ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I address the changes in the supply-side of the doping market in elite cycling over the last two decades. Until the late 1990s, since there was a flourishing culture of tolerance towards doping, and doping was best understood as deviant overconformity, the suppliers of doping products overwhelmingly belonged to the ‘cycling family’. Riders, masseurs, and team physicians were behind the distribution of the drugs. Yet, the team-sponsored doping system began to crumble after the 1998 Tour de France and the aftermath of the repeated doping scandals. The harsher anti-doping regime and the need for a sustainable business model fostered the cycling family to be increasingly committed with clean sport. As a result, other experts (primarily teams-unrelated sports physicians) replaced the cycling’s insiders in the supply practices. However, these suppliers form the new target of anti-doping policies, which increasingly tackle those who assist, administer, or provide riders with illegal enhancers. An important threat that comes out from ongoing anti-doping policy is, therefore, a second shift in the supply-side of the doping market, with the development of a competitive doping market, where market-oriented dealers could replace minimally commercial suppliers.
