Angry Over Hotel Raid, Riders Stage Slowdown A1X-LES-BAINS, France --- The Tour de France, plagued by drug scandals, was stopped twice Wednesday by rider protests and faced a premature end for the first time in its 95-year history. The riders agreed to start Thursday only if the French police modify their tactics in a spreading investigation of some of the 21 teams in the world's greatest bicycle race. Not until Jean-Marie Leblanc, the director of the race consulted with government officials and promised a change in police methods---including questioning in team hotels rather than police stations---did the riders call off their second sit-down. [continues 1041 words]
AIX-LES-BAINS, France---High on the first climb in the Tour de France on Wednesday, Greg LeMond was waiting to watch the race go by and trying to understand why it was more than an hour behind schedule until he was told about the two stoppages by the riders. "I believe they're.protesting that it's gotten to be kind of a witch hunt," said the American, who won the Tour in 1986, 1989 and 1990. Now 37 years old and retired from the sport, LeMond was accompanying a 16-person tourist group that has been cycling over some of the Tour's roads before and after daily stages. [continues 364 words]
AIX-LES-BAINS, France (AP) - Angry Tour de France riders crossed the finish line holding hands in symbolic victory, only to be told their entire day of racing through the Alps would not count. In another jarring day for cycling's showcase event, the Tour de France was again hit wiht a protest Wednesday over a drug investigation. It was the second such protest by the riders, who have grown increasingly indignant since the race began July 11. "I can't race in this climate of permanent suspicion where we are taken for criminals," star French rider Laurent Jalabert said. [continues 614 words]
A third team was caught up in the drugs scandal dogging the Tour de France yesterday, after police seized suspect medication in a van driven by officials of the Bigmat team, writes Frank Ellis. The discovery came in Chambery, on the Franco-Swiss border near Albertville, as the cyclists arrived after the 16th stage of the competition. Around 100 doses of medication were found in briefcases among the team's bags during a routine inspection by customs officials, police said. "We're talking about a small quantity of medication, tests have been undertaken to determine their nature." said Albertville deputy prosecutor Monique Hugo. [continues 351 words]
THE scandal-hit Tour de France sank into further chaos yesterday, when the riders stopped the prestigious cycle race to protest against police raids on team hotels, staged as part of a crackdown on drug-taking. When they finally agreed to continue, after 30 minutes, they did so without wearing their race numbers, which led to the 93-mile stage - the 17th, from Albertville to Aix-les-Bains - being declared void. Marco Pantani of Italy, the overall leader, was one of the first riders to remove his number, ripping it from the famous yellow jersey. He said: "This action is being taken because of the persecution of the TVM team. The riders are fed up." [continues 135 words]
NICE, France- French police said Monday they had arrested 16 people from Colombia, France and Aruba, in the Dutch West Indies, after cracking an international ring of drug traffickers operating on the French Riviera. The arrests followed the seizure last week by police aboard two French navy ships of a sailing ship off Venezuela as it was taking on board 700 kilograms of Colombian cocaine (1,500 pounds) of Colombian cocaine. Nine French nationals were arrested in southern France, along with two more aboard the sailing ship Novaia and two French and two Colombians with Mexican passports on Aruba. [continues 65 words]
WITH the arrests following the discovery of steroids in the luggage of the Dutch team, TVM, and the admission by three of the "Festina nine" that they took the banned drug EPO, speculation increased that the remaining stages of this year's Tour de France would be cancelled. Angry scenes between riders and race organisers and an organised go slow by the 'peleton' on the Tarascon-Le Cap d'Agle stage of the race showed the growing sense of anger and frustration. [continues 694 words]
LE CAP D'AGDE, France---The Tour de France nearly unraveled Friday when the 150 remaing riders went on strike for two hours to protest what they called media hounding and criticism in the drug scandal surrounding the world's greatest bicycle race. "If the stage had been canceled, it might have been the end of the 1998 Tour," said Jean-Marie Leblanc, the race director. "The riders showed they're fed up," he added in a news conference after the daily stage was held. Leblanc especially cited a French television segment Thursday night that examined the garbage of the Asics team from Italy and displayed medical paraphernalia. [continues 847 words]
Unfortunately, cyclist's use of drugs is hardly hot news The Sue Mott Interview THE Tour de Farce. The biggest drug festival since Woodstock. The greatest pharmaceutical road show since Jimi Hendrix went on tour. This used to be a cycle race, one of the most evocative, romantic, compelling, demanding sports shows on earth. They put the winner in a yellow jersey. Now all we can seek a surgical gown. The initial shock has been replaced by initial fatigue. EPO for Erythropoietin, the synthetic blood booster, after 400 phials of the stuff were found in a car blonging to the French team Festina. TVM, the Dutch team, similarly implicated after drugs and masking agent were found in a hotel room. HGH, the human growth hormone, which allied to amphetamines, testosterone, corticosteroids, caffeine, aspirin and valium have been apparently making the alpine climb and descents for years alongside, inside and up the backsides of the riders - the artificial 'domestiques' of the Tour. RIP - since we are talking initials - professional cycle racing. [continues 1548 words]
GRENOBLE, France---What doping scandal? After agreeing with bicycle-racing authorities to discuss the sport's pharmacological problems in the fall and deciding not to talk now about anything but the athletic aspect of the Tour de France, the 147 remaining riders continued Sunday to roll toward their rendezvous with the Alps. If teams had psychologists instead of sports doctors they would say the race is in denial. Unmentioned by anybody on two wheels is the fact that two jailed officials of the TVM team from the Netherlands are due to be transferred Monday to the French city of Reims for questioning about the police seizure in March of a team car carrying illegal performance-enhancing drugs. If the officials implicate the team Tour of ficials have said, it will be expeiled. [continues 698 words]
Epicenter of Scandal Stimulates Production of Red Blood Cells For patients suffering from anemia caused by kidney disease, use of the synthetic hormone erythropoietin, or EPO, can be a lifesaver because it stimulates the production of red blood cells. For endurance athletes, the increased oxygen-carrying capacity provided by EPO has made it an alluring, performance-enhancing drug although it is banned and can leave athletes at risk of strokes, heart attacks and even death. EPO is at the epicenter of a widening drug scandal in the Tour de France. It is thought to be widely used in cycling, distance running and Nordic skiing by world-class athletes. But the drug goes largely undetected because scientists have yet to develop a reliable test to differentiate naturally occurring EPO from the genetically engineered version of the hormone. [continues 646 words]
PARIS---The American government's hostility to the international criminal court agreed on by 113 nations in Rome last Friday needs a better explanation than has yet been offered. The court for a long time will provide more symbolism than justice, but it is a significant advance in international law. The United States says it fears that troops on peacekeeping missions might be put on trial for war crimes. This explanation does not deserve to be taken seriously. Congress and the press should force the administration to explain what it really fears and why. [continues 777 words]
If it forces cycling into a long-overdue confrontation with the drug takers, the fallout from what has become known as "the Festina affair" can only benefit the sport. After the detention of Bruno Roussel, the Festina team manager, and Eric Ryckaert, the team doctor, by French police at the finish of stage four and the subsequent raid on the team's rooms in their nearby hotel, the International Cycling Union (UCI), cycling's governing body, finally acted. Under pressure from sponsors, media and the tour organisation itself, the UCI suspended Roussel's team manager's licence. [continues 776 words]
THE drugs scandal surrounding the Tour de France cycling marathon exploded into the open when the team at the carte of the allegations, Festina, was sensationally thrown out of the tour. The team included Richard Virenque, the reigning mountain champion, and Alex Zulle, one of the favourites for overall victory. The disqualification came after the team coach, Bruno Roussel, admitted that he had conducted a "concerted" practice of giving the team's riders illegal, performance - enhancing drugs. Roussel, 41, and the team doctor were already under investigation following the arrest of a masseur, Willy Voet, carrying a cache of anabolic steroids and growth hormones. - --- Checked-by: Melodi Cornett [end]
A 65-kilometre corridor in France is being turned into an alcohol-free zone today in the hope of avoiding more violence by English and German football hooligans. Hundreds of riot police were drafted into Lens in advance of a match between England and Columbia which will determine whether England remains in the Cup. The alcohol ban applies to bars along a coastal swarthe, from Dunkirk and Calais, all the way to Lens. Establishments in Lens face being shut down for eight days if they serve alcohol between 8 a.m. today and 8 a.m. Friday. A French policeman remains critically ill on life support after German hooligans fought pitched battles in the town last weekend. Before then, English hooligans had caused mayhem in Marseille. The French authorities fear some Germans may be heading for Lens to fight English fans. - --- Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson) [end]
The report about the "problems caused by drugs harm", revealed in our editions of June 17 had to be mark with a white stone. For the first time in France, this debate with high ideologic gravity will be able to begin on bases as objective as the current state of the progresses of science allows it. We argue, at last, on the pharmacology of the substances and not on the preconceived views, social, cultural and policies they convey. This new approach, which allows particularly to put in perspective the real harm of alcohol and cannabis, clarifies the incoherences of the current, medical and repressive legislative system fighting against the consumption of drug. It underlines has which point the distinction which is made between licit and illicit drugs does not rest on scientific bases. How can anyone reasonably maintain that it is legal to consume the quantity of alcohol which one wishes and that it is forbidden to smoke cannabis, even few grams? [continues 303 words]
PARIS, June 17 (Reuters) - Flying in the face of official policy, a government-commissioned report published on Tuesday concludes that drinking is a far worse health hazard than smoking cannabis. The report, by the state medical research institute INSERM as well as foreign experts and published by Le Monde newspaper, questions French laws that place few restrictions on drinking but ban cannabis. It identifies alcohol, heroin and cocaine in the group of substances most dangerous to health. Tobacco, psychotropic drugs, tranquillisers and hallucinogens are in a second group, with cannabis well down the list of substances categorised as posing relatively little danger. [continues 193 words]
Please send any related articles to editor@mapinc.org However, please send plain text in a message, not HTML or attachments, which will not process thru our system. We will attempt to translate articles sent in other languages; however, because of the limits of our text based system which does not always handle none English characters well, the translations may be a little rough. Please forgive us for any errors that may result. We used AltaVista Babelfish at: http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/ to translate the below. Newshawks may have better luck with translations to translate it for us first, using the above website as needed, before sending it to editor@mapinc.org because of what may be lost as the text passes thru our roboeditor system. [continues 297 words]
French lead the world in use of medications On Easter Sunday, when Marie-Claude Monnet began slurring her words after a single glass of wine and fell asleep midway through the holiday roast lamb, the Monnet family realized that it had a problem. Her daughter Jeanne found more than 100 open boxes of tranquilizers, narcotic painkillers and antibiotics in the 79-year-old woman's Paris apartment. ``We had to face the facts,'' Jeanne said. ``Maman is a droguee'' -- ``a junkie.'' [continues 1813 words]
PARIS, March 25 (Reuters) - A state prosecutor urged a Paris court on Wednesday to jail the leader of a group that mailed a marijuana cigarette to every French MP along with a plea to ease France's tough drug laws. Prosecutor Bernard Pages said Jean-Pierre Galland and his Paris-based Collective for Information and Research on Cannabis (CIRC) had committed a serious crime. He urged the court to convict Galland of ``encouraging drug use'' and called for an 18-month jail sentence, one year of it to be suspended. [continues 147 words]
Inside France
