Lance Armstrong equipped with an engine on his bike, the former AFLD leader accuses

Jean-Pierre Verdy is a key figure in the fight against doping in France.

Former leader of the French Anti-Doping Agency (ALFD) between 2006 and 2015, the man who tracked cheaters in sport reveals in a book "Doping: my war against cheaters" (Editions Arthaud) behind the scenes of his years of fighting this scourge.

During his story, the former manager goes back in detail on the control operations and the difficulties encountered by the servants of the AFLD to do their work effectively.

Because the fight against doping is not always well received by many sports players.

All sports are covered, but cycling occupies a good place in this 300-page block.

Jean-Pierre Verdy returns in particular to the dark years of cycling marked by the domination of Lance Armstrong, whom he accuses of having resorted to mechanical doping.

Even if he claims to have no proof of the presence of an engine on the Californian's bike who had won seven victories on the Grande Boucle (between 1999 and 2005) before being stripped of his titles for doping in 2012, he remains convinced that the use of prohibited medication does not explain everything.

“Lance Armstrong, this is the best scam.

With complicity at all levels.

He got special treatment.

Many told me that I should not tackle legends, that I was going to find myself alone.

But if the legends are mounted on anything… ”, explains Verdy in an interview granted on the site of

France TV Sport.

"At the end of the stage, I call all the specialists I know, and they don't understand how its performance is possible, even with EPO"

“I am also convinced that he had an engine in the bike.

I still have the images at the head of a mountain stage where everyone is picking it up, and he leaves everyone on the ground.

At the end of the stage, I call all the specialists I know, and they don't understand how its performance is possible, even with EPO.

There was something wrong, and all the specialists were telling me the same thing.

Yet it was people from the middle, who knew the race well.

It was not the EPO that made the difference, ”argues the former leader, who is also convinced that the fight against doping has progressed for several years even if it is still cruelly lacking in resources.

Doping, my war on cheaters.

Editions Arthaud (300 pages, 19.90 euros)

Read also

• Mechanical doping, a reality in many sports