Philippe Gaumont
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Olympic medal record | |||
| Men's Cycling | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | 1992 | Team Road Race | |
Philippe Gaumont (born February 22, 1973 in Amiens) is a former French professional road cyclist. He is notorious for having confessed to extensive doping and explaining a lot of the tricks of the trade.
[edit] Racing results
- He got the bronze medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics, 100 km against the clock cycling.
- He was twice champion of France on track (individual pursuit), in 2000 and 2002.
- He won the Belgian classic Gand-Wevelgem in 1997.
In 2004, Philippe Gaumont quit professional cycling. He now runs a café in Amiens.
[edit] Doping usage
- He began his professional career in 1994 in the Castorama team.
- In 1996 he joined the GAN team, and was tested positive for nandrolone in two races.
- In 1997 he joined the Cofidis team, in which he stayed until the end of his career.
- In 1998 he was tested positive twice for the nandrolone drug, but obtained that the case was dismissed.
- In 1999, a blood test conducted in the "Docteur Mabuse" justice case showed he was positive for amphetamines.
- In 2004, he was interrogated by French police and justice in the enquiry for the Cofidis doping case. He declared that the had repeatedly and consistently used doping products, including EPO, since the beginning of his professional career. He then said that he thought that 95% of professional racers doped themselves and expressed very strong doubts that a racer could win a major tour, such as the Tour de France, without doping.
Following from this case, he quit professional racing. He gave a series of interviews, and wrote a book, Prisonnier du dopage ("Prisoner of doping") in which he explained various things that he witnessed in professional cycling: doping methods, masking methods, and how the need to make money makes racers dope themselves.
He gave details such as how to avoid being tested positive for corticoids: how, for instance, to irritate one's testicle sac using salt in order to provoke a rash and obtain a prescription for some corticoid cream. Since urine tests do not distinguish between (legal) corticoid applied as creams, with a prescription, and (illegal) injections, such prescriptions are used to mask doping.
