Originally Posted by wpbusc
I have to say this thread has made for some interesting reading.
Here is my take on Lance. Lance has never said that he doesn't use performance enhancing drugs. Lance has said that he doesn't use illegal performance enhancing drugs. What is the difference between the legal and illegal drugs? WADA has "The List" which names every known illegal performance enhancing drug and / or method. Technically speaking you can use substances and / or methods that aren't listed and still be a "clean" racer.
Look carefully at the latest issue of VeloNews. How many adds can you find that offer to improve your performance( increased energy, improves performance,promotes faster recovery so you can train harder, increases VO2 )through the use of pills, drinks or other supplements. Are these supplements illegal? Are you cheating if you use them? If your anwer is "no", then why wouldn't you use pharamceutical grade drugs / supplements under the supervision of a medical doctor for the same effect if they weren't banned?
WADA is not that dumb to just say drugs A, B and C are illegal they say Classes of drugs are illegal e.g. Anabolic Agents are prohibited (steroids). but you can make an infinite number of variations of anabolic steroids... like in the BALCO scandal... they took a steroid and moved a hydrogen here a methyl group there and boom you get a new compound that tests differently than any other steroid... aka a designer steroid... but since WADA outlawed the class, it's use is still illegal even though it's not being tested for. it's not that they couldn't test for it, it's just that they don't even know to look for it. and there is no test for it yet... after an anonymous coach sent them a sample they now test for it. even thought there was no test for it yet BALCO even went to the trouble of creating a masking agent for it were a test ever created for it and anyone still had it in their system. the masking agent was a drug that was used by narcoleptics (or at least tested the same as one) so they even had a ready excuse when the masking agent was detected... imagine 100 meter sprint champions with narcolepsy, falling asleep at the starting line?? only problem was that they didn't have medical histories that could back it up... Kelly White's doctor even certified that she did have narcolepsy.
And for example they say "...The use of products that enhance the uptake, transport or delivery of oxygen, e.g. erythropoietins, modified haemoglobin products including but not limited to to haemoglobin-based blood substitutes, microencapsulated haemoglobin products, perfloarochemicals, and efaporxiral (RSR13)..." so the way they state it drugs can be illegal even the ones they don't know about or are testing for... athletes only need to be concerned with the list of things they are actually testing for though even though things that aren't on the list may be still illegal... WADA can't test for everything under the sun it would just be too expensive... and that's what cheats count on.. and that's why it's so easy for them to stay ahead of the curve.