Michele Ferrari

Michele Ferrari (born March 26, 1953) is an Italian physician, cycling coach and author.

Biography

Ferrari was born in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, where he still lives. After an early career researching and publishing papers concerning the anaerobic threshold of various athletes, he settled on his lifelong interest in the development of training programmes for professional cyclists.

One of Ferrari's earliest successes was coaching Francesco Moser to achieve the hour record in 1984, crushing the great Eddy Merckx's mark by more than a mile.

Initially Ferrari worked with Prof. Francesco Conconi in Ferrara, who developed testing techniques for human performance, using methods such as monitoring the heart rate during exercise and recovery. Another controversial Italian doctor, Luigi Cecchini, is their common disciple. They have shared the care for some cyclists throughout their careers.

From 1984 onwards Ferrari achieved extraordinary improvements in the fitness of many cyclists. Ferrari populised the use of VAM, a parameter now used in cycling as a measure of fitness and speed.

Perhaps the most famous athlete to have been coached or advised by Ferrari is Lance Armstrong. Ferrari was involved with the US Postal Service Cycling Team until October 2004, helping Armstrong train during several of his seven straight Tour de France victories.

Two years after Ferrari had been found not guilty of the all of the original charges related to distributing drugs to leading riders,^[1] Armstrong responded to Ferrari's guilty verdict for malpractice in the Italian Court case with the following statement;

I was disappointed to learn of the Italian court's judgment against Dr. Michele Ferrari. Dr. Ferrari has been a longtime friend and trusted adviser to me and the USPS team, during which time he never suggested, prescribed or provided me with any performance-enhancing drugs. I was pleased to hear that Dr. Ferrari was acquitted of the charge of providing illegal drugs to athletes. I am not surprised by that verdict. However, I have always said that I have zero tolerance for anyone convicted of using or facilitating the use of performance-enhancing drugs. As a result of today's developments, the USPS team and I have suspended our professional affiliation with Dr. Ferrari as we await the release of the full verdict, which will contain Judge Maurizio Passerini's reasoning. In the meantime, I personally wish the very best for Dr. Ferrari and his family during this difficult time.^[2]

Ferrari's conviction in Italian court was based partly on testimony from Italian bicycle racer Filippo Simeoni. Admitting he had been doped since 1993, he went on to tell how he became affiliated with Ferrari in 1996. Apart from a prescription of EPO hormone, "we spoke about andriol (testosterone) which I was to use after hard training sessions with the aim of increasing my muscular power", as testified by Simeoni.^[3] In order to avoid being busted by anti-doping controlles, "Dr. Ferrari recommended I use Emagel the morning before controls, and another product to decrease my hematocrit",^[3] Simeoni testified. Ferrari said in his testimony: "Andriol is easily detectable for several days in a normal urine test, so, it is impossible that I suggested he take one Andriol 20 hours before another race."

On 27 May 2006, CyclingNews.com reported that the Italian appeals court absolved Ferrari of guilt on both the charges of sporting fraud and the charges relating to abuse of his medical license to write prescriptions "because the facts do not exist" to support these charges.^[4]

Athletes associated with Michele Ferrari

• All of team Gewiss-Ballan that took the entire podium in the 1994 edition of La Flèche Wallonne: Moreno Argentin, Giorgio Furlan and Eugeni Berzin
• Lance Armstrong
• Tyler Hamilton^[5] : stated he worked with Ferrari for one year
• Paolo Savoldelli
• Mario Cipollini
• Gianni Bugno
• Giorgio Furlan
• Pavel Tonkov
• Cadel Evans
• Tony Rominger
• Abraham Olano
• Ivan Gotti
• Claudio Chiappucci
• Filippo Simeoni: admitted to doping
• Patrik Sinkewitz: suspended for positive out-of-competition test while preparing for 2007 Tour de France; admitted to doping
• Eddy Mazzoleni
• Floyd Landis: suspended for positive doping test at 2006 Tour de France; admitted to doping
• Levi Leipheimer
• Axel Merckx
• Alexandre Vinokourov: suspended for positive doping test at 2007 Tour de France
• Michael Rogers

References

• Erwann Menthéour, Secret défonce
• Willy Voet, Massacre à la chaîne
• Bicycling.com article by Bill Gifford

Sources

1. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/3708036.stm
2. ^ Lance Armstrong Response to Dr. Michele Ferrari Italian Court Decision, PRNewswire, October 1, 2004
3. ^ ^{a b} Simeoni testifies: "Dr Ferrari prescribed EPO", CyclingNews, February 13, 2002
4. ^ Michele Ferrari absolved of all charges by Italian appeals court", CyclingNews, May 27, 2006
5. ^ "60 Minutes Interview Transcript". http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/05/20/60minutes/main20064858_page6.shtml. 

External links

• Homepage for Ferrari's Training Programmes

Persondata
Name	Ferrari, Michele
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Date of birth	March 26, 1953
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