skinny

So the deaths of rides in their sleep that have been attributed to epo use led to a decline in the use of epo? Retorical question obviously, since we all know the answer is no. If riders could get more of an increase in performance using speed and alcohol instead of epo and testosterone, they would find a way to use it.

roadCruiser76

I disagree. In my experience, and in that of many others I know, it is very common to have an "off" day lifting weights or cycling, when you feel like you just can't do anything well. For me it is just as common for the next day to be much better. There are a million things that can affect performance, from how much sleep you got the night before, to how well you ate, and on and on. The fact that an athlete performs well a day after performing poorly is not evidence at all of doping in my opinion. It doesn't mean the athlete hasn't doped, but it certainly doesn't mean he has. I would find it more unusual to be completely consistent in athlete ability day in and day out, than to have inconsistent performances.

orestes

Phil came out with a somehwat strong statement today on the versus website, backing up a little from his comment that this may be "the finest hour" for cycling:

WxGuesser

i just watched it again and i didn't think there was any contention...

Ti-tillIdie

I watched them this morning and I definitely felt a strange vibe. They sounded as if a beloved pet had died. Watch their coverage of the first stage and then watch today’s, the difference is very palpable.

NotAsFat

The 1-hour record is a poor yardstick for comparing bike tech over time. The 1-hr record is run on velodrome tracks. Road races are run on everything from cobbles to flat asphalt to HC mountain climbs. Not much difference between steel and carbon on a velodrome. Not much difference between brifters with 10-speed cassettes and downtube shifters w/5-speed cassettes on a velodrome.

On a 1-hr attempt, it's aerodynamics uber alles. An old-skool track bike retrofitted with obree-style "superman" bars would probably be faster than a modern, carbon and unobtanium road bike.

Look at the riding positions of 70's bikes vs current racing bikes. Handlebars on new racing bikes are 2-3 inches lower than the saddle. Old-skool bikes had bars even with the saddle.

Better aerodynamics plus better ergonomics plus lighter weight equals better performance on the road. Toss in the fact that modern teams have entire spare bikes to swap out, if necessary, so mechanicals don't cost much time, and I'd be surprised if average speeds weren't up.

SunSwingsLow

Im positive i can suffer more than all of you.

WINNER!!

'nother

I think he's just stating the suspicion that pretty much everyone watching the Tour must have by now.

It may be slightly irresponsible of him to "accuse" but his opinion doesn't really count for anything; he has no power to prosecute. The people listening to him have surely already formed their own opinions anyway so it's not like someone is going to tune in to Mr. Trautwig and suddenly have a revelation based on that.

Blue Order

No way, I'd suffer so much I couldn't even complete a stage. Clearly the right stuff.

buckstoy

Yeah, I can understand that, but to level accussations like that on air was a bit over reaching I'd say. By the way not sure what all of them do but Paul Sherwin could probably do quite well without the TDF gig, he operates a gold mine!

webist

I'm glad that I ride because I enjoy it. If I rode because I somehow was concerned with the rides of others, pro or otherwise, I probably quit. While I enjoy the races as they proceed, I really don't give a rodent's rectum who wins, loses or behaves poorly.

Ti-tillIdie

from wikipedia (a reliable source I know but still) : "Sherwen resides with his family on the Ugandan/Kenyan border in a small town called Busia, in which he operates a gold mine."

Wow, I and I thougt you made that up.

zonatandem

The French will try anything . . . but they'll not win the tour!

Laggard

I tend to agree with this editorial assessment:

But what, then, can be done to restore the Tour’s reputation? Sanctions alone will not produce a dope-free Tour. The difficulty of the Tour, its length and the number of pics to be climbed should be reduced. The increasing difficulty of the Tour is part of the problem.

Sci-Fi

You do know that many name brand over-the-counter vitamins contain, now banned, substances/ingredients. Where and how far do you go? Who decides what limits or acceptable range/percentages is "legal" for all athletes? I'm not defending the cheaters or avocating calling TdF the "Tour de Drugs". There are grey areas and many people are looking for absolutes. Some athletes want the various organizations to test and sell/provide/certify the vitamins that they feel they need to counteract any imbalances or provide nutrients that their daily measured meals may not provide in sufficient quantities. We've seen one rider the other day grabbing a Pepsi from the team car...is there anything in Pepsi that's illegal? I remember a time where a few riders were drinking beer or wine during a race. If you have asthma and use your spray too much, that will put you over the limit. How clean is clean? They test just about everyone every couple of months so they should be able to set a baseline with all that info. For all we know Landis higher testerone levels may be from him reading or watching porn the night before...lol....j/k. In any case, pro cycling is a mess with no solution in sight and everyone is under suspicion. Might as well test everyday.

'nother

The UCI does, and they don't do so randomly. There is a published list of banned substances and rules governing anti-doping.

The rules seem, to me anyway, to be pretty clear about what substances and techniques are allowed or not. It's not like you're accidentally going to run into these things in your vitamin pill. But even if you did, it doesn't matter: as an athlete competing in these events, you agree to follow the rules, and you agree that you are ultimately responsible for what goes into your body (i.e. no blaming the masseuse).


There are actually not many grey areas. There is some outcry because the athletes take the brunt of the guff; some athletes have not been treated fairly by various governing bodies when accused (they do have rights). That is not so much "grey" as unfair, and it is really unfair, because there's little going on to punish the organizations. But that does not make doping okay.



no doubt about that.



Dream on (still wouldn't work).

San Rensho 

Because that stuff is really easy to detect (an over the counter drug testing kit will detect both), and you have to take it every day, so they would be caught in an instant. The change to blood doping and epo was a reaction to doping tests that could easily ID amphetamines. Fr a long time, neither blood doping nor epo were reliably detectable.

jkoman

The reason its not used today is because it's largely detectable, the most damning or potentially damning comment was from Al..." Why hasn't Ras tested positive if he's using ?"

Because most DON'T test positive ala Ullrich, Basso, Zabel, Manzano, etc. The teams/riders/doctors have been and are still using methods that are very difficult to detect, unlike speed.

Now granted Ras booted for missing tests not pos tests but still...

I remain suspicious seeing 135 lb pros beating 160 lb pros in flat TT just like I get when I see the opposite.

The sport is dirty very dirty, the ex riders who care admit it but most remain quiet with strong ties to the sport

skinny

Those were purely rhetorical questions on my part. Amphetamines and alcohol are not better performance enhancers than epo or testosterone or most of the PEDs being used today. Time to catch up with the times.

Espada

The solution would be to take an out of competition base line during the off season from every rider (upon getting a Pro license) so you would have a number (hematocrit). If you can establish a standard deviation for hematocrit (in %) for a healthy athlete, you can pretty much tell who is manipulating their blood and who is not.

On a side note I once read where Tom Boonen has a hematocrit of around 37% which is fairly low.

As for other sports, if they had the same test criteria that cycling did, the only sound coming from the fields, courts and rinks would be that of crickets, their solution to cheating, place head in sand.

Smoothie104

The teams are good at getting Hct readings down quickly, You used to have at least 30 min from when you were notified that the team was going to be tested in the AM. you send the guys with the lower Hct Down first, while the guys with high readings get an IV to help dilute the %.

Even with a low HcT you can gain an adavantage using Actovegin or similair product which speeds the absorbtion of oxygen into your tissues.

I totally agree with you regarding other sports..

gm1230126

He hasn't all of a sudden become dominate. He has carefully planned his training and peaked for the races that he won this year. He's been good at a number of events over months of the season this year.

HigherGround

I thought it was Udo Bolts.

reef58

I am sure this is a stupid question, but if the riders are doing IV's all of the time wouldn't they start looking like herion addicts eventually with all of the bruising?

Richard

classic1

I don't. The Tour is 1000km shorter than it was in the early 80's. The roads are better now. They don't ride split stages anymore. There are few if any 250km + stages anymore. The riders get more sleep because they don't have as many long transfers.

People take drugs to run the 100m sprint. On that logic if we shorten it to 82.7m runners won't dope? Bull****.