By Duncan Mackay

Steven de Jongh in orange kitJune 17 - Doping was rampant among professional cyclists in the Netherlands during the late 1990s and early 2000s, a report published today by the Dutch Anti-Doping Commission discovered.


A key recommendation of the report is that the responsbility for drugs testing and sanctioning riders who are caught should be removed from the International Cycling Union (UCI), which was headed by Dutchman Hein Verbruggen during the period the document covers. 

The Commission's report discovered doping was endemic among Dutch cyclists for many years and was only reduced by the introduction of measures such as biological passports and out-of-competition testing.

The Anti-Doping Approach Commission established by the Dutch Olympic Committee*Dutch Sports Federation and Royal Dutch Cycling Union (KNWU) conducted anonymous interviews with dozens of riders and team staff.

It had been established last December following claims of doping within the earlier Dutch teams.

Since then, Thomas Dekker, Steven de Jongh (pictured top), Michael Boogerd and Danny Nelissen are amongst those who have publicly confessed to having used banned drugs.

The report says that the vast majority of riders felt they had little choice but to dope, particularly after the introduction of Erythropoietin (EPO), and that up to 95 per cent of them used banned products.

According to the Commission's report, its interviews "confirmed the suspicion that most of the peloton, and the Dutch part thereof, during the heyday of EPO (late 1990s and beginning of this century) used doping.

"It is difficult to give percentages but a range of 80, 90 and perhaps 95 per cent is in our eyes the truth."

The report said: "In their eyes, it was crucial to the success of their cycling career and simply to meet the basic expectations of the team management."

The Commission talked to numerous persons within cycling, but did not give any names or even the number of persons it interviewed.

Winnie Sorgdrager profileFormer Justice Minister Winnie Sorgdrager headed the Commission which investigated the problems of drugs in Dutch cycling

"Many riders who came to us were very afraid, for some of the legal consequences," said chair Winnie Sorgdrager, a former Justice Minister.

"We have offered these people protection and that includes that we say nothing about the number [of persons interviewed]."

The report claimed that much of the blame must be laid at the feet of the professional teams who employed the riders. 

"The message of the management team to the riders was one of double standards," said Sorgdrage.

"On the one hand, there was the explicit rejection of doping.

"On the other hand, the riders were reminded of their responsibility to the appropriate moments to 'be good' in the season.

"We suspect that both parties were fully were aware of the implications of this message.

"Through the interviews it became clear that the the role of the team management and team leaders is difficult to interpret.

"That is very dependent on the team, the people itself and the time period.

"The predominant view is that most Dutch teams did manage doping."

The Commission claimed said that it "seems" that doping has decreased since 2009, but also issued a warned.

"It is probably a matter of time before something new comes up that is effective and not detectable," it said.

The report makes various recommendations, such as warning young riders about the dangers of doping, changes in cycling's structure and stricter sanctions.

Marcel Wintels, President of the KNWU, was not surprised by the findings.

"It gives us an honest, realistic but also painful insight into how widespread doping in cycling was," he said.

"We must now look at how we can use the recommendations of the Comission to achieve a cleaner cycling."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]