As a rider, Joe Papp , externalwas not quite good enough to break into the sport’s global elite but he made a living and travelled the world racing on his bike for most of the late 1990s and early noughties.
But that all came to an abrupt end in 2006 – the American’s best year in terms of results – when he was caught doping at the Tour of Turkey. He was banned for two years and lost his results going back to 2001.
Nothing remarkable about that for cycling, you might say, but it is what Papp did next that was unusual.
Despite cooperating with the US anti-doping authorities in their case against former Tour de France champion Floyd Landis,, external Papp set up a website in September 2006 to sell the blood-boosting drug EPO and human growth hormone direct from a factory in China.
That scam ran for a year until he was rumbled for that, too, but not before he had made close to £60,000 selling drugs to almost 200 clients in Australia, Europe and North America. And of those customers almost three quarters were amateurs, mainly cyclists.
“I think it’s understandable but that doesn’t mean it’s rational,” said Papp, an intelligent and engaging man. “Cheating is endemic in our society.
“It is crazy that people are willing to put these dangerous pharmaceuticals into their body when there’s nothing at stake – so in that sense it’s surprising – but at the same time it doesn’t really shock me.”
Papp got his business started with a few posts on cycling forums and word-of-mouth marketing did the rest. He advised his customers to get medical advice, told them to guard their anonymity and warned them that what they were doing was against the rules.
The secret to his success, if that is the right word, was that he sold ‘good’ stuff at low, low prices.
“You could buy enough EPO to last a season for [£1,000]. When you think that a pair of carbon-fibre racing wheels can cost [£2,000], the cost of EPO wasn’t really a limiting factor,” he explained.
“I remember what struck me about many of my clients was how excited, almost giddy, they were to finally have the opportunity to find out how far they could push their bodies.
“Emulating the pro lifestyle included doping for many of them.”