The 1998 Tour de France sent shockwaves through the sporting world. Unprecedented doping revelations brought an end to the idea of sport as an ideal tool for the upbringing of young people. This caused moral panic. The media and politicians reacted as if sport had all of a sudden been possessed by the devil. Exorcism was the obvious solution if sport was to be rescued. Soon the World Anti-Doping Agency was put in place. Its aim was to hunt down and eliminate doping cheats globally.

The Doping Devil was written before the formation of the World Anti-Doping Agency was even decided. Careful not to advocate the legalisation of doping, it constructs its argument around the idea that the devil may lie in sport itself.