What a dope-free Tour would have looked like

ANALYSIS

By Bill Strickland

updated 8:28 p.m. ET Aug. 30, 2010

Like too many of us, I’ve been spending too much of my time thinking too long about doping. One thing I started wondering is what the Tour de France podium might look like if the staunchest anti-doping advocates realized their dream and the forces of history somehow reached back and purged every doper from the years we’re all arguing the most about — from Lance Armstrong’s first win in 1999 up to Floyd Landis’s revoked win in 2006.

My criteria for who qualifies as a doper will drive some of you crazy for being too lenient, and make an admittedly smaller group mad for being too draconian, but here it is: Just for the purpose of this exercise, I’m counting as a doper anyone who at any time: ever admitted doping or was ever suspended by a sanctioning group for doping or in relation to it, those who were suspended or fired by their teams or withdrawn from races by their teams for some connection to doping, anyone who was convicted of it in a sporting, criminal or civil hearing or trial, or paid a fine to settle charges related to it.

I don’t count positives excused by Therapeutic Use Exemptions, which is basically a doctor’s note saying that a rider has a medical issue that requires the use of an otherwise banned substance—popping up most notably in the case of Armstrong, who had a note explaining his synthetic steroid use in 1999 (to treat a skin allergy or saddle sore), and for Oscar Pereiro, negating his two positive tests for salbutamol (to treat asthma, a condition that afflicts a higher percentage than average of pro bicycle racers) in the 2006 Tour de France.

I also don’t ding riders for investigations and allegations that haven’t resulted in the consequences I listed above.

Here’s how the Tour would have looked, given what we know now. The no-doper podium appears in bold. Original finish position is listed in parentheses after each rider. Explanations for why the riders are kicked off the podium are listed at the end. You know what I learned from this? Pereiro’s actual win (via Floyd Landis disqualification) in 2006 feels more like a logical rise to the top in light of his virtual-no-doper third-place in 2005, and Carlos Sastre’s three no-doper podiums in ’02, ’03 and ’06 herald that seemingly surprise win in ’08. I also learned I’m not stupid to be sad about pro cycling.

1999
1. Lance Armstrong (1)
Alex Zulle (2)
2. Fernando Escartin (3)
Laurent Dufaux (4)
3. Angel Casero (5)

2000
1. Armstrong (1)
Jan Ullrich (2)
Joseba Beloki (3)
Christophe Moreau (4)
Roberto Heras (5)
Richard Virenque (6)
Santiago Botero (7)
2. Fernando Escartin (8)
Franciso Mancebo (9)
3. Daniele Nardello (10)

2001
1. Armstrong (1)
Ullrich (2)
Beloki (3)
2. Andrei Kivilev (4)
Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (5)
3. Francois Simon (6)

2002
1. Armstrong (1)
Beloki (2)
Raimondas Rumsas (3)
Botero (4)
Galdeano (5)
2. Jose Azevedo (6)
Mancebo (7)
Levi Leipheimer (8)
Roberto Heras (9)
3. Carlos Sastre (10)

2003
1. Armstrong (1)
Ullrich (2)
Alexander Vinokourov (3)
Tyler Hamilton (4)
2. Haimar Zubeldia (5)
Iban Mayo (6)
Ivan Basso (7)
Moreau (8)
3. Sastre (9)

2004
1. Armstrong (1)
Andreas Kloden (2)
Basso (3)
Ullrich (4)
2. Azevedo (5)
Mancebo (6)
3. Georg Totschnig (7)

2005
1. Armstrong (1)
Basso (2)
Ullrich (3)
Mancebo (4)
Vinokourov (5)
Leipheimer (6)
Michael Rasmussen (7)
2. Cadel Evans (8)
Floyd Landis (9)
3. Oscar Pereiro (10)

2006
Landis (1)
1. Pereiro (2)
Kloden (3)
2. Sastre (4)
3. Evans (5)