Lance Armstrong is back in the news again, facing the same doping allegations that have been following him for years. The case against Armstrong continues to strengthen though, as more and more former teammates and others testify that he used illegal drugs.

The New York Times provides a graphical look at just what an impact doping has had on the sport of cycling. The riders pictured below are the original (before being stripped of their spot for doping) top 10 finishers of the Tour de France since 1998. All cyclists pictured have either tested positive, admitted to doping or been sanctioned by an official cycling or antidoping agency. Those whose sanctions were later overturned are not pictured.

This amounts to over a third of the top Tour de France finishers over the last 15 years who have been officially linked to doping, and this is just what was found. Considering how much trouble the regulating agencies seem to have discovering who in fact is doping, the chance that many of the other two thirds either weren’t caught or just weren’t caught yet is high.

 

Tags: , , ,