2008 Tour de France - Doping

Doping

On 26 May 2008, the 2007 green jersey (points) winner Tom Boonen tested positive for cocaine. Since this was outside competition, Boonen was not sanctioned by the UCI or WADA, but he was nevertheless barred from the 2008 Tour de France.

Following protracted disagreement between the organisers of the Tour de France (ASO) and the UCI, the race was sanctioned by the French cycling federation (FFC), as was the 2008 Paris–Nice in March. Thus the FFC were in charge of the doping controls before and during the race, and rather than increasing the number of doping controls during the Tour, they applied a more targeted approach on suspect riders. The anti-doping agency AFLD carried out approximately 60 random and targeted tests in the weeks leading up to the Tour. They took blood samples from all the 180 riders in a two-day period just before the first stage, and during the race took samples from up to 14 riders a day shortly after the stage was finished, 250 tests being run in total. The Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) also performed unannounced doping tests of riders at the finish of stage 15, which ended at the ski resort of Prato Nevoso, Italy. On 3 July 2008, France enacted a law criminalizing using or trafficking in doping substances.

On 11 July news broke that Spanish rider Manuel Beltrán tested positive for erythropoietin after the first stage of the tour. Blood abnormalities before the tour start had led AFLD to target the rider. Beltrán's team Liquigas withdrew him from the tour with immediate effect. French law enforcement authorities questioned Beltrán over possible offences and searched his hotel room, but he claimed his innocence. The B-Sample has not yet been tested.

On 13 July, prior to the ninth stage, it was revealed that AFLD had informed team doctors that five riders had unusually high hematocrit levels. The Italian press reported that Riccardo Riccò, who won the stage later that day, had been selected for testing several times during the first week, which led to a suspicion that he was among those whose teams had been notified. Riccò has for some time been known to have a naturally high hematocrit level of 51%, above the 50%-level which usually is taken to be an indicator of possible blood manipulation. Riccò stated that he has a license confirming that this is a natural, long-term condition, which he gave to the doping agencies before the start of the race, but he later admitted to the offence at a hearing of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI).

On 16 July Barloworld started the 11th stage without Moisés Dueñas, who had been withdrawn from the team after being tested positive for EPO at the end of the time trial fourth stage. Barloworld Ltd, two days later, announced that they were withdrawing from sponsorship after this year's Tour de France, but on 28 October, they announced that they would sponsor the team for another year.

On 17 July, shortly before the start of stage 12, Ricardo Riccò and the rest of the Saunier Duval-Scott team, withdrew from the race after the announcement that he had tested positive for MIRCERA, a new type of EPO, at the end of stage 4. Leonardo Piepoli, winner of stage 10, was sacked by his team for "violation of the team's ethics code" the following day, though no positive test was reported at that time. Almost 3 months later his tests came back positive for samples taken one day prior to the start of the Tour, on 4 July, and also on 15 July, on the rest day in Pau.

On the last day of the race, but after the end of the stage, Dmitry Fofonov was announced to have tested positive for the banned stimulant heptaminol after Stage 18. He was asked for a medical exemption to use the stimulant, but did not produce one. He was subsequently fired by his team Crédit Agricole.

After the race ended, French cyclist Jimmy Casper was suspended from Agritubel because he tested positive after the stage to Super Besse for glucocorticoids, an asthma drug that is banned unless the user has a medical exemption for its use. Casper, an asthmatic, carried a therapeutic use exemptions (TUE) for the last twelve years but failed to renew this exemption. His authorisation expired on 29 May and was not renewed before the 2008 Tour de France. The French cycling federation's disciplinary commission exonerated Casper.

In late September it was announced that several Tour de France riders were to have their blood samples retested for traces of EPO. Pierre Bordry, the head of AFLD, claimed the testing involved riders who were already under scrutiny for suspicious urine samples. AFLD had suspicion that there was MIRCERA in some samples but the laboratory could not say definitively. The urine tests were somewhat unreliable at giving definitive results, so the AFLD decided to order the blood samples taken before and during the Tour for additional testing with a newly developed CERA blood test.

As a result of this additional testing, both Leonardo Piepoli and Stefan Schumacher tested positive for the same substance which Riccò used, MIRCERA. The riders were declared positive by AFLD.

On 13 October 2008, the AFLD announced that Bernhard Kohl, who finished in third place overall and winner of the climbers' competition, had also tested positive for MIRCERA on 3 and 15 July, before and during the Tour de France. Initial results were verified, and Kohl also confessed to doping. His third-place overall finish in the 2008 Tour and his first place in the King of the Mountains competition are considered vacancies in the Tour's official history.