Michele Ferrari (born 26 March 1953) is an Italian physician,
cycling
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
coach and author, who is mostly known for his role in supplying bicycle racers with
performance-enhancing drugs
Performance-enhancing substances, also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. A well-known example of cheating in sports involves doping in sport, where bann ...
, notably
EPO. His most famous client was
Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong (''né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 Tour de ...
.
Biography
Ferrari was born in
Ferrara
Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...
,
Emilia-Romagna
egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title ...
, Italy, where he still lives.
In 1978, he obtained his degree in Medicine and Surgery at the
University of Ferrara
The University of Ferrara ( it, Università degli Studi di Ferrara) is the main university of the city of Ferrara in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. In the years prior to the First World War the University of Ferrara, with more than 5 ...
. His doctoral thesis concerned the measurement of
anaerobic threshold
Lactate inflection point (LIP), is the exercise intensity at which the blood concentration of lactate and/or lactic acid begins to increase rapidly. It is often expressed as 85% of maximum heart rate or 75% of maximum oxygen intake. When exercisin ...
in the sport of running.
Ferrari was a consultant to the Italian Track and Field Federation (
FIDAL
The Italian Athletics Federation (Italian: ''Federazione Italiana di Atletica Leggera'', FIDAL), is the governing body for athletics in Italy since 1906.
The Italian Federation, founded on 21 October 1906, on initiative of ''La Gazzetta dello Sp ...
) from 1977 to 1980. He became a specialist in sports medicine at the
Sapienza University of Rome
The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a Public university, public research university l ...
in 1981.
He was co-author of more than 20 papers in journals of sports physiology. He studied parameters of athletes in a variety of sports, such as track and field, cycling, swimming, skiing, and speed-skating. Subsequently, until 1983, he was the sports physician of the National Italian Biathlon team (
FISI
The Italian Winter Sports Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Sport Invernali; FISI), is the winter sports federation for Italy. Part of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI), it deals with all federations conducting sports for the Wint ...
).
Eventually he settled on his lifelong interest: the development of training programmes for professional cyclists. One of Ferrari's earliest successes was coaching
Francesco Moser
Francesco Moser ( or ; ; born 19 June 1951), nicknamed "Lo sceriffo" (The sheriff), is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer. He finished on the podium of the Giro d'Italia six times including his win in the 1984 edition.
Moser ...
to achieve the
hour record
The hour record is the record for the longest distance cycled in one hour on a bicycle from a stationary start. Cyclists attempt this record alone on the track without other competitors present. It is considered one of the most prestigious re ...
in 1984, crushing
Eddy Merckx
Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx (, ; born 17 June 1945), better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional road and track bicycle racer who is among the most successful riders in the history of competitive cycling. His victorie ...
's mark by more than a mile.
Initially Ferrari worked with Professor
Francesco Conconi Francesco Conconi (born 19 April 1935 in Como, Italy) is an Italian sports doctor and scientist, with disciples such as Michele Ferrari and Luigi Cecchini.
Conconi is a professor at the University of Ferrara in Italy where he heads the ''Centro Stu ...
at the University of Ferrara, who developed testing techniques for human performance, using methods such as monitoring the heart rate during exercise and recovery. Another controversial Italian doctor,
Luigi Cecchini, is their common disciple. They have shared the care for some cyclists throughout their careers.
From 1984 onwards, Ferrari achieved extraordinary improvements in the fitness of many cyclists. Ferrari popularised the use of
VAM VAM may refer to:
* Value-added modeling, an American method of teacher evaluation
* VAM - a registered trademark of Vallourec Oil and Gas, France
* VAM (bicycling), a measure of rate of climb in bicycle racing (abbreviation for Italian for ''avera ...
, a parameter now used in cycling as a measure of fitness and speed.
Cycling team doctor and increasing prominence
In 1994, Ferrari was the team doctor for
Gewiss. The team had an excellent season, winning many races. In the
Flèche Wallonne
Flèche or Fleche may refer to:
*Flèche (architecture), a type of church spire
* Flèche (cycling), a team cycling competition
*Flèche (fencing), an aggressive offensive fencing technique
*Flèche (fortification)
A flèche ( Fr. for "arrow") is ...
, the team realized a historic triple victory. Concerned by the domination of the Italian team, some observers pointed a finger of suspicion at the team doctor. Far from calming this controversy, Ferrari compared
erythropoietin
Erythropoietin (; EPO), also known as erythropoetin, haematopoietin, or haemopoietin, is a glycoprotein cytokine secreted mainly by the kidneys in response to cellular hypoxia; it stimulates red blood cell production (erythropoiesis) in the bo ...
to
orange juice
Orange juice is a liquid extract of the orange (fruit), orange tree fruit, produced by squeezing or reaming oranges. It comes in several different varieties, including blood orange, navel oranges, valencia orange, clementine, and tangerine. A ...
. "EPO is not dangerous, it's the abuse that is. It's also dangerous to drink 10 liters of orange juice". This statement cost him his job as team physician. But his reputation was made, and his name thereafter was associated with use of
EPO in particular. In 1995, Ferrari started his own private medical practice.
Clientele
Professional bicycle racers who were clients, in some capacity, of Ferrari include:
Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong (''né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 Tour de ...
,
Michael Rogers,
Alexander Vinokourov
Alexander Nikolayevich Vinokourov ( Kazakh and russian: Александр Николаевич Винокуров; born 16 September 1973) is a Kazakhstani former professional road bicycle racer and the current general manager of UCI WorldTeam ...
,
Michele Scarponi
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Jesi, Marche, Italy
, death_date =
, death_place = Filottrano, Marche, Italy
, height =
, weight =
, discipline = Road
, role = Climbing specialistDomestique
, amateuryears1= 1988 ...
,
Denis Menchov
Denis Nikolayevich Menchov (russian: Денис Николаевич Меньшов; born 25 January 1978) is a former professional Russian road bicycle racer, who rode as a professional between 2000 and 2013. He was best known as a general clas ...
,
Giovanni Visconti,
Yaroslav Popovych
Yaroslav Popovych ( uk, Ярослав Попович; born 4 January 1980) is a Ukrainian former professional cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2016.
The winner of the under-23 road race at the 2001 UCI Road World Championships, ...
,
Alessandro Bertolini
Alessandro Bertolini (born 27 July 1971 in Rovereto, Italy) is an Italian professional road racing cyclist, who last rode for the UCI Professional Continental cycling team . He is also known in Italy as "Alex" Bertolini.
Major results
;1996
: ...
,
Gianluca Bortolami
Gianluca Bortolami (born 28 August 1968) is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist. Bortolami's greatest feats was capturing the monumental classic Tour of Flanders in 2001 and winning the 1994 UCI Road World Cup season championship. ...
,
Gianni Bugno
Gianni Bugno (; born 14 February 1964) is a retired Italian professional road racing cyclist.
Biography
Bugno was a versatile rider, able to do well in different types of races. He won numerous stages in the Tour de France, and the Milan–S ...
,
Mario Cipollini
Mario Cipollini (; born 22 March 1967), often abbreviated to "Cipo", is a retired Italian professional road cyclist most noted for his sprinting ability, the longevity of his dominance (his first pro win came in 1988, his last in 2005; 170 pro ...
,
Claudio Chiappucci
Claudio Chiappucci (born 28 February 1963 in Uboldo, Varese, Lombardy) is a retired Italian professional cyclist. He was on the podium three times in the Tour de France general classification: second in 1990, third in 1991 and second again in 19 ...
,
Roman Kreuziger
Roman Kreuziger (; born 6 May 1986) is a Czech former professional road bicycle racer, who last rode for UCI ProTeam . His father, Roman Kreuziger Sr., was also a bicycle racer who won the Tour of Austria in 1991 and the Cyclocross Junior World ...
,
Armand de Las Cuevas
Armand de Las Cuevas (26 June 1968 – 2 August 2018) was a French racing cyclist.
He won prestigious races such as the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré and the Clásica de San Sebastián. A time trial specialist, he won many prologues and indi ...
,
Fernando Escartín
Fernando Escartín Coti (born 24 January 1968) is a Spanish former road racing cyclist. Between 1995 and 2000 he came in the top 10 of the Tour de France five times and in that same time period finished on the podium in 2nd place at the Vuelta a ...
,
Gianni Faresin
Gianni Faresin (born 16 July 1965) is an Italian former road bicycle racer, who competed professionally from 1988 to 2004. He currently works as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental team , for whom his son Edoardo rides. Faresin was born in M ...
,
Giorgio Furlan
Giorgio Furlan (born 9 March 1966 in Treviso) is an Italian people, Italian former road bicycle racer, who currently works as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental team .
Major results
;1986
: 1st Stage 4 Tour de Luxembourg
;1990
: 1st Italia ...
,
Ivan Gotti
Ivan Gotti (born 28 March 1969) is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist.
Gotti was born at San Pellegrino Terme, Lombardy. He first came to prominence by finishing 5th overall in the 1995 Tour de France. The highlights of his caree ...
,
Andreas Kappes
Andreas Kappes (23 December 1965 – 31 July 2018) was a German cyclist, who was a professional from 1987 to 2009, active on the road and on the track, collecting in total 133 wins, and, as an amateur, represented West Germany at the 1984 Summer ...
,
Kevin Livingston
Kevin Livingston (born May 24, 1973 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American former professional cyclist.
Career
Livingston rode six Tours de France, the Giro d'Italia and many of the European Classics, during a career with Motorola, Cofidis, ...
,
Eddy Mazzoleni
Eddy Mazzoleni (born 29 July 1973) is a former Italian professional road bicycle racer who most recently rode for UCI ProTour Astana Team.
Biography
He currently lives in Almenno San Bartolomeo, Italy. Mazzoleni is a talented climber and was a h ...
,
Axel Merckx
Axel Eddy Lucien Jonkheer Merckx (born 8 August 1972) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer and the son of five-time Tour de France champion Eddy Merckx. He is team director of UCI Continental team .
In his professional career (1 ...
,
Thomas Dekker,
Abraham Olano
Abraham Olano Manzano (born 22 January 1970 in Anoeta, Gipuzkoa) is a Spanish retired professional road racing cyclist, who raced between 1992 and 2002. He won the UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race, World Road Championship in 19 ...
,
Daniele Pontoni
Daniele Pontoni (born 8 September 1966 in Udine) is a former Italian professional cyclo-cross cyclist. Pontoni was World Champion of cyclo-cross by the amateurs in 1992 and by the elite in 1997. He was Italian cyclo-cross champion from 1996 to ...
,
Tony Rominger
Tony Rominger (born 27 March 1961 in Vejle, Denmark) is a Swiss former professional road racing cyclist who won the Vuelta a España in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and the Giro d'Italia in 1995.
He began cycling late, allegedly spurred by competition wi ...
,
Paolo Savoldelli
Paolo Savoldelli (born 7 May 1973 in Clusone, province of Bergamo) is a former Italian road racing cyclist and winner of the 2002 and 2005 Giro d'Italia.
Savoldelli was a climber but known for his fast downhill riding. He is nicknamed ''Il F ...
,
Filippo Simeoni
Filippo Simeoni (born 17 August 1971) is an Italian former racing cyclist and the 2008 Italian road race champion. ,
Pavel Tonkov
Pavel Sergeyevich Tonkov (russian: Павел Сергеевич Тонков; born 9 February 1969 in Izhevsk) is a former professional road racing cyclist from Russia. His talents were first showcased when winning the world junior title as part ...
,
Enrico Zaina
Enrico Zaina (born 27 September 1967 in Brescia) is an Italian former road bicycle racer. Zaina turned professional in 1989. He won a stage of the 1995 Giro d'Italia and two stages of the 1996 Giro d'Italia, where he finished second overall be ...
and
Beat Zberg
Beat Zberg (born 10 May 1971 in Altdorf, Uri) is a Swiss former professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam Gerolsteiner.
In 2007 he became the Swiss National champion, winning the road race alone and over 2 minutes ahead of 2nd placed Fabi ...
.
Perhaps the most famous athlete to have been coached or advised by Ferrari is Lance Armstrong. Ferrari claims they were introduced to each other by
Eddy Merckx
Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx (, ; born 17 June 1945), better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional road and track bicycle racer who is among the most successful riders in the history of competitive cycling. His victorie ...
in 1995. Earlier that year, Armstrong had begun doping. Ferrari was involved with the
US Postal Service Cycling Team
U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team was a United States-based professional road bicycle racing team. On June 15, 2004, the Discovery Channel signed a deal to become sponsor of the team for the 2004–2007 seasons and its name changed to Di ...
until October 2004, helping Armstrong train during several of his seven consecutive
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
victories.
Tyler Hamilton
Tyler Hamilton (born March 1, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racer. He is the only American rider to win one of the five Monuments of cycling, taking Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2003. Hamilton became a professional cycli ...
, Armstrong's teammate who later confessed to doping, worked with Ferrari for one year, according to his own account in a television interview.
Sporting fraud trial
In October 2004, Ferrari was sentenced to one-year prison (suspended) and a fine of 900 euros, for sporting fraud and abusive exercise of the profession of
pharmacist
A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...
.
Ferrari's conviction in Italian court was based partly on testimony from Italian bicycle racer
Filippo Simeoni
Filippo Simeoni (born 17 August 1971) is an Italian former racing cyclist and the 2008 Italian road race champion. . Admitting he had been doped since 1993, Simeoni told how he became affiliated with Ferrari in 1996. Simeoni testified that, in addition to a prescription of
EPO hormone, "we spoke about Andriol (
testosterone
Testosterone is the primary sex hormone and anabolic steroid in males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of Male reproductive system, male reproductive tissues such as testes and prostate, as well as promoting secondar ...
), which I was to use after hard training sessions, with the aim of increasing my muscular power. Dr. Ferrari recommended I use
Emagel the morning before controls, and another product to decrease my
hematocrit
The hematocrit () (Ht or HCT), also known by several other names, is the volume percentage (vol%) of red blood cells (RBCs) in blood, measured as part of a blood test. The measurement depends on the number and size of red blood cells. It is norm ...
."
Ferrari argued, in his defense: "Andriol is easily detectable for several days in a normal urine test, so, it is impossible that I suggested he take one Andriol 20 hours before another race."
Lance Armstrong responded to Ferrari's guilty verdict for malpractice in the Italian Court case:
:"I was disappointed to learn of the Italian court's judgment against Dr. Michele Ferrari. Dr. Ferrari has been a longtime friend and trusted adviser to me and the USPS team, during which time he never suggested, prescribed or provided me with any performance-enhancing drugs... However, I have always said that I have zero tolerance for anyone convicted of using or facilitating the use of performance-enhancing drugs. As a result of today's developments, the USPS team and I have suspended our professional affiliation with Dr. Ferrari as we await the release of the full verdict..."
Ferrari then announced his intention to appeal his sentence. Ferrari was acquitted of all charges against him on May 27, 2006, because, according to the court, "the facts do not exist" to support the charges.
2012 USADA indictment and lifetime ban
On 13 June 2012, Ferrari was officially charged by
USADA
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA, ) is a non-profit, non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization and the national anti- doping organization (NADO) for the United States. To protect clean competition and the integrity of sport and prevent d ...
with administration and trafficking of prohibited substances. As Ferrari did not formally contest this indictment, he was issued a lifetime ban from professional sport in July 2012. In December 2012, Ferrari still protested his innocence in an interview with
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...
. He notably stated about Lance Armstrong in that interview: “So, either he was clean – and in my opinion, he was clean and he says he was clean – or the tests are not powerful,” Ferrari added, before laughing: “Or the
UCI was corrupt.” In January 2013, after
Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong (''né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 Tour de ...
had confessed to using
PEDs, Ferrari claimed on his blog that the cyclist could have achieved similar blood values and performance with
altitude training
Altitude training is the practice by some endurance athletes of training for several weeks at high altitude, preferably over above sea level, though more commonly at intermediate altitudes due to the shortage of suitable high-altitude locations. A ...
.
2013 revelation
In November 2013, Armstrong settled a lawsuit with Acceptance Insurance Company (AIC). AIC had sought to recover $3 million it had paid Armstrong as bonuses for winning the Tour de France from 1999–2001. The suit was settled for an undisclosed sum one day before Armstrong was scheduled to give a deposition under oath. In written testimony for the suit, Armstrong admitted under oath that Ferrari had been one of four individuals who had supplied him with PEDs during his cycling career.
References
Further reading
*
Tyler Hamilton
Tyler Hamilton (born March 1, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racer. He is the only American rider to win one of the five Monuments of cycling, taking Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2003. Hamilton became a professional cycli ...
,
Daniel Coyle: ''
The Secret Race'' (), Bantam Books 2012.
*
Erwann Menthéour, ''Secret défonce''
*
Willy Voet
Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to:
People Given name or nickname
* Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scre ...
, ''Massacre à la chaîne''
Bicycling.com article by Bill Gifford
External links
Homepage for Ferrari's Training Programmes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrari, Michele
1953 births
Living people
Italian male criminals
Physicians from Ferrara
Italian sports physicians
Italian cycling coaches
Drugs in sport in Italy