It's July 16, 1978, stage 16 of the Tour de France is being raced, Saint Etienne – Alpe d'Huez (240.5 km). Wearing the yellow jersey is the tough Belgian Joseph Bruyere, team leader of C & A following Eddy Merckx's retirement from racing. On the most mythical summit of the Tour de France, the excellent Bruyere loses the yellow jersey. The stage is won by Belgian Michel Pollentier of Velda-Flandria. Pollentier is notoriously not a stylist on the bike: he zigzags a lot and wastes energy. However, the cyclist born on February 13, 1951 is powerful, rides strong and in some cases becomes irresistible.

Pollentier at Alpe d'Huez beats the highly regarded Dutch cyclist Hennie Kuiper, Olympic Champion from Munich 1972. Michel is the new leader in the general classification. Pollentier on the podium wears the yellow jersey celebrated enthusiastically and then goes to the medical control. At the anti-doping facility of the stage committee he cannot produce liquid in the test tube. "I'm dehydrated, I lost two kilos of weight during the stage", he claims. And so the new Tour leader is allowed to undergo the medical control at his own hotel, escorted by the anti-doping doctor and the race judge designated by the UCI as inspector, Renato Sacconi, a Milanese born in 1924.

There's the doctor with the inspector, everything seems normal, with numerous Belgian fans outside the facility chanting pro-Pollentier slogans, winner the previous year of the Giro d'Italia ahead of Francesco Moser and Gibi Baronchelli. However Pollentier's yellow jersey truly has only minutes left. The Velda-Flandria leader reappears at the anti-doping control wearing quite robust clothing despite the decidedly high temperature of the day. He also has the "health jersey" on, contrary to all the other selected riders who present themselves to the anti-doping doctor and UCI inspector in just a tank top.

Michel takes advantage of the embarrassment a man feels when observed urinating: he turns his back, and from his shorts pulls out a small tube. While Pollentier pours the liquid into the test tube, the movements of his shoulders catch the attention of international commissioner Sacconi. The Lombard judge notices that Michel rhythmically extends and contracts his arms. And from here everything comes to light: under the armpits the new yellow jersey wearer has small pumps that facilitate the passage of "immaculate" organic liquid from a reservoir.

Practically Pollentier is not urinating but rather pumping liquid free of suspicion into the test tube. Renato Sacconi (in January 1981 he was elected FCI national councilman) immediately reports the blatant doping fraud attempt to the jury president and organizer Felix Levitan. At 8:20 PM on July 16, 1978 Pollentier is expelled from the Tour de France, with stage victory assigned to Kuiper. In the next day's stage Joop Zoetemelk will start wearing the leader's jersey of the Grande Boucle.

Pollentier's world comes crashing down. That fraud becomes a heavy burden but does not represent a wall for his career. The 1978 Tour de France will be won by Bernard Hinault thanks to an impressive performance in the 72-kilometer individual time trial on the third-to-last day. Pollentier in 1978 still manages to race in the final part of the season and then for another 6 years, 2 in Splendor colors, the others with Safir. Among Michel's successes in the post-Alpe d'Huez fraud period are also the Fleche Brabanconne and the Tour of Flanders (1980 edition, where he outfoxed Francesco Moser), and a stage at the Vuelta a Espana.

photo still from Youtube