Dope rife in other sports, says cycling legend Bernard Hinault

TOUR de France legend Bernard Hinault believes doping is rife in soccer and tennis.

Bernard Hinault

TOUR de France legend Bernard Hinault believes doping is rife in soccer and tennis.

After Lance Armstrong last week confessed to doping in all his seven Tour de France victories and was stripped of all titles, Hinault says other sports are hiding drug cheats.

The five-time Tour winner said road cycling's openness where media can see what happens on the courses and in the team vehicles and can talk to cyclists usually without restrictions has made the sport a target.

"Cycling is on the public roads so the accredited journalists can write what they see," said Hinault, who is a special guest at the Santos Tour Down Under's Legends Dinner tonight.

"A lot of other sports are played in stadiums and if you write too much (on doping), journalists can be banned.

"Cycling (tours) are organised by private companies and with other sports events are organised by their federations.

"Other federations have control of the athletes.

"When we talk about doping in cycling, why don't we talk about the other sports in that regard."

"I think that the day that all sporting bodies will be treated the same way, we wouldn't be the black sheep.

"It's a problem with every sport but it's always cyclists that comes up."

Hinault said if tennis or soccer had the same doping controls as cycling, their players wouldn't turn up to major events.

"Like the Paris Grand Slam event, if you had tight doping controls players would not come," he said.

"And when you talk about the FIFA under-17 World Cup, I believe out of one team with a squad of 22, 17 players tested positive.

"And tennis should have the same controls as every other sport."

With Spain's Operacion Puerto hitting that nation's high courts on Monday, the sport is bracing for another storm. About 50 cyclists have been named in what is looming as the world's biggest doping scandal.

Football giants Real Madrid and Barcelona have also been named loosely in some reports on Operacion Puerto but no players have been named.

"It (football) can't come out (of the investigation) in Spain, it's too big," he said.

"For Operacion Puerto in Spain they took only 50 cyclists but 200 other sports players were named. Who were the other names?" Hinault said.

Hinault alluded to Armstrong doping during his comeback during 2009 until 2011 when he rode at the Tour Down Under three times and the Tour De France twice.

Armstrong last week proclaimed the Tour de France cannot be won unless cyclists dope but claimed he was clean during his comeback.

"He did the Tour de France with products, he cannot know what it's like with no products," he said.