A very good question. When Pantani won the tdf was he 'clean' at that time, or had he escaped detection? He apparently suffered a major wipeout in training that nearly ended his career but he bounced back and that maybe suggests something about his dedication, but did the drug abuse creep in then I wonder? I'd like to remember him as the greatest hill climber, but I'd like to think he once achieved that because of talent alone.

I recall that he was first sussed because his EPO (?) levels were something like 51% when pure-bred, native-to, high-altitude riders in say, Columbia, were mostly in the 35% level.