Actually Hinault and others took a special cocktail. Working from memory it was a bizarre combination, of amphetamines, strichnine, morphine and alcohol. The morphine would be injected into the large muscles of the legs to dull pain, and the alcohol was I believe just a carrier. The injections would be given quickly under cover of sorts from the support car during the ride.
In early drug testing when amphetamines were the main abuse, the testing company knew some were using a drug they couldn't detect. At the Giro d'Italia just days before it started they got confirmation of a test that worked on this previously undetectable speed. Assuming the people paying them would want it done they tested for that too without telling anyone. Out of something like 130 riders guess how many were positive? Say like 130 riders or every stinking one of them. So rather than call it off or declare everyone in violation race organizers said since no team doctors or riders knew they would be tested for that substance, they would hold them accountable in the future and let that one go.
My guess is Lance doped, and so did very nearly all the other riders. I don't know what will happen, you can't award to someone else not with any legit way. Many of the others doped, some weren't tested as much. Really pitiful to strip Lance and hand it officially to another doper. Merckx, Indurain, Hinault, Fignon, and Anquetil were all known by admission or otherwise have admitted such things. It is a pitiful statement on pro cycling. Seems Lance shouldn't suffer more than these others though. Really messed up situation. And yes, if the rules are we test, and you pass the test, really should leave it at that. Even testing old samples with new technology shouldn't effect old results. Might be useful to see what is going on, but I don't see going back and altering results that way. And the due process in this case seems worse than non-existent.