Marco Pantani ‘s edition The 1998 Grand Boucle was the 85th edition of the race, one of cycling’s Grand Tours. The 3,875 km (2,408 mi) race was composed of 21 stages and a prologue. It started on 11 July in Ireland before taking an anti-clockwise route through France to finish in Paris on 2 August. Marco Pantani of Mercatone Uno–Bianchi won the overall general classification, with Team Telekom’s Jan Ullrich, the defending champion, and Cofidis rider Bobby Julich finishing on the podium in second and third respectively.
The general classification leader’s yellow jersey was first awarded to Chris Boardman of the GAN team, who won the prologue in Dublin. Following a crash by Boardman on stage 2 that caused his withdrawal, Ullrich’s sprinter teammate Erik Zabel took the race lead. He lost it the next stage to Casino–Ag2r’s Bo Hamburger, who took it after being in a breakaway. The day after, the yellow jersey switched to another rider from the same breakaway, Boardman’s teammate Stuart O’Grady, who took vital seconds from time bonuses gained in intermediate sprints. He held it for a further three stages, until pre-race favourite Ullrich won stage 7’s individual time trial, moving him into the overall lead. The next day, Laurent Desbiens of Cofidis finished in a breakaway with a large enough margin to put him in the yellow jersey. Ullrich regained the race lead two stages later as the Tour went into the Pyrenees. Following his poor showing in the opening week, Pantani placed second and first, respectively, on the two Pyreneean stages. He then won stage 15, the first in the Alps, to replace Ullrich in the yellow jersey, and kept it until the race’s conclusion.
Zabel won his third consecutive points classification and Julich’s teammate Christophe Rinero, fourth overall, was the winner of the mountains classification. Ullrich was the best young rider and the most combative was Casino–Ag2r’s Jacky Durand. The team classification was won by Cofidis. Tom Steels of Mapei–Bricobi won the most stages, with four.
The race was marred throughout by a doping scandal, known as the Festina affair. Before the race began, Willy Voet, an assistant of the Festina team, was arrested at the Franco-Belgian border when doping products were found in his car. The affair broadened and the team was expelled after top personnel admitted to widespread doping. Police raids on numerous teams during the course of the race led to two riders’ strikes and the withdrawal of several teams and riders. Due to the controversy, the race became known by the nickname “Race de Farce”. In July 2013, retrospective tests for recombinant EPO made in 2004 were made public, revealing that 44 out of 60 samples returned positive tests.
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0:00:00-0:02:23 Intro
0:02:23-0:04:50 How FAT Doped Jan Ullrich arrived to Dublin
0:04:50-0:07:39 How DANGEROUS Doped Festina arrived to Dublin
0:07:39-0:09:48 How MEGA Doped Marco Pantani arrived to Dublin
0:09:48-0:13:36 How Spanish/French DOPED teams arrived to Dublin
0:13:36-0:16:09 Festina Affair begins with Willy Voet arrested
0:16:09-0:20:06 Prologue Chris Boardman
0:20:06-0:22:13 Stage 1 Tom Steels / Chris Boardman
0:22:13-0:25:31 Stage 2 Jan Svorada / Erik Zabel
0:25:31-0:28:07 Stage 3 Jens Heppner / Bo Hamburger
0:28:07-0:31:00 Stage 4 Jeroen Blijlevens / Stuart O’Grady / Festina Affair
0:31:00-0:32:50 Stage 5 Mario Cipollini / Stuart O’Grady
0:32:50-0:39:30 Stage 6 Mario Cipollini / Festina Team Expulsion
0:39:30-0:46:03 Stage 7 Jan Ullrich ITT Correze / Tugboat show
0:46:03-0:49:27 Stage 8 Jacky Durand / Laurent Desbiens
0:49:27-0:51:48 Stage 9 Leon Van Bon / Laurent Desbiens
0:51:48-1:07:05 Stage 10 Rodolfo Massi DOPED Aubisque Show
1:07:05-1:22:37 Stage 11 Marco Pantani Plateau de Beille / TVM Affair
1:22:37-1:28:13 Stage 12 Tarascon Strike / Tom Steels
1:28:13-1:33:54 Stage 13 Daniele Nardello / Jean Marie Leblanc Show
1:33:54-1:36:18 Stage 14 Stuart O’Grady
1:36:18-1:39:34 Preview Stage Grenoble-Les Deux Alpes
1:39:34-2:02:58 Stage 15 Marco Pantani Galibier DOPED SHOW
2:02:58-2:12:51 Stage 16 Jan Ullrich DOPED Revenge / Massi Detention
2:12:51-2:24:40 Stage 17 Aix les Bains Strike / Bjarne Riis the TRAITOR
2:24:40-2:26:36 Stage 18 Tom Steels / TVM leaving the race
2:26:36-2:29:39 Stage 19 Marcus Backstedt / Terrados Liberation
2:29:39-2:32.08 Stage 20 Jan Ullrich ITT Le Creusot
2:32:08-2:38:15 Stage 21 Tom Steels / Marco Pantani / Ending
37 Comments
Thank you so much for waiting and patience! It's been weeks of work to bring you a documentary on the biggest doping scandal in the history of sport, as well as a tremendously hilarious edition of the Grand Boucle. It has been a pleasure and I hope you enjoy it very much, at least as much as we did making this video for you. Best regards and see you at the ascent of La Lanza in 1998.
Positively LOVE your work. Long may it continue and we get to enjoy those awesome videos! 😜👌
Bravo. Bravissimo!
You pronounce the “s” in Col de Murs.
It’s just down the road from me. One of my favourite climbs.
Thank you. I still find myself wondering why I love cycling sport when most of them are still doped. Would be nice how you see current cyclocross. As Flanders citizen, this is in my heart. As Belgian, we all know that eddy merckx was doped… but it is never discussed and we don’t really wanna talk about it…. As European , i can say , everyone is guilty, in the end , it’s just perspectives on how and what people accept…
excellent job!@cyclinghighlights I really enjoyed this video! keep up the good work!
Can almost smell the EPO and bleach from here!
but we love it though yeah?
I’ve been waiting restlessly for this donkey-packed content. And now it’s here! ❤
You just don't like O'Grady
Been checking every day since you announced you were preparing 1998….and today I check…BAM! 2hrs and a half. It’s gonna be a blast!
I never cared they doped. The action was exciting and dramatic. They still dope and I still cheer them on. If I was forced to stop watching sports due to participants doping, I wouldn’t be watching sports
"financial supporter of working girls"………🤣🤣🤣🤣
"Risen from the crashes like a phoenix from the ashes" – you are a true poet
Loved every single minute of this 🙌
This is something akin to a comedy and extended tour coverage similar to tour + in which Ligget and Sherwen would commentate thoroughly albeit objectively. It's so well executed because it demonstrates an exceptional knowledge into cycling history, tour tactics, politics of the sport, and of course the always clean sporting conduct of the riders and teams. I love Tour+ , but I love this just as much because of the delivery of the commentary. It's like poetry inside out, exposing all of the ugliness of our golden era of pro cycling with the utmost degree of eloquence.
Hey, Buddy,
As host you no doubt are privy to a lot of information–inside information, it must be added, to which we don't all have the same access.
I appreciate the information, as a long time cycling fan. And I thank both you & your producers for going to the trouble to collate all of these now historic details.
One thing I've noticed, though, both in this podcast & ones in the past : your voice is literally dripping with sarcasm from the first take on thru to the end. That ironic, sarcastic voice suggests that it was all phoney, all a big hoax, the better to dupe the fans & rake in the money. I'll be the first to admit, I was terribly disappointed
-shattered, even-to learn of the secretive duplicuty of such former heroes as Richard Virenque from Festina, Lance Armstrong (along with his rival Jan Ulrich), & of course the super talented Italian climber, Marco Pantani. Effectively, we learned, by drips & drabs, that virtually the enire peleton was doped to one degree or another, mostly on EPO.Did it ever occur to you, Monsieur le Sarcastique, that perhaps it may have had to do with the extreme demands imposed on the riders of this epoch by the Tour organisers? They had little by little lengthened the stages while making them more mountainous, all in the midst of searing July heat during a typical French midsummer. Did if occur to you, likewise, that the suffering imposed on these athletes was lessened by these modern miracle drugs?
I'm not excusing the duplicity of top riders who lied into microphones day after day, proclaiming their "cleaness " & anti doping stances, just hours after having injested the latest prescribed dose by the team doctor.
Sure, it was largely an act & very disappointing. It's taken years for the cycling community to change its ways & emerge from the honey trap of EPO & similar doping programs, which at their most simplistic levels alleviate the intolerable suffering of cyclists who agree to compete for 21 days in stages of as much as 280 km.
These days the stages are more humanely organizing & shorter, & the team trainers & doctors are mercifully more concentrated on nutrition & science based training. Thank goodness.
Were all grateful for this progress in thinking around the sport of cycling,
But could you please, Monsieur le Host, just modulate your voice a little bit, removing that excess of smugness & hyper sarcasm, maybe at the same time recognising that those riders from the 90's thru the first decade of the 2,000's were not all bad actors but athletes of their time doing their best to thrive & survive in a very difficult time period.
I feel the worst for Pantani, because he went from hero of Italy to the scourge of his country, labeled as a worthless villain & cheat, & -ultimately hounded into obscurity, where he took his own life in an anonymous hotel room. How dare he try to win according to the norm of the time…
I digress. I find your productions irresistible with their historical derail. But I, for one, would greatly appreciate all that historic detail, & even a bit more, minus the sarcasm suggesting that athletes of this particular time were corrupt & cheap, & barely worthy of our notice.
Lance Armstrong & Jan Ulrich were the two top riders of their generation, & competed ferociously for the better part of a decade, to determine who would ultimately walk away with the honors. Now they're friends & converse civilly about their rivalry. They both recognized, as mature adults, that they competed in the oeriod of EPO & other super pharmaceuticals. They wouldn't have survived had they chosen to ignore their team doctors & "Go Clean". It's all part of history now…May the Best man win.
Thank you very much. Still hoping for a english speaking episode on Pedro Delgado, because his was both a doped & interesting career, like that time he was late for his own time trial 😂
Because Marco Pantani was so clean 😂
That Christophe Rinero guy really is exceptionally well known among those having watched that whole masterpiece of a TDF breakdown.
Had already someone of the riders tried to take legal actions against you? Probably some guys wouldn’t be happy if they’d see your great videos.
Please do the 1999 tour next
Woah! Hang on there a minute tiger! Not 99% of the riders. 18 guilty and 12 more suspect (in other words guilty). Crucially Chris Boardman was clean, so it’s piss poor saying these riders were guilty whilst flashing up his picture and saying all the stage winners tested positive. He did not test positive. That is libel and you could get sued. Check your facts next time you make a YouTube video.
In a way the ASO and UCI were very brave to invite the Police in to reveal the massive PED use in the sport – they tried to use shock "name and shame" tactics to scare the living daylights out of the teams. So, probably by the end this was the cleanest Tour on record!
They even tried to play the tough guy by banning a load of people the following year, 1998, and then reporting that the race leader, Armstrong , had failed a doping test during the 98 Tour.
But they bottled it in the end when they accepted US Postal's backdated TUE. Little did they know that that decision would send the sport into a drug fuelled frenzy for at least the next 8 years. They basically refused to stand up to Armstrong as they could not say ”No" to the money, postive adverting and breakthrough into the American market that he gave them 💰💰💰💰💰💰💰. As Puff Daddy said, " It's all about the Benjamins, baby"!!!!!!
What was Lance Armstrongs defense: Yes, I was on drugs. So was everyone else. I was the best on drugs.
This is like watching the tour all over again for the first time but with commentary based in truth. I love it. It is nostalgic, educational, and entertaining
I think that for the last 40 years it's been virtually impossible to cleanly win a major cycling event.
gotta love how Rinero went from 'unknown' to 'lesser unknown' and 'well known' to 'Worldstar' in a matter of days
Goat❤
Great video as always but such a missed opportunity to slam professional EPO-crite Antoine Vayer !
Not sure the religious comments add anything!
Briliant!
Your best video yet.
Loved it!
It is time for an episode on Andrea Tafi and Davide Rebellin. They have got off lightly on planet cycling stories
thanks for your awsome videos i love the honesty you talk about this its very refreshing in our world of lies ^^ its so funny ppl only look at cycling when it comes to doping while every top sports is like that. ppl really think today that doping is kinda dead cause the contols are better but anyone who has researched this topic knows othrwise. we could make this videos for every top sport. thats the sad truth ppl dont wanna face especialy the ppl who earn money with it. keep up the good work <3
I watched your channel nonstop while training for my marathon. The narration gets me so pumped up. Whoever you’re using, the guy is a gem.
Yes, they doped but the clown who made this video can't be taken seriously. The way he belittles people and attacks their characters is downright wrong. I hope somebody sues him