Sean Kelly (cyclist) - Doping

Doping

Kelly tested positive twice during his career. He failed tests after Paris–Brussels in 1984 and the Tour of the Basque Country in 1988.

Willy Voet, a central figure in a doping scandal in the 1998 Tour de France and whom Kelly had known for some years and who was Kelly's team soigneur, said in his biography that Kelly had been caught for the wrong drug after Paris-Brussels. He said:

"Ten days before Paris-Brussels 1984, a race made for him but one curiously he had never won, Kelly fell ill. Bronchitis. He treated himself with ephedrine for a week, an excellent treatment to unblock the lungs but which could be detected in tests. Sean stopped his treatment three days before the race because even if the tests weren't as frequent as today, it wasn't worth taking the risk. At the end of the race, which he finished third behind Eric Vanderaerden and Charly Mottet, the Irishman was called to a test. In his shorts we hid a small container of urine volunteered by one of the mechanics, and he went through the test without problems. For top riders, as we've seen before, it's always easier.

"Several days later, Kelly received a letter from the international federation saying he had tested positive after Paris-Brussels. The product? Stimul, based on amphetamine. I asked around and the culprit was soon unmasked: to stay awake at the wheel of his van, the forgetful mechanic had perhaps taken a charge!"

Kelly was fined 1,000 Swiss francs and suspended for a month.

Voet wrote that Kelly took drugs regularly, including the day in 1983 that he won his only yellow jersey in the Tour de France. Kelly has never commented on the claims. He blamed the positive test for codeine in the Tour of the Basque Country on cough medicine.