The Unfortunates.

[Anonymous]

These names will be common knowledge to most, but interesting nonetheless. How many more are there?

http://www.scribd.com/doc/47528100/cyclists

Ernie Lachuga (testicular cancer)
Greg Stock (auto immune problems)
Erich Kaiter (chrohns disease)
Lance Armstrong (testicular cancer)
David Francis
Gerrick Latta
Stive Vermaut (Deceased)
Michael Zanoli (deceased)
Edmund Burke (deceased)

Note these riders/people all have something in common. Products of either the US Team, or Linked to Motorola/Postal

 

[Chuffy]

Not familiar to me, so thanks for that.

Hmmm. Not really sure what conclusions you could draw from that. You'd need a proper medical study to see if there were causative links.

 

[L'arriviste]

Johannes Draaijer (NL) springs to mind as an early adopter.

 

[Anonymous]

Johannes Draaijer (NL) springs to mind as an early adopter.

well there were three dutch died within about a year of each other. None of them raced for either the US team or motorola/postal though

be interesting to know just how many cycling deaths/illnesses there were over 1998-2002.

certainly there seem a strange amount of US related cyclists.

 

[L'arriviste]

well there were three dutch died within about a year of each other. None of them raced for either the US team or motorola/postal though

be interesting to know just how many cycling deaths/illnesses there were over 1998-2002.

certainly there seem a strange amount of US related cyclists.

Sorry, Dim. I didn't realise that you were focusing on the US there. Do you want me to delete my post to keep the thread focused? A lot of them as mentioned by Voet are on that Wikipedia page.

 

[jimmypop]

How about those who suffered the indirect consequences of doping culture?

-Marco Pantani (depression and substance abuse)
-Jose Maria Jiminez (depression and substance abuse)
-Matt Decanio (went off the rails)
-Dave Clinger (went way off the rails)
-Walker Ferguson (and many other talents who became disillusioned with the sport and walked away)

 

[Anonymous]

How about those who suffered the indirect consequences of doping culture?

-Marco Pantani (depression and substance abuse)
-Jose Maria Jiminez (depression and substance abuse)
-Matt Decanio (went off the rails)
-Dave Clinger (went way off the rails)
-Walker Fergusion (and many other talents who became disillusioned with the sport and walked away)

Christophe Bassons.

Or huge talents like Danny Pate who continue to flog themselves all the while knowing the deck is stacked against them.

 

[Tyler'sTwin]

Susanne Ljungskog - hemochromatosis (could be doping related)

One of the spanish Galgo articles said that Fuentes prescribed Prozac to clients so I guess depression might be a possible adverse effect of doping.

 

[fatandfast]

Thierry Claveyrolat. Guy dealt with alcohol problems and depression before he shot himself

 

[Lanark]

How about those who suffered the indirect consequences of doping culture?

-Marco Pantani (depression and substance abuse)
-Jose Maria Jiminez (depression and substance abuse)
-Matt Decanio (went off the rails)
-Dave Clinger (went way off the rails)
-Walker Fergusion (and many other talents who became disillusioned with the sport and walked away)

I would say that guys like Pantani and VDB suffered much more from the crazy fandom and pressure they received, probably the same for Chava Jimenez.

 

[Lanark]

Johannes Draaijer (NL) springs to mind as an early adopter.

Outside of the fact that he died of a heart attack during a period that EPO was technically on the market, there really isn't any reason to assume EPO was the course of his heart attack. Draaijer's and Oosterbosch his death have often been said to be the first EPO-deaths, but I find this highly unlikely.

Why would a couple of middling Dutch pros be the first to have acces to EPO, before even guys like Ferrari had it? Why couldn't they win anything important when they were the first people to use EPO, they should have had an extreme edge on the competition. And why would they die of a heart attack, when in the middle of the 90's, with virtually everyone in the peloton using fast quantities of EPO, no one died of a heart attack? It just sounds like a boogieman story to me from the early EPO days.

 

[ultimobici]

Outside of the fact that he died of a heart attack during a period that EPO was technically on the market, there really isn't any reason to assume EPO was the course of his heart attack. Draaijer's and Oosterbosch his death have often been said to be the first EPO-deaths, but I find this highly unlikely.

Why would a couple of middling Dutch pros be the first to have acces to EPO, before even guys like Ferrari had it? Why couldn't they win anything important when they were the first people to use EPO, they should have had an extreme edge on the competition. And why would they die of a heart attack, when in the middle of the 90's, with virtually everyone in the peloton using fast quantities of EPO, no one died of a heart attack? It just sounds like a boogieman story to me from the early EPO days.

Do you know who Oosterbosch was? He was World Pursuit Champoin in 79 aged 22, won 6 stages of the Tour as well as numerous prologues to boot. He was far from middling.

The reason no-one died in the mid-90s was down to what was learned from the deaths early on in the decade. Drop by any team hotel in the dead of night and you'd have heard the turbo-trainers whirring away!

The fact that several riders died of heart attacks in the late 80s to early 90s is most likely that they were not on a team that had a proper program. Self administered without medical supervision is risky with cortisone, testosterone & amphetamines, but it downright suicidal with EPO.

 

[Darryl Webster]

Gert Jan Thunisse may well have been an early EPO user along with Stephan Rooks:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gert-Jan_Theunisse

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Rooks

The first rider to banned for Epo, according to wiki, though I cant find who it was , was in 88.
Gert is now registered disabled.

This list makes sobering reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_doping_cases_in_cycling ... its a who`s who of pro cycling!

 

[Lanark]

Do you know who Oosterbosch was? He was World Pursuit Champoin in 79 aged 22, won 6 stages of the Tour as well as numerous prologues to boot. He was far from middling.

The reason no-one died in the mid-90s was down to what was learned from the deaths early on in the decade. Drop by any team hotel in the dead of night and you'd have heard the turbo-trainers whirring away!

Of course I know who Oosterbosch was. He won 3 Tour stages at a young age, when he passed 28, he didn't win anything important anymore. Really, how likely is it that a extremely talented cyclist stops winning the moment he is the first athlete in the world to discover EPO? If Oosterbosch actually used EPO, he would have won the Tour, not have trouble finishing it.

I know the hometrainer stories, but those were only necessary in cases of extreme EPO-abuse. I don't think a single turbo-training has been whirring after the 50% limit. Either Oosterbosch used such fast quantities of EPO that his blood got so thick he died of a heart attack (yet was unable to win a single race of importance), or he used EPO in moderate quantities, which doesn't seem to carry any health risk. Either way, it's highly unlikely that Oosterbosch died of EPO use in 1989.

 

[NashbarShorts]

Well, Theunisse was a walking pharmacology lab, but to be fair, he is disabled b/c he was struck by a car. Wikipedia does mention a heart attack while he was still competing on the mtb circuit. I'd say that is more attributable to doping than a car accident.

 

[jimmypop]

Gert Jan Thunisse

Gert-Jan, the man who brought big-time doping to MTB XC. Witness Bart Brentjens 1994 Colorado WC XC win by something like 10 minutes (IIRC). He soft pedaled much of the final lap (I still have that VHS somewhere).

 

[Race Radio]

I don't think Ed Burke belongs on that list, he was more of a coach then a rider

 

[Darryl Webster]

Well, Theunisse was a walking pharmacology lab, but to be fair, he is disabled b/c he was struck by a car. Wikipedia does mention a heart attack while he was still competing on the mtb circuit. I'd say that is more attributable to doping than a car accident.

Yeh, im aware of the car incident being the cause of his disability..he seems to have a rough time of things.
I rode alongside both riders in 89 and they seemed nice enuff fellas.
That doesnt mean I aprove there doping one bit but I think its important to understand nice peeps dope to...and that doping is only one aspect of how we might view a rider.
Had Armstrong gone about things with a lot less bullying and been generous to his team etc...showed a bit of humility and most important of all not scamed a cancer charity me finks the "hate" aspect of the critics wouldnt be there.
He wanted to be bigger than cycling and for a while believed he was.
He wasnt.

 

[Suedehead]

Susanne Ljungskog - hemochromatosis (could be doping related).

Blood tranfusion can give symptoms like hemochromatosis, but apparently the diagnosis is given on the basis of a gene test, and family is screened to check if they are at risk. Not the right gene, not the right diagnosis. Or so I am told.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't think Ed Burke belongs on that list, he was more of a coach then a rider

i was more listing the US related deaths around that period but clearly i didnt explain that well. We are now having a world doping list. my fault.

 

[Polish]

The Motorola/Postal squad was very International.

But anyway, I would think that Lance is one of the more "fortunate" US riders on your US "unfortunates" list.

Heck, Lance raced the TdF in London once I believe.
Lots of danger there for crying out loud.

"The action plan states: "In 2008, 15 cyclists were killed, 430 were seriously injured and a further 2,757 cyclists sustained slight injuries while cycling on London's roads. In 2009 there were 13 fatalities, there were also 398 serious injuries and 2,998 slight injuries in the period from January to November 2009."
http://lydall.standard.co.uk/2010/0...-toll-and-boriss-misguided-superhighways.html

 

[ultimobici]

The Motorola/Postal squad was very International.

But anyway, I would think that Lance is one of the more "fortunate" US riders on your US "unfortunates" list.

Heck, Lance raced the TdF in London once I believe.
Lots of danger there for crying out loud.

"The action plan states: "In 2008, 15 cyclists were killed, 430 were seriously injured and a further 2,757 cyclists sustained slight injuries while cycling on London's roads. In 2009 there were 13 fatalities, there were also 398 serious injuries and 2,998 slight injuries in the period from January to November 2009."
http://lydall.standard.co.uk/2010/0...-toll-and-boriss-misguided-superhighways.html

What has road traffic statistics got to do with it?

FWIW, he never rode in London.

 

[DirtyWorks]

The fact that several riders died of heart attacks in the late 80s to early 90s is most likely that they were not on a team that had a proper program. Self administered without medical supervision is risky with cortisone, testosterone & amphetamines, but it downright suicidal with EPO.

This is what I recall too. Late 1980's VN would print brief mention of competitive cyclist deaths by heart attack. There was not much Internet then, so the dead-tree edition of VN was it for me.