Landis, who won the Tour de France in 2006 before being stripped of his title for a positive testosterone test, served a two year ban before coming clean and admitting to his doping past.
In a tell all interview with Paul Kimmage in 2011 Landis told the story of how he and Boogerd had shared doping stories during the 2006 race.
Landis told Kimmage that he had a blood transfusion done during the Tour, and it resulted in a bruise on his arm. “The next day I rode alongside Michael Boogerd and he pointed to my arm. Then he pointed to his arm and he made a gesture of: 'I have the exact same thing',” he told the former Sunday Times writer.
At the time Boogerd laughed off the accusation stating that he had never taken performance enhancing drugs – despite links to organised doping during the late 90s and 2000s at Rabobank.
After the Kimmage interview Boogerd told the Dutch press that, “He [Landis] did not say that I've used drugs, but he insinuates it. He knows what he did and therefore can only assume that I did the same."
Boogerd, who retired after the 2007 season, said he did not know why Landis mentioned him. “Maybe it's because of our argument in the Tour in 2006. He showed no respect for the yellow jersey and I called him an arrogant jellyfish.” [ed. 'kwal' in Dutch means jellyfish, but in common usage equates more to 'jerk']
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On Monday night Boogerd confessed to taking several doping products during a decade of his 14 year long career. In recent weeks he has faced criticism for upholding an innocent stance even after confessions from several former Rabobank teammates but on Monday he told NOS that he used EPO, cortisone and blood transfusions. Rather surprisingly he denied ever doping for the Tour de France, a race in which he won two stages and finished inside the top ten.
“Sooner or later these guys will realise that half confessions only lead to confessions about those confessions at a later date. There are guys who called me a cheater for four years and then a liar for three more. It’s too little, too late,” Landis told Cyclingnews after reading the news on Wednesday.
After being stripped of the Tour title in 2006 first place went to Spain’s Oscar Pereiro. Landis later accused the Spaniard of doping during their time at Phonak in 2005, an accusation the Spaniard denied.
“I’m looking forward to Pereiro’s half confession one of these days as well,” Landis said.
Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
