Gewiss–Ballan was an Italian-based road bicycle racing team active from 1993 to 1997, named after the Italian electrical engineering company Gewiss.
The team produced winners of the Giro d'Italia – Evgeni Berzin and Ivan Gotti as well as top classic specialists Giorgio Furlan and Nicola Minali.
The win in the Fleche Wallonne was impressive because the team completely dominated the race with taking all podium places at the race with Argentin, Furlan and Berzin ahead of many greats of cycling at the time including Claudio Chiappucci, Franco Ballerini, Davide Cassani and Gianni Bugno.
This speed stood for ten years until Lance Armstrong's Discovery Channel Team broke it during the 2005 Tour de France.
The team doctor, Michele Ferrari was an assistant of Professor Francesco Conconi at the Biomedical Institute at the University of Ferrara in Italy.
In addition the documentary told of how during the Tour of Denmark on 4 August 1995 journalists made a doping find in a hotel room where the soigneur of Gewiss Paolo Ganzerli had slept the night before.
[5] Further revelations about systematic doping on the team were published in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica and the French sports paper L'Équipe in 1999.
These were based on published writing from journalist Eugenio Capodacqua from the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica.
Capodacqua published blood values (hematocrit levels) from Gewiss riders and results of an investigation into the team and its doctor Michele Ferrari.