smoore

Does it mean there was no doping or that the dopers are a step ahead of the controls?

I am pleasantly surprised and sure hope we don't hear anything in the next week or so.

jecjec81

Wait for another month or so. There will be a new number 1. hehe.

sakonnetclip

One might thing the odds of the sport going from highly tainted to completely clean in no time flat to be very, very low.

That being said, it is possible, but I'd be astounded.

Perhaps that why it was so tame, like the MLB home run derby

-spence

erader

how long after the giro was di luca popped?

ed rader

diphthong

maybe they just weren't organized enough to test-kinda like the officials at the first tour of california...

Howzit

I think the fools who run the Tour finally are catching on.
To disqualify someone DURING the Tour is idiotic. Bad press, bad for business.
This year's Tour had record crowds, record TV coverage, record ratings and so on. Why spoil it? The Tour is back into popularity!!! The Lance-Contador drama to smack your lips on, the French teams collecting stages, Cavindish scooping up the sprints, Thor contesting and snatching the green jersey from the fastest man by a long solo breakaway in the mountains..... I mean, this is a picture perfect Tour. You honestly think if they had a dope test go wrong they would announce it? Hell no, you must be crazy!!
The Tour organization has taken a lot of flack over the years, Im sure they want to savor and claim success!!
Let the crowd enjoy... for now.
Look for the small print in the back of the newspapers under the classifieds a few months from now, lol

Hezz

The biggest deterent may not be testing positive but getting caught doping in France which is now a criminal offence. The riders could face two years in jail besides a two year suspension. If the French courts wish to persue the matter.

bigfred 

The dopers aren't one step ahead. Those in charge of policing are dragging both feet.

Hezz

This has always been the problem with big cycling. If they are too good at catching guys the tour gets too much negative publicity and many big sponsers will pull out. But they cannot be too lax. I think the prospect of returning a positive result two or three months after you've finished the race is even more frightening to a racer since you are not safe even after the race is over.

However, since French riders have won several stages this year. Tour organizers may feel more comfortable with the current level of doping that is going on.

bellweatherman

Whoa! Slow down. The Tour just ended a few days ago. It normally takes months before announcements come out for positive results from drug tests. With new testing coming out, there still might even be more positive drug tests from last year 2008!

Pedaleur

Alas, "Although no riders have been caught doping, the French antidoping president signaled that forbidden materials were found with some of the teams in the Tour de France."

Goes on to mention insulin "producing" items found in trash cans. Also, that samples will be tested using new tests when they become available.

So, yes, this might take a while...

https://spn.dk/cykling/article1764630.ece

Garthr

-
You seem to forget this is France we are talking about here. If someone tested positive they couldn't keep it a secret if their life depended on it.

I think it's score +1 for the for the doping side in this round.

smoore

It didn't take them long to catch Landis. Of course that was testosterone which I understand is easier to find than some of the other drugs.

With the popularity of this years tour, I sure hope it doesn't get ruined by a bust.

henrythenavigat

Prepare to be 'unpleasantly unsurprised' at some point in the future.

Mr_Christopher

5 years from now some french newspaper will publish a report stating they found evidence than lance was doing bong hits the whole 09 tour. snore...

ednwireland

yeh wiggins !

daveF

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/afld...ugs-in-peloton

From the above link:

Bordry suspects that the riders are still engaging in autologous blood transfusions, he told Le Monde. The AFLD head also said he is "convinced that two new products have been used during the Tour, two drugs that are not yet on the market."

It looks like from Bordry's statement that they are still not testing for autologous transfusions or the test hasn't been confirmed as being accurate enough? I would guess that there is still a substantial amount of doping.

henrythenavigat

Also, the AFLD has stated they found "in the garbage of some teams, boxes of medication for diabetics know to stimulate the release of insulin."

Link in French (last paragraph): https://www.lemonde.fr/sports/article...3033_3242.html

henrythenavigat

Apparently, and I think this is misguided, they will focus on riders who did well last year but not as well this year.
So Cadel Evans' blood samples -- probably one of the clean riders imo -- will get tested more thouroughly than others, because a bunch of riders had superhuman performances this year and beat him?
Waste of resources. Wrong target.

tugboatcapt

I'm not one bit surprised. My personal belief is it's ASO's way of damage control. No reason to rain on their (ASO's) own parade. I'm curious if the autologous transfusion test has been introduced this Tour. To my knowledge, please correct me if I'm wrong, there still is no way to detect this but they're working on it. I've also read about Hematide. I'd imagine it isn't tested for either since it's still in trials. Cycling and performance enhancement have coexisted since the beginning of competitive cycling. No reason for it to go away anytime soon.

JPradun

Autologous transfusions are tested for in the TdF, which is why they can say that riders are suspect of doing it.

However, there is no current way to declare a positive test based on the results. They can tell the age difference of RBCs in the body, but cannot "prove," via sanctionable guidelines, that it is a positive test.

Edit: this is why they say that they are storing the samples for later testing. Give it a couple more months before they are sure of themselves.

Mash Master

I wonder if the tour officials and UCI may be wanting to scale back on the results since the sport has been so damaged publically that major sponsors don't want anything to do with cycling.