Communitarian Policies in Relation to Doping Markets

Up until the end of the 1990s, thanks to a process of secondary socialization, doping practices in professional cycling were widespread and largely legitimated by the riders. In this article, based on numerous interviews, we aim to demonstrate that from 1998, the regulation of doping has progressively created the conditions for the development of an open market for doping products by destroying and splitting the cycling subculture into three models. We illustrate then the impact of these evolutions on the distribution of doping products. We also try to emphasize the need to pay more scientific attention to this research area.