Tour de…
It wouldn’t be July if there weren’t cyclists getting popped for dope. Other years I would just watch the live coverage. Doping scandals can break at any time, so it’s key tp check in regularly. Ricco, well he was too good to be true on those climbs. Not that I’m jumping on the bandwagon. But he probably used up all his stored ‘clean’ (taken out during the winter) blood during the Giro, and had to medicate here. Also I guess the tests are getting better, so that’s good for those of us who abstain. However the problem is that the drugs keep getting better. A recent study showed 8% performance increase from EPO use… so when the guys who are in 15th spot are doping, but also getting left behind by minutes… what are the leaders doing?
In all fairness, I’m just a bitter guy on the sidelines who has lost who knows how much prize money to doped riders, but in the same time, I know a dozen guys (team Symmetrics) who beat me fairly, and cleanly. I believe one day races (say triathlons) the dope makes less of a difference. Your body just can’t recover fully every day in the tour. So the guys who did well earlier, could have been cleaner.
At least cycling is doing something. By testing, and having guys test positive there is hope. If you are in a sport which doesn’t test… well buy your kid a bike, it’ll take them places.
I get asked all the time, with all the tests how to people still cheat - check this interview:
Doping expert speculates on Riccò’s test
Professor Michel Audran is one of the world’s leading experts on blood doping. He is also one of nine independent experts chosen to act as consultants in the formulation of the UCI’s biological passport. Daniel Friebe, Procycling features editor spoke to Audran this morning within minutes of L’Equipe’s website announcing that Riccardo Riccò has tested positive for an EPO derivative after stage four of the Tour de France, the individual time trial around Cholet.
Daniel Friebe: In the last twenty minutes we’ve heard that Riccardo Riccò has tested positive for an EPO-like product. The early reports suggest that Riccò used CERA or Micera. a so-called third generation EPO. What’s your reaction?
Michel Audran: Wow. I’m stunned. I’m amazed they’re saying it’s Micera, simply because there’s no validated test for that yet. The World Anti-Doping Agency is working on a test, but it certainly doesn’t exist yet.
DF: What exactly is CERA, or Micera to give it its commercial name?
MA:It’s a delayed-action EPO, which has a different molecular mass from EPO. It’s only been commercially available since the start of the year. We can tell when someone’s used it but we can’t declare them positive. In that respect it’s like Dynepo, another EPO-like product. We know that Micera was being used on the Giro, so I’m not surprised that it’s also turned up at the Tour. But I would be very surprised if they AFLD had declared Riccò positive for Micera, for the reasons I’ve just mentioned. Maybe they searched Riccò’s room and found the product itself… more here
In a nutshell, if rider (instead of x, lets call our random rider) lance is using a brand new doping product, the testers have to realize that the product exists, devise a test, and make the test lawyer proof. By the time they have this test rolled out… lance is using a new product, often before it’s even available on the market, and certainly before it has a test.
Also think of the money, WADA (world anti doping) has only a $25 million budget. Last year $1.3 of that (on top of $.7 from USADA) was spent on Landis alone. He lost and was sentenced to pay $0.1 million fine back to WADA.
I had an (allegedly reformed) doping pro tell me that with out drugs pro athletes couldn’t feed their families. What about me and my friends who never had a chance to see if we were able to have that chance, and were left fighting for scraps in the gutter?
Oh well, I have to go walk the dogs, and swim.
N
