Doping in Cycling... UCI f..ks up AGAIN.. :(

Barbablanca said:

As far as I remember, Miguel Indurain was never accused of doping and was a multiple winner.

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He was one of four riders to win five times.

Teek said:

+1. Smells of jealousy and collusion by resentful "team" members to me. Where are all the negative samples then? He has always tested clean except for tiny amounts of cortisone from a rash cream that I use myself. They still have samples from way back. The head of the USADA comes across as an asinine frothing at the mouth bipolar whack job with some kind of a personal axe to grind, just like Landis with all his egocentric resentments.

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Pardon me but as someone with Bipolar Disorder type 1 I'm curious.
How exactly does he come across as a "bipolar whack job"?

And regarding EPO.
I have a friend who was prescribed EPO by his doctor for genuine medical reasons.
He reported a roughly 2 maybe 3% increase in stamina.
But for a pro athlete those two percents matter.
It's not much. But it can tip the scale..

And for the record. I know pro athletes that have used EPO with the governing bodies permission.
Done through Anti Doping Norway as research into ways to find EPO.
And research into it's capabilities.


As for the rep of my chosen sport.
It's still shoddy.
But it's getting there.
And every cheater caught is a cheater gone..
And good riddance..

But putting the blame on us as fans is wrong.
We're not twisting their arms. They choose to dope themselves..
I agree the desire for better achievements is stressfull.
But if you can't handle the competition without doping you don't belong in your sport.

I've been offered various performing enhancing substances myself.
But I CHOSE to stay clean and compete on equal grounds..
It was MY CHOICE as an athlete, to compete honorably.
Wthout cheating other hard working athletes from their rightly earned results..
As an athlete you have a responsibility. You're a rolemodel once you turn pro.
And as such, you have a certain set of values to uphold.

Re: if everyone is doing it, it's fair argument, in 'Faust's gold' some East Germans, got massive benefits, some didn't. So unless you are a good responder tough luck.

Getting oxygenated blood increases with epo makes a massive difference. Not just with competing, but with training too. It's roughly the same as doing 8 months of altitude training with out the pain ( or the reduction in quality training that comes with altitude)

Incidentally for those who haven't read usada's report epo injected I V at night was undetectable by morning, and they also injected saline to dilute their heamtocrit levels. Well planned systematic cheating.

My 2 cents

Cheers

Cliff

An 'opposition' team doctor should check for puncture marks every other day - after all, if HIS team are on it, he would know exactly where to look for the puncture marks even in the most obscure of places - just as the regular drug addicts know where to do it that is less noticeable - between the toes etc. The puncture marks would be numerous & obviously very fresh if products were injected during the race.

Perhaps it IS time to allow the use of performance enhancing drugs in all sports now - then the playing field would be level again & the doses administered & monitored properly, not under the cloak of darkness that currently exists.

I think you would have to be extremely naive to NOT believe that the top athletes in most sports probably DO dope of some sort or another (much as we'd like to think otherwise.)

Re the Tour de France - it is an unusually difficult race that even 'very fit bikers' would find it difficult to complete without 'outside assistance'! It really is beyond the capability of most - maybe they should make it a little shorter to make it more achievable?

The 'team' mentality has really appeared to have turned into a 'pack' mentality - where if you aren't "with 'em" you are "agin 'em" & therefore kicked out if you didn't also do doping.

Make them all race as individuals, I say! No radio assistance back to base. If you puncture a tyre, bad luck! You are out. Only have ambulances on hand for crash victims.

Now THAT would be a race!

arpie said:

Make them all race as individuals, I say! No radio assistance back to base. If you puncture a tyre, bad luck! You are out. Only have ambulances on hand for crash victims.

Now THAT would be a race!

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They already have that. It's called a mtb race...

I'd love to see cycling become a totally clean sport. Will it ever happen? Not likely. When fame and money is as high as the "Tour" can be, there will always be people willing to win at any cost.

Honestly, I think the only way to rid sports of doping is to vastly raise the punishment. Here's what I'd propose: lifetime ban and revocation of all winnings and awards for the person caught, two-year ban for EVERYONE on the doper's team, lifetime ban for anyone proven to have abetted the doping. Then we might see results.

I am a cyclist who participates in the end of the sport where there really are no reasons to dope. The closest I get to doping is taking in excess caffeine during races to avoid falling asleep on my bike after 40+ hours on the bike.

The truth finally comes out! Live on Oprah's OWN TV - interview with Lance Armstrong
http://ownspecial.oprah.com/lancearmstrong.html

Corruption is endemic in the world today, symptomatic of institutional failure.

Lance is a Saint!
...Patron Saint of Cheaters that is.