Cycling's Drug Test

In 2004, Millar became cycling's highest-profile casualty. Another scandal struck in May 2006 when Spanish police raided a Madrid medical clinic and discovered more than 200 bags of blood, transfusion equipment, anabolic steroids, EPO and other doping products, along with coded lists that implicated more than 50 of the world's top cyclists.

Nine riders caught up in the so-called Operation Puerto investigation were forced to withdraw from the 2006 Tour de France, including 1997 winner Jan Ullrich, a German, and 2006 Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso, an Italian.

American Floyd Landis, who won the 2006 Tour, subsequently was stripped of his title after drug tests during the race came back positive for elevated levels of testosterone. He is the only rider to lose a medal for doping in the Tour's 105-year history.

Then came last year's Tour. Pre-race favorite Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan and his Astana team were expelled five days before the July 29 finish when Vinokourov, the 2006 Spanish Vuelta winner, tested positive for a banned blood transfusion. The next day, the rider who had worn the prestigious yellow jersey for eight days as the race's leader, Michael Rasmussen of Denmark, was forced to withdraw for lying about his whereabouts when he missed two out-of-competition drug tests earlier in the year. The same day, Italian cyclist Cristian Moreni was arrested by French police shortly after crossing the day's finish line for failing a drug test; his entire team pulled out of the race.

The British press dubbed it the "Tour de Farce." Two German television stations stopped their coverage of the race, as did a Swiss daily. France's Soir newspaper ran an obituary saying the Tour had died "at age 104, after a long illness."

Jean-Francois Lamour, vice president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), an independent organization created in response to the Festina scandal to coordinate the international fight against doping in sports, suggested that cycling be withdrawn from the Olympics.

In an interview, Tour de France chief Prudhomme said that the drug problem in cycling "is no different than in any other sport," but its aggressive testing and public stance to combat doping have helped make cycling "the black sheep of sports."

Unlike the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball and other professional sports, cycling does not have a strong players' union that fights against testing and works to keep the results private.

"Cycling is the only sport that has addressed the problem head-on -- it's not just a congressional hearing and a few USA Today headlines," said former U.S. cyclist Jonathan Vaughters, director and part owner of the American cycling team Slipstream, which has adopted one of the toughest anti-drug postures in cycling.

Millar, who served a two-year suspension, is now back in the saddle as an outspoken anti-doping advocate. Watching the drug scandals unfold during last year's Tour de France, he said he was angry, frustrated and depressed. He had staged a comeback not only for personal redemption, but because he realized how much he really loved the sport, and he hoped other riders could learn from his experiences.

But apparently nothing had changed. The riders, the teams, the sponsors, cycling officials "didn't get the message," he said.

Millar understood the mind-set. In 1999, when he was 22, just a year after the Festina affair, the members of his team were using EPO and trouncing their rivals, "and no one cared because we were winning, and it was literally hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil," he said.