Alexandre Dougnier, an amateur French cyclist, tested positive for at least 12 banned substances, including at least 7 steroid metabolites, at a race in Aubervilliers (France) in May 2011. The teenage cyclist was banned for three years from competition in what may be a record for an athlete caught using the most banned substances.
The urinalysis revealed the use of what appears to be drugs related to the anabolic steroids Winstrol, Dianabol and Anavar. The following steroids were identified in Dougnier’s urine sample: 3-Hydroxystanozolol, 16b-Hydroxystanozolol, 4b-Hydroxystanozolol, Oxandrolone, epi-Oxandrolone, 6b-Hydroxymethandienone and 17-epi-Methandienone.
Dougnier was a third category cyclist with the Parisian Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt. Could it be possible that Dougnier was a follower of the club’s most notable doper Jacques Anquetil? Who says that young cyclists have no respect for the elders and the history of the sport?
Anquetil was a member of the AC Boulogne-Billancourt cycling club during the 1950s and 1960s. During this time, Anquetil became the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times. He also won two Olympic medals, two Giro d’Italia and one Vuelta a España.
Anquetil was also known as an unapologetic doper who famously defended the use of performance-enhancing drugs during a televised debate with the French sports minister. He said that only a fool would endure the agony of participating in the extreme sport of cycling riding through “the cold, through heatwaves, in the rain and in the mountains” without the use of drugs. He saw drug testing as a “threat to individual liberty.”
“Leave me in peace,” said Anquetil. “Everybody takes dope.”
While anabolic steroids may not have been the “dope” of choice among cyclists during the 50s and 60s, the more dangerous amphetamines definitely saw widespread use. However, the use of anabolic steroids has became increasingly popular among the peloton over the past 20 years.
When the 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis got caught using the steroid testosterone, his legal team attempted to argue that anabolic steroids provided no performance-enhancing benefit in endurance sports like cycling.
Convicted steroid dealer and cyclist Joseph Papp discredited this argument when he testified that the use of steroids was widespread in elite cycling. He exposed how easy it was for cyclists to use testosterone gels without getting caught by the anti-doping police. It was simply a matter of proper timing and application to avoid detection.
Of course, Alexandre Dougnier threw caution to the wind and apparently used steroids and other PEDs without attempting to avoid detection. Most likely, Dougnier had no idea that the race in Aubervilliers would be a drug-tested event.
Photo credit: Nationaal Archief / Wikipedia
Source:
MacMichael, S. (January 22, 2012). Doping by the dozen: 3-year ban for French amateur who tested positive for 12 illegal substances. Retrieved from http://road.cc/content/news/50936-doping-dozen-3-year-ban-french-amateur-who-tested-positive-12-illegal-substances
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