcuts like doping. Of course Koechli was also DS at La Vie Claire during the Hinault/LeMond era.
Gilles Delion, regarded as the first openly anti-doping rider rode for Helvetia and claims that doping was never even discussed on the team. Sorry for bad translation, google
http://www.cyclisme-dopage.com/portraits/delion.htm
Within the Team Helvetia, I swam in an oasis of serenity, quiet, away from it all. It was not our concern. We do not talk about doping in the training, we were not aware of what was happening. The ancients did not speak either. But it is clear that 93 everyone knew that a new product has landed in the platoon, EPO
Steve Bauer was the star rider at the team 88-90 and managed 4th in the 88 Tour once again highlighting the fact that perhaps it was possible to compete at a high level cleanly in the 80s. They had some other decent riders like Pascal Richard, Jean Claude LeClercq, Gerard Rue.
What is sad about Helvetia is that they had such a good bunch of young riders in the early 90s who presumably started of clean but ended up going down a bad road when Helvetia folded at the advent of the EPO era.
Laurent Dufaux, Rolf Aldag, Fabain Jeker, Beat Zberg, Heinrich Trumheller all started out there and had fantastic results. Mauro Gianetti was another but he was more of a domestique. Former Festina director also started out at Helvetia before moving to RMO where his methods were not liked by Thierry Claveyrolat who seemed to be the doping ringleader at RMO.
Surely Koechli's team were the prfect example of a team who could compete cleanly in the 80s but lost their way in the EPO era. I know that(non Helvetia) Urs Zimmermann was mentioned in another thread as a possible doper but somebody posted that Zimmermann was very anti-doping. If so then that would put Zimmermann, Mottet, Winnen & Bauer as riders who all finished top 5 in the Tour in the 80s riding cleanly.
Can anybody provide any more info, opinions on Koechli & his riders or for those who claim it was impossible to compete in the 80s without drugs dispel these stories.
This is what I have gathered so far.
It would seem that their DS Paul Koechli was very anti-drugs and didnt tolerate any form of doping. I remember Winning magazine interviewed him in 92 and he said he didnt like riders who took shotrcuts like doping. Of course Koechli was also DS at La Vie Claire during the Hinault/LeMond era.
Gilles Delion, regarded as the first openly anti-doping rider rode for Helvetia and claims that doping was never even discussed on the team. Sorry for bad translation, google
http://www.cyclisme-dopage.com/portraits/delion.htm
Within the Team Helvetia, I swam in an oasis of serenity, quiet, away from it all. It was not our concern. We do not talk about doping in the training, we were not aware of what was happening. The ancients did not speak either. But it is clear that 93 everyone knew that a new product has landed in the platoon, EPO
Steve Bauer was the star rider at the team 88-90 and managed 4th in the 88 Tour once again highlighting the fact that perhaps it was possible to compete at a high level cleanly in the 80s. They had some other decent riders like Pascal Richard, Jean Claude LeClercq, Gerard Rue.
What is sad about Helvetia is that they had such a good bunch of young riders in the early 90s who presumably started of clean but ended up going down a bad road when Helvetia folded at the advent of the EPO era.
Laurent Dufaux, Rolf Aldag, Fabain Jeker, Beat Zberg, Heinrich Trumheller all started out there and had fantastic results. Mauro Gianetti was another but he was more of a domestique. Former Festina director also started out at Helvetia before moving to RMO where his methods were not liked by Thierry Claveyrolat who seemed to be the doping ringleader at RMO.
Surely Koechli's team were the prfect example of a team who could compete cleanly in the 80s but lost their way in the EPO era. I know that(non Helvetia) Urs Zimmermann was mentioned in another thread as a possible doper but somebody posted that Zimmermann was very anti-doping. If so then that would put Zimmermann, Mottet, Winnen & Bauer as riders who all finished top 5 in the Tour in the 80s riding cleanly.
Can anybody provide any more info, opinions on Koechli & his riders or for those who claim it was impossible to compete in the 80s without drugs dispel these stories.