Ferrari and Cadel Evans Linked

Cadel Evans, 2011 Tour de France winner is alleged to have consulted Dr. Michele Ferrari, the now tainted

Cadel Evans in Paris, 2011 (c) Benepe

doctor in the doping allegation scandals rocking the world cycling scene.

The consultation is alleged to have taken place in 2000, and no discussion was entered about utilizing banned substances, according to the Aussie rider.

The revelations were first reported by Australian television SBS.

Evans is said to have told them by email “There was never any discussion of doping (with Dr Ferrari) or any sign of anything illegal.”

Ferrari documented their 2000 meeting in a posting during the 2011 Tour de France:

In the summer of 2000, I got a phone call from Tony Rominger: “There is this MTB vice-world champion, Cadel Evans, who would like to pass onto road racing. Since he’s earning already quite well from his MTB activity, I’d like to know whether he has the skills to consider dedicating to road cycling full time and risk such a jump.”

It is always difficult and chancy to answer similar questions, but I eventually agreed on testing him on the road in St. Moritz.
After a 1-hour warm-up, we met on the Albula Pass at 1800m of altitude: Evans rode a stretch of 100m of total difference in height several times, at increasing intensities, checking the times, the heart rates and the lactic acid concentrations.
His VAM at 4 mM was 1780 m/h, an excellent value considering the oxygen deficit due to altitude.
I had him repeat the same test after 4 additional hours of riding, climbing the Albula and Julier Pass, with the purpose of checking his performance over distance: the result was a VAM = 1820 m/h, even better than the first test, probably because of the slight weight loss from the ride.
I therefore called Tony, who was Cadel’s manager, and told him that in my opinion they could make an attempt and jump to road racing.

Today, eleven years later, Cadel Evans destroyed his rivals in the only ITT and rightfully took the victory in a Tour de France that was clearly designed to favor climbers, once again confirming that it takes complete riders, strong on all grounds, to win this race.

Evans has long been considered a clean rider because of his performance which unlike known cycling dopers, appears to fluctuate rather than stay at a consistently high peak.

Dr. Michele Ferrari, the Italian doctor who was banned for life following the outcome of USADA’s investigation of the US Postal doping scheme this summer.

Ferrari is also being investigated by Padua prosecutor, Benedetto Roberti in an Italian money-laundering and doping ring. Ferrari could face criminal charges in the weeks to come.

Ferrari has been a prominent figure in the sport since his beginnings as team doctor of the Gewiss outfit in 1994, and has had a long list of clients over the years, including Lance Armstrong.

He has also been closely linked to practising illegal performance-enhancing methods and may be about to be handed a prison sentence for alleged tax avoidance as well as his doping activities.

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