Pre EPO/ Tranfussions "stand out" doped rides?

[Darryl Webster]

It strikes me that theres a lot of very obvious examples of the "turbo charging" effects of EPO and transfusions but I cant think of any " stand out" rides pre these methods where first reaction was " he`s gotta be on the gear".
Perhaps nearest I can get was Fredy Meartens 13 stages and GC in the 77 Tour of Spain?

 

[intothe12]

at the time i raised an eyebrow...

 

[Darryl Webster]

a the time i raised an eyebrow...

Oh yes, so did I!....all the drama seemed a good way to delay or even mis medical control.
Though I dont know if that actualy happened?.

 

[hiero2]

yep - no particular "stand-out" rides, sfaik, before 1993. We only know Anquetil did speed 'coz he told us so. The only exception was Simpson - dead from speed. That stood out.

Btw, I say this for road riders - on the track, the soviet bloc - romania, e germany - were doping earlier, but not with "stand out" success, either.

 

[Escarabajo]

Michel Pollentier in 1978 in Alpe D'Huez.

http://www.comcast.net/slideshow/sports-ugliestmoments/17/

 

[tofino]

Eddy example one

From Wiki 1969 Tour

Merckx won the 17th stage, over four cols from Luchon to Mourenx[n 3] by eight minutes after riding alone for 140 km.[11] He climbed the col du Tourmalet in a small group including Roger Pingeon and Raymond Poulidor, having dropped Felice Gimondi. On the final bend to the summit, Merckx attacked and opened a few seconds. By the foot of the col d'Aubisque he had more than a minute and by the top eight minutes. He maintained the pace for the remaining 70 km to Mourenx, an industrial town near Pau.

Obviously many more examples of Eddy in action.

 

[Darryl Webster]

From Wiki 1969 Tour

Merckx won the 17th stage, over four cols from Luchon to Mourenx[n 3] by eight minutes after riding alone for 140 km.[11] He climbed the col du Tourmalet in a small group including Roger Pingeon and Raymond Poulidor, having dropped Felice Gimondi. On the final bend to the summit, Merckx attacked and opened a few seconds. By the foot of the col d'Aubisque he had more than a minute and by the top eight minutes. He maintained the pace for the remaining 70 km to Mourenx, an industrial town near Pau.

Obviously many more examples of Eddy in action.

LOL...Yeh,,Merckx is an obvious one accept with his win record its hard to pick "stand outs" cus that wounld be most of em!.
Less he was doped to the gills on somat no one else had almost all year round ( he rode Six Day track in the winter) I think its pretty much accepted Merckx was "the real deal". Not saying he didnt dope though.

 

[rghysens]

It strikes me that theres a lot of very obvious examples of the "turbo charging" effects of EPO and transfusions but I cant think of any " stand out" rides pre these methods where first reaction was " he`s gotta be on the gear".
Perhaps nearest I can get was Fredy Meartens 13 stages and GC in the 77 Tour of Spain?

Maertens obviously (in 1976, '77 and '81), Anquetil, Coppi, Merckx (rumours are that he had to go to rehab for a while after his career), Eric de Vlaeminck.
Maybe (probably) people who say that doping doesn't turn a mule into a racehorse were right until the epo-era.

 

[Escarabajo]

Pedro Delgado in the ITT in 1988. It was too good to be truth.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

It strikes me that theres a lot of very obvious examples of the "turbo charging" effects of EPO and transfusions but I cant think of any " stand out" rides pre these methods where first reaction was " he`s gotta be on the gear".
Perhaps nearest I can get was Fredy Meartens 13 stages and GC in the 77 Tour of Spain?

Darryl-

When you are asking -I assume you mean rather than riders we know were on PED's but were outstanding - you mean riders who 'appeared from no-where" or did something that defied their ability?

If so I would say Swiss rider Urs Zimmermann in 1986 had me going through old magazines at the time wondering who he was.
He won that years Dauphine and went on to finish 3rd in that years Tour.

 

[Oldman]

Laurent Brochard winning Worlds...that mullett had to be on some kind of stuff. I've never seen hair that agro!

 

[redtreviso]

Oh yes, so did I!....all the drama seemed a good way to delay or even mis medical control.
Though I dont know if that actualy happened?.

I always thought that was a big contrast compared to the Lance era.. In 87 there were riders collapsing at the finishes..Now they give interviews just seconds after the finish and are not even breathing hard.

 

[pmcg76]

Darryl-

When you are asking -I assume you mean rather than riders we know were on PED's but were outstanding - you mean riders who 'appeared from no-where" or did something that defied their ability?

If so I would say Swiss rider Urs Zimmermann in 1986 had me going through old magazines at the time wondering who he was.
He won that years Dauphine and went on to finish 3rd in that years Tour.

Good call on Zimmermann especially because he was rubbish again the following season.

Flavio Giupponi, 2nd in the 89 Giro behind Fignon and em, thats it I think, maybe that was EPO related though.

Jean-Marie Wampers, Dirk Demol, 2 shock winners of Paris-Roubaix, maybe just luck.

 

[zealot66]

Not a famous ride but Alexi Greywall admitted blood doping in his 1984 gold medal. Crazy, I remember watching that race.

 

[Oldman]

Not a famous ride but Alexi Greywall admitted blood doping in his 1984 gold medal. Crazy, I remember watching that race.

It was legal then and Eddie B had the entire group prepared. Some were embarrassed by it later, some weren't.

 

[Irish2009]

Amazing that we get to 2 pages before anyone mentioned the 1984 American Olympic cycling team. Doped to the gills with blood transfusions, wasn't illegal in sporting terms at the time afaik but unethical for sure.

 

[Hairy Wheels]

Gerhard Zadrobilek...I think it was the 89 San Sebastian.

 

[Vanderaerden's perm]

Amazing that we get to 2 pages before anyone mentioned the 1984 American Olympic cycling team. Doped to the gills with blood transfusions, wasn't illegal in sporting terms at the time afaik but unethical for sure.

Aren't they the ones that had caffeine suppositories as well? I could never imagine wanting to win anything that badly!

 

[Hairy Wheels]

Amazing that we get to 2 pages before anyone mentioned the 1984 American Olympic cycling team. Doped to the gills with blood transfusions, wasn't illegal in sporting terms at the time afaik but unethical for sure.

I read something somewhere...actually more than once, that the safe where the codes for doping were kept was actually REMOVED from the hotel where they were kept. That meant you couldn't match any names to doping tests from the 84 Olympics.

Conspiracy stuff maybe....but not one person tested positive that Games that I can find.

 

[tretow95]

mercx was a GOD!

todays riders are all pusyoles!

 

[Dr. Maserati]

Not a famous ride but Alexi Greywall admitted blood doping in his 1984 gold medal. Crazy, I remember watching that race.

I think you are mistaken here.
Many members of the USA team were blood doped - which has been proven, but there was nothing about Grewals win.

And when Grewal ultimatley confess to doping I do not remeber him ever mentioning blood doping.

For me - Grewal always was the opposite of what this thread is about - in that Grewal was a natural talent, yet could not live in the life of a European Pro (for many reasons).

 

[redtreviso]

I think you are mistaken here.
Many members of the USA team were blood doped - which has been proven, but there was nothing about Grewals win.

And when Grewal ultimatley confess to doping I do not remeber him ever mentioning blood doping.

For me - Grewal always was the opposite of what this thread is about - in that Grewal was a natural talent, yet could not live in the life of a European Pro (for many reasons).

Alexi's confession was odd..extreme guilt about a no-doze in a peach was the gist of it..If he was snorting meth I doubt that he would find no-doze worth mentioning much less having a guilty conscience about it.

 

[Escarabajo]

Laurent Brochard winning Worlds...that mullett had to be on some kind of stuff. I've never seen hair that agro!

This win was 1997, so I think EPO was in full charge.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Need to clarify a few things here.

Pedro Delgado in the ITT in 1988. It was too good to be truth.

Though probably took steroids earlier in the season for training, Delgado was a fine rider his entire career, and a former Vuelta winner. There was arguably weak competition in 1988 when he won the Tour. Roche wasn't there, LeMond wasn't there, Fignon abandoned. Hinault was retired. It was good, but not too good to be true.

Laurent Brochard winning Worlds...that mullett had to be on some kind of stuff. I've never seen hair that agro!

According to Willy Voet, Brouchard was actually positive for Lidocain after the race, and the doctors prepared a written document, but the issue was delayed at Hein Verbruggen's order until outside the time limit, and it never came to light.

Not a famous ride but Alexi Greywall admitted blood doping in his 1984 gold medal. Crazy, I remember watching that race.

Amazing that we get to 2 pages before anyone mentioned the 1984 American Olympic cycling team. Doped to the gills with blood transfusions, wasn't illegal in sporting terms at the time afaik but unethical for sure.

They weren't doped to the gills with transfusions, and no one on the road team used blood doping. Here's the article again detailing what happened. Keep in mind the best four racers going into the race were arguably Davis Phinney, Steve Bauer, Dag Otto Lauritzen, and Alexi Grewal. They finished all in the top 6, beating riders like Bojan Ropret, Nester Mora, Paul Kimmage, Louis Garneau, etc. Raul Alcala was there and finished 11th. Jean-Paul Van Poppel was there, be had a mechanical and lost big time. Fabio Parra as well, but the course didn't suit him. The only other big name that performed poorly was Miguel Indurain, who was barely 20 years old and dropped. Because of the boycott, NO Eastern block racers of quality were there. Thus there was no great shock of the US riders performing so well at the time on their home turf. They all went on to have strong pro careers.

 

[Le breton]

Quote from???
If so I would say Swiss rider Urs Zimmermann in 1986 had me going through old magazines at the time wondering who he was.
He won that years Dauphine and went on to finish 3rd in that years Tour.

Good call on Zimmermann especially because he was rubbish again the following season.
.

While Zimmermann never came back to the level he had in 86, he came close to it, for example in the 88 Giro : 3rd behind Hampsten and Breukink.

It should also be remembered that Zimmermann had an absolutely fantastic reputation as a clean rider, on a par with Delion's.