Photography by The Sweet Shop

An interview with Stuart O’Grady

Interview by Mike van Niekerk, article by Matt de Neef - February 27, 2014

It's been a little more than seven months since Stuart O'Grady retired from the sport and, a day or so later, admitted to using EPO in preparation for the 1998 Tour de France. Now, on the eve of the release of his book, "Battle Scars", Stuart O'Grady is on a media tour to talk about his career, his successes as a track and road cyclist and, inevitably, about doping. O'Grady spoke to CyclingTips in Melbourne on Wednesday evening.

Stuart O’Grady is one of Australia’s most decorated cyclists. He’s won Olympic medals (including gold in the Madison in 2004), he’s won two Tour de France stages as an individual, he’s been part of two Tour de France team time trial victories, he’s worn the coveted yellow jersey for a total of nine days, he’s won the Tour Down Under twice and, of course, he’s won Paris-Roubaix. He’s also enjoyed a longevity at the top of the sport that few riders can boast.

But O’Grady’s long and distinguished career is tarnished by the use of EPO in the weeks before the 1998 Tour de France; a misstep that has cost the South Australian many fans.

“I did make a bad judgment a long time ago and it’s something I’m paying the consequences for now. I completely understand that. I understand people’s anger and disappointment, but no-one’s more disappointed than myself,” O’Grady told CyclingTips.

“Having to tell my family and my wife about something I chose to do 16-odd years ago that obviously will taint everything I’ve ever achieved … that’s probably the most difficult part of this entire process,” he said.

O’Grady’s still maintains that he only used EPO in the period leading up to the 1998 Tour de France. Many fans believe this assertion to be untrue — why would he have stopped using EPO when it helped deliver a stage win at the Tour de France? We put this to O’Grady, who responded by referring to the previous year’s Tour.

“1997 was my first Tour de France. I suffered like a dog; [I] got through it though, I got to Paris”, O’Grady said. “In 1998 I guess I was a bit afraid of failure, a bit afraid of being put through that same suffering that I went through the year before. [I was] probably a bit insecure, lacked a lot of support … and I made a very bad decision.”

“While having the yellow jersey in my room [ed. O'Grady lead the race for three days in the first week] the report came through that guys were being handcuffed, taken to jail and treated like criminals — strip-searched, the works”, O’Grady recalls. “And if you don’t think that’s a big enough wake-up call then I really don’t know what is.”

O’Grady was offered his first professional contract back in 1994 and moved to Europe at a time when he was just one of a small group of Australians in the professional peloton.

“Heading over to Europe for the first time was pretty daunting. Not speaking the language, living in Paris [where] the weather was shocking for training, having only one other English[-speaking] teammate Chris Boardman — who obviously lived in Manchester — it was a pretty hard period. But we knew it was what we had to do to succeed.”

O’Grady rode for the French GAN team from 1995 through to the end 2003. He spent two years riding for Credit Agricole and two years with Cofidis before landing at CSC in 2006. It was the following year, in 2007, that he took the biggest victory of his career: Paris-Roubaix.

“Coming into [the race] Fabian [Cancellara] — who I was rooming with — was the red-hot favourite so the pressure was completely off me. I just wanted to make sure I rocked up with 100% form and health and then do my job,” O’Grady said.

“The weather gods turned in my favour. Fabian doesn’t enjoy the heat whereas I favour the heat. As soon as we took off and I made the early break I knew things were looking in my favour, at least for the team”, he continued.

“And then as the day unfolded I punctured in the Forest [of Arenberg], which I normally would have thought would cost me my chance”, O’Grady said. “Instead of panicking I just got to the end, ate everything I had in my pockets, drank everything I had and got ready for the group behind to come across and managed to pull off the win.”

O’Grady spent the 2009 and 2010 seasons riding for Saxo Bank before a single year with the new Leopard-Trek setup alongside Frank and Andy Schleck. And in 2012 he signed up with Australia’s first WorldTour team, Orica-GreenEDGE where he spent his final two seasons as a professional.

The response to O’Grady’s doping admission in July 2013 has been, at times, vitriolic, not least because O’Grady only came clean once he’d been implicated by a French Senate report on doping at the 1998 Tour de France. With public sentiment against him, it was with some trepidation that O’Grady moved from his European base in Luxembourg back to Adelaide in January 2014.

“I was pretty anxious when I came back to Australia. Obviously I’d just been at home in Europe with my family and been out of the whole media bubble”, O’Grady said. “But I’ve gotta say it’s been an absolutely overwhelming amount of support that’s come through — it’s been really humbling to be honest.”

Stuart O’Grady has no concrete plans for the future, at least none he’s prepared to discuss publicly at this stage.

“There’s a few things on the horizon. At the moment I’m just enjoying some family time, spending as much time as I can with the kids and my wife and we’ll just see what comes up”, O’Grady said. “There’s a whole world of opportunities out there.”

“Battle Scars” was written by Stuart O’Grady and Reece Homfray and is published by Hardie Grant Books. It hits shelves on March 1.

Thanks to Logan Mucha and Niko Aulich from The Sweet Shop for shooting, producing and editing this video.

Tags: doping, interview, Stuart O'Grady

Michele

One thing I have never been able to understand is how O’Grady claims he only took EPO is the lead up to the race.

When the names were released last July, it was stated that O’Grady’s test from stage 14 (or thereabouts) came back suspicious, yet his samples from week 1 were okay. I struggle to reconcile these facts.

I also struggle to understand how Stuart went from a rider who couldn’t survive 5 Kms in the mountains, hence the need to dope, to driving the peloton for km after km, mountain after mountain in the mid 00s. He was riding at such a pace he was dropping GC riders who were doping at the time.

Unfortunately I think there still might be a revised edition of Stuart’s book sometime down the track. I think I’ll wait until then before I bother reading his autobiography.
- Abdu
  
  Thinking the same, well put.
  - Peter Treloar
    
    +1 per the chart which I think was published with the French EPO report: see:
    http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/07/missing-the-point/
    
    Ahh the power of the internet….
- BBB
  
  I’m not sure how O’Grady expects people to believe he had no idea that others were cheating (see his cyclingnews interview) yet despite riding around in a vacuum managed to find out that EPO was the drug of choice, found out where to purchase it and how to use it. How did he find out these things? Who did he speak to? Claiming to not know what was going on, yet getting on the drug of choice do not fit together nicely.
  As for the no idea other were cheating, does he remember being part of Cofidis when the entire team was stood down from racing for a period? What about the confession of Eric Zabel who he battled with for several years in an attempt to win the green jersey? The confession of Riis his team manager at the time? Did he honestly close his mind to all the events happening around him for the last 15 or so years?
  People will think much more of O’Grady if he makes a full confession as his story to date does not seem to match what was in fact happening around him.
Chris

‘There’s a whole world of opportunities out there’ for ex dopers. Enjoying the spoils!
- Mitch
  
  Especially when you are “MATES” with the President of CA and owner of GreenEdge
  - Dave
    
    But he is at least on the shit list with the TDU organisers, the AIS, ASC and AOC.
Mal

I cannot understand why so much energy is directed to a persons mistake ,when they have achieved so much,we are allowed to fail that is how we learn. Its the’ f*ck one goat’ syndrome,crazy!
- Michele
  
  Personally I don’t see O’Grady as a scapegoat. I just
  find he is insulting my intelligence.
  
  Firstly, I find it hard to believe he doped just once
  (see my other post).
  
  But also, he justified that he doped in 1998 because
  “everyone was doing it”. Yet, he also said yesterday he was
  “shocked” to learn that “Matthew White, Lance Armstrong”
  doped. Those comments don’t reconcile.
  
  Seriously??
  
  For the record, to me it’s not that he doped, but it’s
  how he has responded to being caught out.
- Sean
  
  Wakey wakey Mal, the gullible bus is about to leave.
- Dave
  
  Making a trip across international borders to make a clandestine purchase of EPO vial(s) hardly counts as a mistake in my book.
  
  I look forward to the future full confession and the accompanying Battle Scars 1.1 release, until then I’ll only be reading it if I can find a copy in the fiction section at my local library or a PDF online.
Guest

” I only used it just once” How unfortunate that the very time he used it he was caught. Seriously, just come clean and he might gain respect from the cycling community. This BS just insults our intelligence.
TV Time Tommy

I’m no expert on body language, but O’Grady looks most uncomfortable - a haunted man - in the two interviews I have seen. So different from the affable larrikin we used to watch during post-race interviews. It’s quite sad, really.
donncha

Best interview I’ve yet read :-)

https://pvcycling.wordpress.com/2014/02/26/exclusive-interview-stuart-ogrady-breaks-silence-on-doping/
- ZSean
  
  At least this one doesn’t beat around the bush.
- Mike
  
  People need to read that : )
  - Dave
    
    Probably closer to going in the non-fiction section than Battle Scars.
- runrider
  
  LOL!
  Probably just as believable as the book. Straight to the Fiction shelf along with “its about the bike”!
  I will not be buying this book, it sounds like a joke, fooled us once Stuart, wont happen again. The one off use of EPO story sounds like utter BS.
Paolo

I don’t understand why he is bringing out this book. The only thing people talk about is doping and they obviously don’t believe him in that regard. So why bother with the book. It’s not like Hamilton who just went all out and made himself free. O’Grady sits there like a broken man who got kicked of his throne. I feel completely indifferent towards him, no respect, no anger, no pity either. Not a book that i will bother reading.
- Michele
  
  The book was in it’s final stages when O’Grady got caught out. The way advances are paid, and for Reece Homfray’s [the ghost-writer's] time etc., the book was always going to still come out.
  
  Perhaps O’Grady and his manager saw this as the chance to ‘explain’ himself. Although the greater cycling community might not buy into his story, (or his book), they may have reckoned that the average punter, e.g. the person who knows him as an Olympian, as ‘just’ a cyclist might just be taken in by his career.
  
  So effectively the book was released to one, make him some money, secondly, to perhaps act as a therapeutic exercise for his [partial] confession, and thirdly, as a PR exercise.
  
  With regards to point 3, I just wonder if they have miscalculated the public’s feelings towards O’Grady and might regret the timing of the book’s release.
  - Dave
    
    I agree that the book should have been delayed until he made a full confession or at least one that’s slightly more realistic. Putting details of who else was doing what would have made it as big an international seller as The Secret Race.
    
    Just for an idea of how big that might get, some of his teammates have included:
    Jens Voigt,
    Chris Boardman,
    Jonathan Vaughters,
    Fabian Cancellara,
    Andy and Frank Schleck,
    Thor Hushovd,
    Simon Gerrans,
    Sylvain Chavanel,
    Matt White,
    and on national teams, Richie Porte and Cadel Evans.
    
    I feel sorry for Reece Homfray getting stuck with this, he’s an excellent journo and having a fiction book on his CV is probably not what he was thinking of when he signed on.
Justin

“But I’ve gotta say it’s been an absolutely overwhelming amount of support that’s come through — it’s been really humbling to be honest.” Maybe but just about every comment directed at Stuey I’ve read and heard has been almost unanimous in their condemnation. I’m just not ready to read anymore about him or his career. I look at the cycling past now as just wasted years. ’98 was the big wake up call for those who’d followed the sport for many years. The fairy tale ended. The take away I get from all this is you’re better to just live your life as best you can, be as honest as you can and not chase elusive rainbows.
- max
  
  But…if you met him, or knew him well, what would you say to his face?
  
  Of course he’s had support from people when they meet him in person, they’d still be in awe. And he’s probably a good bloke.
  
  Imagine yourself in that situation. Would you really tell Stuart O’Grady (or Lance for that matter) what you you’d write about them on a forum?
  - Guest
    
    Not speaking on behalf of Justin, but I seriously would.
    
    I would explain to him why I doubt his “one time only” story. I’d ask him to explain his great transformation, what he means by statement that he “never saw anyone else doing it”, and also his time at CSC and how his comments contradict those of Tyler Hamilton.
    
    I think I could tell him, respectfully, that I have a low opinion of him - not because he doped, but because the way he’s handled himself with the general cycling public since being outed.
    - echidna_sg
      
      I’m not defending the guy or his actions, but ask yourself why he would still give a toss about responding to random joe cyclist fan’s opinion? or answer questions? he is ‘just’ a guy who used to ride a bike these days…
      
      Also, ask yourself if anyone would be happy if someone they don’t know approached them in the street and started firing questions about cheating on their wife or perhaps for firing those 50 employees under false pretenses to improve the bottom line back in September of ’07 or maybe for that dodgy insurance claim where their bag of dirty work clothes got nicked and it just happened to contain a $6k camera when the form was processed….
      
      I’m sure he cares more about the feelings of his wife and family and close friends than bothering to deal with people who watch sbs for 3 nights over 3 weeks in July.
      - Sean Doyle
        
        Why is it that it’s only the cynics that watch cycling for only three weeks of the year and only just in recent years? I’ve been following the sport for nearly 30 years and I’m pretty cynical about the whole mess. When the news first broke I said to my mates that he only has once chance to get this right. In my opinion he’s blown it. I couldn’t give a rats arse if he changed his story and admitted to the rest of it. The fact that he tried it on is enough for me.
        I actually don’t watch the Tour anymore either. Much prefer the one days races.
      - a different ben
        
        Jeez echidna, you did what? You’ve picked a funny place to come clean about this stuff.
        
        echidna_sg
        
        well that made me laugh ben! ;-)
        
        it seems we all take this schtuff a touch too seriously. I find it amazing that nobody bothers to put the hard word on Jens - I’m sure by far the majority of fans find it impossible to believe he was clean throughout his entire career when even recently he has had teammates getting done for drug use (Schleck bros) but that’s ok coz he aint been caught yet?
        
        what a weird world we live in!
        
        Allan John Baker
        
        Well said echidna_sg. Its also funny how the cycling community still worship Pantan and merckx for that matter.
        
        Its also sad to see this forum turn like it has. It more like a cyclingnews forum at the moment.
        
        http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
        
        It’s definitely not that bad!
Mark

It’s sad that nowhere has he explicitly said “Sorry, I did the wrong thing”. It seems much more that he is expressing regret for a “bad decision” that it has tainted his career.
That, and telling the truth regarding the so-called “one-off” use would give him back a bit of respect.
This tough-it-out approach is just not helping him.
Sean

I think we need to cut Stu some slack, we’ve all made mistakes and most of us aren’t paying for minor mistakes 16 years later. Is it to hard to believe he only did PEDs once? It’s time for you lot to wake up and invest in his fabulous book.
- Nick
  
  If I steal a loaf of bread worth $5.00 and get caught, I’ll have a criminal record for the rest of my life. He doped, which resulted in him stealing millions from better riders who didn’t dope who would have otherwise taken his spot in the WT. His punishment? Making more money from book sales. It’s unbelievable.
  - echidna_sg
    
    To get a criminal record takes far more effort than stealing a loaf of bread. Besides, even if you did, the only people who might know about it are your prospective employers.
  - G
    
    Bread is $5.00 in Australia now? Seriously though, is it that expensive in Australia now? It was getting that way when I was last living there in 2010, but really.
    - a different ben
      
      It’s criminal. No wonder Nick’s nicking the stuff.
  - a different ben
    
    And yet it happens every day, all around us. Scratch below the surface of just about any big business and you’ll find something. Don’t even get me started on what our political leaders do in our name.
    
    What’s more important to you? A sportsman gaming the system? Or bullshit excuses to invade countries and enact slaughter?
- Sean Doyle
  
  It’s not a minor mistake. It’s quite calculated and pre meditated.
Dave

Can somebody please explain how taking EPO could possibly be a mistake? I might be a little thick, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen masses of uncapped EPO-loaded needles just waiting to stick the first person who trips over and lands on one.
- scottmanning
  
  The decision to take it was a mistake. Taking it was not an accident.
Josh

Still doesn’t apologise to any of his supporters for lying and cheating his way through a career and earning massive amounts of money and still thinking what his done is ok because “I only did it once” what a load of crap
- krashdavage
  
  Did he actually say the words “I’m sorry” in this interview? I couldn’t watch it all. The most interesting thing from The Armstrong Lie (sorry slightly off topic) was George Hincapie’s lack of contrition. It was almost amusing.
  - Dave
    
    He did in the ABC One Plus One interview last night.
Henry

Lot of people happy to throw the first stone. Not sure about the rest of you holier than thou’s, but if I found myself in Stuart’s or Matt White’s shoes I have little doubt I would have done the same thing. I’m a competitive bastard and I would want to win… especially having worked my arse off to make it to Europe. Having spoken in depth to riders from that era, I don’t have a problem believing they kept their doping from each other. Having met Stuart and seeing him win a Sun Tour TT after being up till 4am drinking red wine, I have no problem that he had the physical capacity to compete at the highest level drug free… especially after having a couple of years in the ProTour in his legs. I have heard him say he’s sorry and I forgive him. When I first heard I was furious, but I think I can understand and cut him some flak. There but by the grace of God go I… or probably any one of you stone throwers aiming at an easy target. Sure he’s achieved more than the lot of you combined.
- Michele
  
  Henry, I agree on one point. I can’t say that for certain that I would’ve done any differently. And I am not criticising O’Grady for the act of doping [nor is everyone].
  
  The criticism levelled at O’Grady is his reaction AFTER being caught out. Read yesterday’s interview on Cyclingnews - he blamed the governing body for doping and he also laid blame on the testing process because you could get away with it. You have heard him say sorry, but is he sorry for doping or sorry he got caught out?
  
  I too have met Stuart several times. The fact he can drink like a fish out of water doesn’t mean he didn’t dope post-1998.
  
  I have also spent time with, and spoken with many pros [in depth as well], and I do have a problem believing “they kept doping to themselves”. Sure it wasn’t like the entire peloton talked freely about doping as they rode along the roads of France as has been portrayed by some. But riders knew who was on and who wasn’t on the juice. There were tell-tale signs, riders from rival teams would “compare notes”.
  
  To use O’Grady as an example - who told him that EPO was the drug to use? Who told him where he could get it from? Who taught him to take just enough to keep his Hct below the UCI threshold? Who instructed him on when is the best time to inject himself, where to inject himself? Who explained to him how to store the EPO.
  
  I also agree that O’Grady has achieved more than me and probably all of us combined. But how do you measure success? By what a person has won? By how much they have accumulated in their bank account? By the size of their house, or speed of their car?
  
  I sleep comfortably at night, my conscience is clean. I am a genuinely happy, content person. I wonder if O’Grady feels the same?
- Sean
  
  There’s PEDs used at the local level, people use PEDs to just look good for god sake. There are lots of pots calling kettles names these days. idiots….
- Mike.
  
  Lied to the media, fans, the AIS and other supporters for an entire career. Lied to the Vance report to keep his job. But comes clean when he is about to be caught and again when he needs to promote his book.
  
  He’s just not an impressive human being, to be honest.
  
  Can pedal a bike, though.
Ritch

The sad thing is that we have to take his word for it that he stopped after 1998. Unfortunately, he has revealed that his word is worth nothing when it comes to doping. O’Grady may be a great bloke, I’ve never met him and I wish him well like anyone else I’ve never met, but I don’t believe the story that it was only once. Like everyone else, I was out of the seat cheering at his achievements and proud that an Aussie could beat the odds and compete against the best - even prouder because he was clean, not like the others. As it turns out, he was like the others.
- Sean
  
  Sneaky re-testing of samples could happen. It’s gonna bring a lot of these guys undone.
  - echidna_sg
    
    the frozen samples (if not already consumed) are not infinite in size - once tested, that’s it, they are no more. from a scientific perspective, there is a limit on how sensitive a method is to detect a given drug, there is also the degradation of the samples and the quality and consistency of the storage of the samples to take into account… from a financial standpoint, this kind of testing is very expensive and can only be conducted in very few labs around the world - which sporting body is going to go out and spend millions to test old, degraded samples only to come back and say something like we tested them all and found nothing. So therefore we hope you will all believe us that nobody doped back in the day…. add em all up and the chances of anyone being caught for something 15 years ago are slim at best.
    - Sean
      
      Good call.
  - Bogan Brouhaha
    
    It will be interesting to see who gets caught 10 years down the track out of our current crop of riders now.
BarkingOwl

I’m a fan of Stuey but like many his explanation is wholly unsatisfactory, especially his claims of ignorance of other doping cyclists. He is buddies with David Millar and rode with him at Cofidis. Suerely these guys discussed PEDS!
- Michele
  
  I am not 100% sure, but pretty sure in Dave Millar’s ‘Racing through Darkness’, he speaks of O’Grady as being a real close friend. [It may have been White he was speaking about].
  
  When speaking of O’Grady [or White] I got the impression that he was saying he too had his ‘demons’, and that one day he would have to face them.
  
  I have no doubt whatsoever that Millar spoke with O’Grady [or White, or both] about doping. They knew what was going on.
  - Ian
    
    Yep, he was speaking about O’Grady in those terms. The book is ‘Racing through the dark’ - only correcting the title in case folks want to review/buy it - it’s a great read (and not just about the doping).
    - Michele
      
      Thanks for correcting me Ian. I agree, I thoroughly enjoyed the book; my second favourite cycling autobiography.
Bogan Brouhaha

I’ve always liked Stuart, yet I can’t get this bad taste out of my mouth after watching that interview.
Jim

I do feel sorry for him. It must have been tough, plus psychological constructs such as groupthink, social norms and mob mentality apply. What really annoys me about confessing dopers is they know other people implicated, team members, suppliers, management, and could bring down the house of cards. Even Pharmstrong. They could pull the rotten guts out of the doping carcass, but none of them are man/woman enough. Are there threats to life and family behind the scenes that prevent such?
Peter

Just looking at his eyes, he looks depressed. Someone needs to ask him if he is OK.
- Daniel
  
  Like many I feel like he is trying to deceive us. That interview had me thinking he also is not comfortable with the story he has woven post retirement. Those lost few questions in the interview regarding “what now?” were just awkward.
  Despite his obvious mistakes I hope someone helps him reconcile his past so that he sees a future.
- Dave
  
  The bigger the lies, the bigger the fall when they finally come undone. Unlike the PR world of Planet Lance it appears that Stuey actually believed his own lies, and undoing that is not going to a quick, easy or painless process.
  
  His family are good people, he made the right decision to come back home to his support base in Adelaide.
He is a drug cheat

Stuart O’Grady is one of Australia’s most decorated DRUG CHEAT and none of the wins matter……never…..EVER!!!!
krashdavage

I’m more interested in the philosophical/ethical discussion around “is taking PED’s cheating?”. I daresay most of the riders of that era didn’t think so. Yes, they were breaking the “rules” but there’s valid for and against arguments from an ethical viewpoint. Oh and I’m not so naive to be outraged or even saddened by this Stuey news. So many high horses around here.
Hamish Moffatt

“Treated like criminals”? In France, they WERE criminals. Still seeing the doping as ok I guess….
Wish I was on the bike…

I’m glad you didn’t headline this as an ‘exclusive’ interview as other media outlets have advertised theirs.
- Dave
  
  +1
  
  I thought that One Plus One last night was better, proper journalists do it better.
  - Sean
    
    There is one writer with a funky p0rn0 name who needs to finish school. Troll comments they get, have better grammar than the spaghetti he writes.
- Sean
  
  I much preferred the exclusive cyclingnews interview :-) Perhaps we should all exclusively visit this site and not that other site thats full of poorly written rubbish articles.
Tex

His credibility and honesty seemed to have been summarised perfectly by those commenting. Just a shame cheats like this still continue to profit from their ‘fans’ with deceit and continued lies.
Guest

Wow, what a gruelling experience to watch. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to be interviewed that way. I thought the interviewer (editors?) did well to manage the tempo and the mood.

The doping admission and is so emotive and the issue so complex, it is a shame that his ‘dark secret’ take all the focus of the interview and the comments on this post. I’m glad the interview explored other questions.

I’ve read the comments while at work, and saw the reaction was 99% judgemental and critical. Seeing the video at home tonight, I’m much more struck by the humanity of the interview. O’Grady’s slow and thoughtful pace is engaging; the close camera angle gives a sense of inescapability. The reflection on the good times showed a glimmer of the devilish nature and hope for the future.

As on the road, O’Grady ‘got the job done’ today. This is a stage he must complete to enable him to get to the next one, what ever that is. He has his own personal path through the moral maze of the doper of the era. This interview won’t solve the issue for him or the sport, but it is a step forward.
http://www.bunchridefinder.com.au Bunch Ride Finder

He’s human, he fucked up, I just hope his true friends will keep checking in with him and making sure his OK.
- Billy
  
  Excellent comment BRF, I hope you outsource your PR.
  - http://www.bunchridefinder.com.au Bunch Ride Finder
    
    Nah Billy, its all just me, no PR team.
DavoBel

OK, so here is an argument in favor of Stuey. Let’s say he is telling the truth, he only doped prior to the 98 TDF. He doesn’t want to tell the whole story because that would implicate some of his mates.

But let’s say he absolutely hated doping, it went against everything he believed about sport, himself and life. But he did it, it was a time when he rationalized it, possibly saw that a lot of top guys were doing it. But still deep down he absolutely, completely hated it. And worse yet, he hated himself for doing it. So he stopped. This absolute hatred for doping inspired him to be great without the need for doping. He had to prove to himself that he could be great without it. So he became the great cyclist we knew him to be. Then throughout his career, there was never a time when he could come clean without it being a death sentence to his career.

He watched LA’s team doping to the gills and they were getting away with it, Look how LA treated anyone in cycling that came forward at that time. He was ruthless. LA even destroyed some of LeMond’s business deals and LeMond was GREAT. The UCI was involved. What could Stuey gain by coming forward at that time? Easier to shut-up and smile for the cameras. Say the anti-doping mantra.

Then, how many teams were requiring riders to sign ‘zero tolerance’ clauses in their contracts. This only reinforced the idea that coming forward was suicidal to a career. The Discovery boys only came clean when they were faced with jail time. The UCi only dethroned LA when they were threatened to have cycling removed from the Olympics. We know so little about the actual truth about doping through that or really any other era.

For Stuey’s sake, I hope he is telling the truth, but he should know that we know he is not telling the whole truth. Maybe that will come, or maybe he will let others tell their story.
- pedr09
  
  I applaud you for trying Davo, but the bit where you say “He had to prove to himself that he could be great without it. So he became the great cyclist we knew him to be.” reads just like the fairy stories I read to my kids. So because Stuey hated drugs so much and trained so much harder and smarter and was so much more gifted than all the dopers he was riding against, he was then able to win races, wear the yellow jersey and drag the whole doping mass around France etc. for the next 15 years. Not sounding good is it….
  - DavoBel
    
    I never said it was a ‘good’ argument :)
    - pedr09
      
      Hehe, right you are ;)
Mark

SBS actually ask the questions: http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/news/53162/The-Interview-Stuart-O-Grady
- Michele
  
  Some great questions by Mike [was actually surprised by them].
  
  Some pretty flimsy responses from O’Grady.
  
  For example, O’Grady reckons he stopped doping because he was too scared to do so after the police raids etc.
  
  Using that logic, no one would have doped after 1998.
  
  And seriously, Millar and White didn’t talk to O’Grady about doping? Millar even suggests in his book that O’Grady and him had spoken about doping.
Stuart

Life is full of mistakes, some mistakes are harder to admit to than others
Stuart

Life is full of mistakes, some mistakes are harder to admit to than others.
Alan

I got sick of the weasel words like tarnished, mis-step, bad judgment. He cheated and robbed other competitors of the opportunity to win then makes money with a lawyer-driven book. But it’s OK, he’s a true-dinks Strayan. Re-write the story with the name Stuart O’Grady replaced with a non-European name and imagine how much sympathy he’d get. #%&# him.
NY’er

Is Stuey trying to promote his book? If so, he’s not doing a very good job.
I agree with the comments that he almost looks depressed… hope he’s ok.
Steve

I used to respect Stuey and would have retained that view if it were not for the BS about doping once in 1998. What an absolute muppet.
Neil

I have to say, after watching this and the SBS interview, I changed my mind a bit about O’Grady. I too thought it was all BS, but I personally saw a guy who was pretty hurt that a stellar career has been tarnished in the way it has.
I think he let things come out in a pretty ordinary fashion, and would have been better off making the announcement about his doping before the report was released.
Unfortunately, for all involved, there is no definitive way of ever proving he never again took EPO.
Hope he’s surrounded by a good support network.
D-Man

Was always a big fan of O’Grady and now, after all that’s come out I’m… um… yep, still a big fan. Having followed procycling since the mid-90s, everyone knew the pros were on the gear. I just pushed that knowledge deep down inside me, turned a blind eye, as did pretty much everyone else until Festina. That started a genuine shift in people’s perceptions that this culture of medical assistance which had long been a part of this beautiful sport (formal or otherwise) had to be reigned in. Cultural change takes time, people need to be taken along the journey in order to believe that what they are doing is right. Some of you may simply believe that drugs are bad (mm’kay) and that cheating is cheating. That’s okay if you believe that. I believe this issue was/is far more complex than relying on slogans. I’m definitely not going to throw O’Grady under the bus for participating in an activity which was, at the time, quietly condoned by other riders, team management, race organisers, the media and the fans. The sport is in a better place now but, to be honest, my enthusasium and respect for O’Grady really hasn’t changed. It is what it is. To me, O’Grady is still a “hard man” of cycling with a beautiful pedal stroke and I hope he makes a smooth transition from professional athlete to regular old “has-been” with ease.
- Andrew
  
  Agree. Despite these latest revelations, Stu has brought me many happy times over the years. It is not for me to write him off as a “bad egg” when there are many more people in all walks of life who are worse.
  
  Some on here must be saints and have never erred in their lives judging by many the sanctimonious comments.
CB

CyclingTips, I am wondering if you could perhaps write an article about how exactly it would play out if someone, say at CA or O’Grady himself decided to initiate the process of retesting any samples he has given to anti-doping testers. What would be involved? Who would do it? For what would they look for? What would be the reason (as is likely) for O’Grady to not co-operate with such a process? Has any rider ever done so?
- http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
  
  It’s a good question @CB. If I were in a situation like Stuey I’d be keen to go through this process. However, realistically it doesn’t prove much. All past samples could very well be negative, but doping still could have occurred. Ready Tyler Hamilton’s book about how they made sure that their samples never tested positive. Very easy to dodge.
  - CB
    
    Then I am curious as to why he is saying he’d do this, or at least encourage others to do so. Why has CA not publicly responded? At the end of the day this is all that matters, proving it was a one off, or one short period of doping. Everything else goes to his character and professional conduct, which are areas I as an observer cannot make judgement.
    - Dave
      
      I do wonder how many events actually have stored samples sitting around in some lab though. Was this a routine practice at the time of the ’98 Tour, or was it a one off occasion which dictated why the Senate investigation looked at that one and not some other edition of the Tour.
Dave

If anyone wants to legitimately acquire the book while minimising the amount ending up in Stuey’s back pocket, you can get it on iBooks for $14.99 rather than shelling out $30 for a physical copy.
Christian

dissapointment is GreenEdge are also in the picture, and why is Matt White still with the so called Clean team, just leaves a bad taste is for sure