OIL AND DOPE BACK ON AGENDA

 

Watching Le Tour on television provides a much needed break from the shit problems in the real world.

Until last week, that is, when in ITV’S second rest day Tour de France review, fronted by Gary Imlach, devoted time to the scandals surrounding French oil company Total Energies, who sponsor a World Tour team on this Tour.

They are accused of “green washing” in sponsoring cycling, of creating an image of being environmentally friendly when they are anything but. Quite the opposite in fact, hugely expanding their oil business. The burning of Oil – carbon - is we know, the main driver of climate change which, science tells us, is leading to the collapse of our environment and life on earth as know it.

As if this wasn’t depressing enough for our usually happy go-lucky Tour coverage, we were also subjected to the issue of the German doctor convicted of doping offences. This is Doctor Mark Schmidt.  Of particular interest is an alleged  message between  someone at Team Sky, now INEOS, and Schmidt.

First, the Total Energy story.

Those attempting to bring Total
Energies to book - Greenpeace France, Friends of the Earth France and Notre Affaire a Tous, supported by Client Earth filed a lawsuit in France in March 2022 against the company.  A year later the French courts agreed the case could go ahead.

It is claimed that the company’s ‘reinvention’ ad campaign violates European consumer law, misleading the public by claiming to be a major player in the energy transition” depicted in the design of a logo on the team jersey.

 It has pledged to reach company-wide net zero emissions by 2050 and denied that it is greenwashing.  

Countering this, it is being claimed that Total’s business plans include a far-reaching expansion of fossil fuel production and any significant emissions reductions are doubtful over the next 10 years.  

This matter also concerns an issue with the rights of the Native American Indians in Peru. The ITV programme featured Marcel Garcia Apagueno, Kichwa community leader, who took her people’s case to France to pursue the matter in the courts.

 

She said her people have been restricted by Total Energies from gathering food and harvesting plants.   She claimed the oil company had made an $84.7million dollar purchase of land and is using t heir forests to sell carbon credits to high polluting corporations.

 Her people have been excluded from making policy decisions concerning the development of green energy projects.

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, says:

“We are custodians of the natural world who are committed to maintaining the natural equilibrium of the planet for the generations to come.”

Laura Quinones writing in Climate and Environment says

“While Indigenous Peoples make up just six per cent of the global population, they safeguard 80 per cent of the planet’s remaining biodiversity – yet receive less than one per cent of international climate funding.”

The Scottish organisers of the Tour de France Grand Depart in 2027 have taken a stand on this matter, saying they will not tolerate any team strip such as the Total Energy team clothing bearing controversial environmental claims in the design.

And now, onto the hoary subject of doping and the jailed German doctor.

This has been covered in detail by Cycling Weekly., although the first I heard of it was on  ITV's Tour de France program last week.

It concerns Dr Mark Schmidt, who worked as a doctor with the Gerolsteiner and Milram pro cycling teams. He was investigated for his role in helping athletes from cycling and cross-country skiing to blood dope, until a cross-country skier blew the whistle on his doings.

Subsequently, Schmidt was jailed for five years in 2021 for his doping activities between 2012 and 2019.

Journalist Sebastian Krause who covered the Schmidt trial every day looked through his many notes taken at the trial and identified a person who worked for INEOS/Sky and who had been in contact with Schmidt. Some of the  messages  allegedly sent between Schmidt and the INEOS/Sky worker were aired in court.

Here is one of them: “Do you still have any of the stuff that Milram used during the races? If so, can you bring it for the boys?”

That message was from June 2012,  just weeks before Team Sky won the Tour with Bradley Wiggins, and team-mate Chris Froome, second.

The programme said this is not implying any wrong doing by Wiggins nor Froome.

The reason all has blown up now is that the Schmidt affair was the subject of a German TV documentary last month. The story was picked up by the Sunday Independent, in a piece written by Paul Kimmage, the former pro who in 2007 published his book, entitled, “Rough Ride”,  his story about the culture of doping within cycling.

Daniel Friebe who is working on the Tour for ITV asked INEOS Team Principal Dave Brailsford about the Schmidt message story but he declined to comment.

Instead, INEOS issued a short statement to Friebe, as follows:  “INEOS Grenadiers Cycling Team is aware of recent media allegations relating to the 2012 season and a member of its staff. These allegations have not to date been presented to the team by any appropriate authority.

“The team reiterates its policy of zero tolerance to any breach of the applicable WADA codes historic and current.”