"He did everything he could to exclude me" - 90's sprinter Abdoujaparov believes career-ending doping case was orchestrated by his team

Djamolidine Abdoujaparov was one of the most iconic sprinters of the 1990's and one of the most successful too. A three-time green jersey winner at the Tour de France (as well as one in both other Grand Tours too), his career was marked by the biggest race in the world, but it also finished at the Grand Boucle over what he believes to be a consequence of the team's actions. 

"If they called me that, they obviously meant it... I've never caused anyone to fall through my fault. I've never been unfair," Abdoujaparov said in words to Gazzetta dello Sport. The Uzbek sprinter - previously known as Soviet until the fall of 1991 - was known for his odd style of sprinting, which would nowadays put him under relegations quite often as he had a tendency to swerve a lot during the sprints. In that same year of 91, he famously crashed, by himself, riding into the barriers at none other than the Champs-Élysées whilst wearing the green jersey. 

"So many incorrect things have been said and written, which are still on the web," he argues however. "On the Paris-Champs-Elysees circuit, on the previous lap, they had left the barrier open, the one for the [spectators'] passage. It had been moved a good meter, where the team cars and police cars entered. And I took it full force". It was argued that he lost control of the bike after he rode over a coca-cola can, which he denies. "The Coca-Cola can had nothing to do with it. Watch that sprint carefully, and you'll see."

The now 61-year old believes sprints in the current peloton are quite different, and that no-one in the sprints rides isolated as he did back in his successful years. "I just don't see a sprinter like me now, he doesn't exist. I did everything myself. Even Cipollini, back then, had a train. I never did." 

He has pointed out the financial differences that exist in the current peloton, financially speaking. "Now, all you have to do is win a stage at the Tour and they can give you a million...That's money I've never seen."

A doping ban in 1997 then ended his career during the Tour de France itself, whilst he rode for Lotto - Mobistar. He believes that the reason for this positive test for clenbuterol was in the team and that he was framed: 

"I had a good contract, but a sports director didn't want me, he did everything he could to exclude me, and they stopped paying me," he tells. "Then, once, a masseur gave me a product that I took without thinking. I tested positive, but the team found out a day before it was official. Strange."