Another form of cheating that has occurred in professional cycling is the use of performance-enhancing drugs. There are three major types of these drugs that have been used to gain an edge on the competition: anabolic steroids, erythropoietin (EPO) and amphetamines.
Anabolic Steroids
Anabolic steroids encompass an entire family of drugs related to testosterone, the male hormone, and which stimulate muscle growth in the body. Anabolic steroids may be taken by pill, injection or administered through the skin.
American rider Floyd Landis, who won the 2006 Tour de France, was stripped of his championship a month after the race when the results of a drug test showed higher-than-allowable levels of testosterone as well as the presence of synthetic testosterone in his body.
Erythropoietin
Erythropoietin, also known as EPO, is a chemical form of blood doping that first came about in the 1980s. Before a test became available in 2000 to detect the drug that helps boost the body’s red blood cell count, use and abuse of EPO was rampant in professional cycling, according to riders who competed at the time.
The spectre of the abuse that took place during this period is still apparent. In May 2007, the T-Mobile cycling team suspended two doctors who allegedly supplied EPO to former Tour de France winners Bjarne Riis, Jan Ullrich and other riders on the team (then known as Team Telekom) between 1992 and 1996, more than a decade earlier.
Though EPO is now a prohibited substance in professional cycling, and riders are regularly tested for its presence in their bodies, its use is still a problem.
