Tom Simpson - Simpson and Drugs

Simpson and Drugs

Two years before his death, Simpson, writing in the British newspaper, The People, hinted at drug-taking in races, although he implied that it was other competitors who were involved. Asked about drugs by Eamonn Andrews on the BBC Home Service radio network, Simpson did not deny taking them but said that a rider who took drugs all the time might get to the top but he would not stay there.

William Fotheringham spoke to another British professional, Alan Ramsbottom, for his biography of Simpson, Put Me Back on My Bike. He quoted Ramsbottom as saying "Tom went on the Tour de France with one suitcase for his kit and another with his stuff, drugs and recovery things." Fotheringham said Lewis had the same memory. Ramsbottom added: "Tom took a lot of chances. He took a lot of it. I remember him taking a course of strychnine to build up to some big event. He showed me the box, and had to take one every few days."

On the subject of drugs, Simpson's friend and helper in Ghent, Albert Beurick, insisted: "I know he took them but he was a clever man. He didn't just take them, take them, take them. One day I remember he was going to take some to go training and he said 'I don't need this... I'm getting as bad as Stablinski."

Harry Hall said: "He had this incredible ability to suffer. The drugs didn't kill Tom. Tom killed himself."

Lucien Aimar, himself caught for doping, said: "Simpson had taken, at most, 30mg . Had it not been for his anaemic state he wouldn't have died. What killed him wasn't the dope, nor Ventoux even though it was so hot. The true guilt lay with medical science. What pushed him into his coffin was the person who administered an intravenous drip, the thing that made it possible for him to go on restarting ."