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@hippy
Mottet's career was '83-94 and before widespread EPO use (Festina affair '98). I'd imagine that stimulant use was higher back then though? A friend of a friend made it to semi-pro Euro ranks and then retired from the sport before doing anything major because he'd be racing against people who were dead one day and winning the next. He didn't want to play ball with the gear so he quit.
We had a talk from an Aussie pro who raced in Belgium a few years running. He was a good rider but said he was up against guys who's eyes were like dinner plates on the start line and from the sound of it he blamed their drug use for his ability to only ever finish 10-20th in the Kermesse's he was racing.
Nothing explains how Lance can be SO good and never test positive? On one hand I'd like to believe he was that good but on the other we have the fact that the best who were on drugs STILL couldn't catch him.
I have Breaking the Chain by Voet. Rough Rider(s)? by Paul Kimmage was another book to reveal some of the doping cases. I also have In Search of Robert Millar which I'm yet to read. Flying Scotsman Graeme Obree was another rider who was reported to have given up the pro racing because of the prevelance of drugs in the sport.
If you want to stamp out doping.. test everyone, all the time and give a no second chances, lifetime ban and forfeit of a years wages for any positive test.
"But it's my natural level" they will claim.. what then?