Was Garin the subject of an injustice? It's not impossible. But the rigour of the sanctions can be explained by the discredit into which professional cycling had (already!) fallen. An example had to be made of a champion.Garin was incontestably the strongest rider of the period, so he was first choice. He was 34. The suspension for two years ... broke his career. We never again saw him at the front of the peloton 'this little and stubborn rider of formidable consistency ... who won all the races that mattered', ... this rider, intelligent, crafty, instinctive and calculating, ... the little chimney sweep from Arvier, in the Aoste valley near Mont Blanc'