Top 10 Most Reckless Dopers

[laziali]

*So, by "reckless" I mean just pumping yourself jam-packed full of PEDs and party drugs all the time without regard to health, getting caught etc. Not cold, calculating, sneaky mofos like Lance, Contador and the like.

I'll start:

1. The one and only VDB
2. Marco Pantani
3. Gert Jan Theunisse
4. Freddy Maertens
5. That crazy US guy with the tats on his head (I forget his name)
6. ...
7. ...
8. ...
9. ...
10. ...

 

[bobbins]

Gianetti
Museeuw
That crazy Cofidis guy

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The 'tats on his head' guy is David Clinger.

I suggest Néry Velásquez. He raided and attacked a truck taking his samples for testing.

And Johann Mühlegg.

 

[thehog]

Jalbert.
O'Grady.


2 of the biggest by far...... Boonen is up there.


Armstrong but never hit it outside coke.

 

[palmerq]

I read charly gaul used to take a lot more drugs than anyone else at the time,although I think it was before they were illegal so maybe it doesnt count.

 

[pmcg76]

Johan Van de Velde, though now reformed!!

 

[Cloxxki]

Why do I have to be the one to mention Ricco?

Household fridge, some random blood bags and needles. Almost killing himself. Strangely unintentionally even. Just trying to hard core dope.

And this is after having been on some crazy program where his performances just made you LOL.

 

[Fatclimber]

Riis
Floyd

 

[Anonymous]

Arthur Linton
Tom Simpson
Ricardo Ricco
Marco Pantani
Frank Vandenbroucke
Choppy Warburton
Fausto Coppi
Knud Enemark
Jacques Anquetil
Eddy Merckx
Tammy Thomas

oh, thats eleven..

 

[Altitude]

Stefan Schumacher
Jan Ullrich
Bernhard Kohl

 

[Berzin]

Claudio Chiappucci.

Rumored to have hematocrit levels far exceeding 60%, yet STILL couldn't win a grand tour.

How he's still alive is a mystery to me.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Richard Virenque.

I'd almost scratch the names from the days when doping was not so much performance enhancing (e.g. prior to about 1980...ish). Or create separate lists of old fart dopers and performance enhancing dopers. Those guys like Gaul in that era were doing it more to ease the suffering than increase endurance. But then again, it's still doping.

 

[frenchfry]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Richard Virenque.

I'd almost scratch the names from the days when doping was not so much performance enhancing (e.g. prior to about 1980...ish). Or create separate lists of old fart dopers and performance enhancing dopers. Those guys like Gaul in that era were doing it more to ease the suffering than increase endurance. But then again, it's still doping.

Virenque OK, but Pascal Hervé was the really crazy doper.

 

[hrotha]

Yep, I was going to say Hervé. Most of the people you guys are mentioning were probably normal dopers whose cases became (in)famous, but Hervé was on a whole different level.

I figure people like Rodolfo Massi and Bo Hamburger might come close.

 

[palmerq]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Richard Virenque.

I'd almost scratch the names from the days when doping was not so much performance enhancing (e.g. prior to about 1980...ish). Or create separate lists of old fart dopers and performance enhancing dopers. Those guys like Gaul in that era were doing it more to ease the suffering than increase endurance. But then again, it's still doping.

you might be right and I only read about gaul and maybe forgot most of it :S But I think someone said caul is going to die because he takes so much more than anyone else and someone else talking about his eyes and how bloodshot they were, I think even if it wasnt illegal back then he deserves to be in the list for his apparent excess in drug taking

I obviously might be very wrong though

 

[The Hitch]

Abd-el-Kader Zaf

 

[blaxland]

Ivan (dopedtothegills)Basso,Basso's sister,and even his dog............

 

[Le breton]

....
That crazy Cofidis guy.........

You are most likely thinking of Philippe Gaumont, but although he was an abuser, I am not at all convinced he was so reckless, just ready to admit once caught and give lots of detailed info.

For worse of the reckless among French cyclists I would definitely nominate Armand De las Cuevas
with pre98-Virenque and Hervé (pre and post 98) tied for second.

Of course, had he had a longer career Erwann Menthéour (self-admission)could have risen to the top.

Before 1990, in the French peloton, you had far worse than Anquetil : Roger Rivière.

 

[maltiv]

Although not a cyclist, Johann Mühlegg in 2002 olympics has got to be the most extreme doper of all time. The guy was so filled with up with steroids and whatnot that one could basically see that the guy was doped just by taking a quick glance on his face. His tactic was as dumb as it was effective - hit the front immediately with his ridiculously ugly style and drop the entire field while they were gasping for air while being in his slipstream. That didn't stop him from dropping them all on the flat without even accelerating. Then he went on to win by 3 minutes, which is a downright ridiculous gap for a 30km mass-start. Particularly for a guy who before this race was very average.

I mean, seriously, his technique was so horrible that its effectiveness was about comparable to the effectiveness of a cyclist riding on a tricycle vs one on a road bike. Yet it's not like everyone behind him was clean, because half of them have been caught too, so I wonder what on earth Mühlegg took that day...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Although not a cyclist, Johann Mühlegg in 2002 olympics has got to be the most extreme doper of all time. The guy was so filled with up with steroids and whatnot that one could basically see that the guy was doped just by taking a quick glance on his face. His tactic was as dumb as it was effective - hit the front immediately with his ridiculously ugly style and drop the entire field while they were gasping for air while being in his slipstream. That didn't stop him from dropping them all on the flat without even accelerating. Then he went on to win by 3 minutes, which is a downright ridiculous gap for a 30km mass-start. Particularly for a guy who before this race was very average.

I mean, seriously, his technique was so horrible that its effectiveness was about comparable to the effectiveness of a cyclist riding on a tricycle vs one on a road bike. Yet it's not like everyone behind him was clean, because half of them have been caught too, so I wonder what on earth Mühlegg took that day...

Officially, darbopoietin. Unofficially, everything else as well.

I mean, this is a guy who would only speak through the mediation of a Portuguese assistant and carried a flask of holy water with him for years because he was convinced the German coaches were trying to poison him.

 

[Mambo95]

Abd-el-Kader Zaf

Is that the guy that (allegedly) had a few swigs of wine and fell asleep under a tree? A great Tour story, and like all the great Tour stories, probably made up.

As to the most reckless.

Gianetti
Ricco
And eight riders in the 90s who had to wake up in the middle of the night to stop themselves dying.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Virenque OK, but Pascal Hervé was the really crazy doper.

Herve was not quite the household name Virenque was here. But, yeah, now I recall the name Herve.

Here's a list of some popular recent (before 2007) doping cases in cycling:
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=3029280.
I don't recall if these 2 from the above list have been mentioned in this thread yet, but FRIGO and R U M S A S. What a mess Rumsas created for himself.

 

[Maxiton]

I'm surprised no one - not even the Hog! - has mentioned the Hog himself, Johan Bruyneel. Then, of course, there's Fausto Coppi. Ever since his death it's been strongly rumored that he died not of malaria but of a cocaine overdose. Apparently the guy was a total coke head.

PS. Apologies for having to mention Coppi in the same post as Bruyneel, who isn't worthy of washing Coppi's chamois.

 

[BroDeal]

David Millar. He was so wasted on Stilnox and alcohol that he jumped off a roof and broke a bone in his foot.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Tammy Thomas

Top of the list. No question. USAC wouldn't touch her situation which shows you exactly how dedicated USAC is to anti-doping percieved 'winners.' If there was ever someone to ask about the long-term consequences of whatever she took, it's her based on the quantities she took.

She would be a potentially great interview today. Condemning her again wouldn't help get insight into her current situation and how she looks back at it all now.

And NINE riders in the 90s who had to wake up in the middle of the night to stop themselves dying