How to get hooked on drugs

It's easy. Struggle a bit in your races, maybe no more than any other neo-pro, but have a kindly dealer handy to tempt you to 'try this'. When you take the pills and they seem to work, well, it's a done deal. I mean if they didn't work you'd stay clean, yes? But they do work and you go faster. Jorg confirms this theory: Jörg Jaksche was 19 years old and not performing at all well in his first pro year, when he got a suggestion as to how to save his career. "The team manager came into my room and said: Listen; in cycling you take drugs like this, and either you accept or you leave the sport," Jaksche told the anti-doping conference "Play the Game" in Iceland.

Of course you could say it was weakness that sucked him in. There are times when you have to choose between good and bad, and it's your decision and your personal responsibility. Bjarne Riis appears to believe in that: "Furthermore, that this is supposed to have been a threat is definitely insulting and tells me that Jaksche either has a very bad sense of memory or deliberately chooses to twist the truth. It is correct that I told him about how difficult it would be to come back, and I was speaking from experience here, since I had been through the same only a short time before. That Jaksche still blames all sorts of other people for the mistakes he made himself is just so trivial. It is necessary that the problems in cycling are taken care of, and that's what I stand for."

Blood profiling and more

Interesting story of reconciliation (as well as blood profiling and the 'biological passport') here, between the UCI and ASO, respectively the world cycling governing body and the TdF organiser (via CN): The program, based on half a dozen blood analyses to determine each rider's blood profile, is considered by all parties (UCI, WADA and ASO) as a real weapon against blood doping. "We hope if it's successful in cycling that once we know it is successful, we'll use it in other sports after 2008," Pound said. The biological passport will not be compulsory at the start of all races but "the main ones". It will concern road riders only when it's put in place on January 1 and McQuaid added: "I'd like to think we'll do it in other disciplines than road possibly before the Olympics in Beijing."

It's not just cycling, is it?

First up, a mention for elite athlete gone bad, Olympic gold medal sprinter Marion Jones. Ooops. It's been a long time coming, hasn't it? We'd feel sorry, maybe, if she hadn't so stridently denied it.

Of course we Aussies often think or act like we are immune to the problem, but we are all in this together. From today's Sydney Morning Herald: A track-and-field athlete and a swimmer are among the 24 Australian sportspeople who recorded anti-doping violations in 2006-07. The list included nine athletes from weightlifting and body-building, along with seven rugby league players - mostly from the Queensland and NSW state league competitions.

In the long run it will become increasingly difficult to manage performance enhancement amongst all sports, not just cycling. Today we have the question of which drugs to include, and in what quantities. To identify the drugs is hard enough, and so instead we identify the blood-count variables and set acceptable limits. When an athlete's blood profile steps outside those parameters they are focused upon, questioned, tested or 'rested'. It's not perfect and many questions remain, such as 'what after all is normal', or 'what is safe'? Indeed, what really is performance-enhancing? Caffeine is on the list one moment, gone the next. Cortico-steroids? It depends who you ask.

And tomorrow we face genetic manipulation. Whilst DNA-profiling will certainly help, if an athlete is baselined after the manipulation has occurred then what changes will we see? Presumably none. So do we baseline athletes at junior level, or even earlier? No doubt we will also turn to the limit-setting, but what if genetic manipulation confounds that as well? If we can manipulate our genome to produce more strength or endurance we are surely able to engineer apparently 'normal' blood profiles. So what next do we do? Give in?

Hold the Mayo - he's cleared now... maybe

One moment you are outed as dirty and the next your B sample says otherwise. What was that about innocent until proven guilty? How do we as a community deal with these sorts of catastrophic confusions? In this example Mayo has been through personal and public hell because of one sample that painted him black, but unlike many recent others his 2nd sample has vindicated his claims of innocence. Or does it? It seems to be another case of too many cooks, as the Spanish federation says one thing and the UCI another. Meanwhile the rider - the person at the centre of it all - is powerless and (rightly or wrongly) hung out to dry. Is our approach wrong? It seems logical and professional to wait until the B sample comes back, but the current approach instead is to play it safe from a publicity angle and spill the beans early. Thus we pull riders from the peleton 'just in case', and often a rider gets burned in the process. It doesn't look good for the sport's administration and ethically it smells bad, too. Where's our humanity in this process?

Here's the report in CN: Mayo cleared after B sample comes back negative Iban Mayo was informed by the Spanish Cycling Federation on Monday that the testing of his B sample from the Tour de France positive test on July 24 has come back negative. The Saunier Duval - Prodir rider was originally declared positive for the blood booster EPO from a sample taken on the Tour's second rest day, but has now been cleared for a return to racing. According to AFP, the federation confirmed that there had been a mistake in the testing of Mayo's A sample, which was carried out at the Châtenay-Malabry anti-doping laboratory in Paris. The B sample was tested by a separate laboratory in the Belgian city of Gent, and was confirmed by another test done in Australia.

And here's the followup a few days later...The UCI said on Tuesday that it does not consider Iban Mayo's doping case to be fully closed and took issue with the Spanish Cycling Federation's announcement that Mayo's B sample had tested negative for EPO. "It wasn't a negative B sample it was an inconclusive B sample," Anne Gripper, UCI anti-doping manager told AP. "The case for us is still very open, we have not gotten a final resolution on the B sample. It needs to be analysed in the Paris laboratory."

Anton Reshetnikov and Elena Kuchinskaya test positive

Who? What? More dopes. Via CN: Two young Russian riders have returned a positive doping test result and will receive a two-year suspension by the International Cycling Union (UCI) according to Russian Sports news agency All Sport. Anton Reshetnikov and Elena Kuchinskaya respectively used forbidden substances Carphedon and Furosemide, doping tests undertaken in July revealed. Still, the Russian Cycling Federation was advised of these results only in September, which left some time to the athletes to score results.

Saiz - a name tainted by Puerto

Just in case you wondered where he was and what he was doing, Cyclingnews.com is kind enough to let us know...To some, the name Manolo Sáiz conjures up vivid images of cycling's biggest doping investigation, Operación Puerto, but to others it conjures up years of successful management of the Spanish teams ONCE and Liberty Seguros. After a long history of leading riders such as Laurent Jalabert, Abraham Olano, and Miguel Indurain, Sáiz' career hit a major snag when he was arrested along with Eufemiano Fuentes and two others after a police raided Fuentes' Madrid clinic and came up with hundreds of bags of blood, doping products and performance enhancing drugs.

Di Luca out for 3

3 months, that is. For collusion, I guess, rather than anything more substantial. Still it sends the message, don't just test clean; look clean as well. Or 'pick your friends carefully', perhaps?

From Cyclingnews.com: Giro d'Italia winner and ProTour leader Danilo Di Luca has been handed a three month suspension by Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) for his involvement in the "Oil for Drugs" doping affair. Di Luca was accused of working with Italian doctor Carlos Santuccione, who has been under investigation for several years for allegedly supplying banned doping products to athletes in Italy. The Liquigas rider was removed from the World Championships because of his implication in the scandal.

Heras to return?

Heras, faithful lieutenant to Armstrong, winner in his own right and a doper, is planning - or hoping - to return... via CN:
Two years after his suspension for EPO (Erythropoietin), Roberto Heras is ready to return to competition. "Simply, I have the desire," said the 33 year-old, three-time Vuelta a España winner, to the Spanish sport newspaper Sport. The Spaniard was discovered to have doped to win the 2005 Vuelta a España, a title that was later stripped. "At the beginning [of the suspension] I did not want to know anything about cycling, but as time passed, my opinion changed. I have been training every day, and the truth is that I want to return, but without objectives for the short term," he commented.

Schumacher's irregularities - and more

Stefan Schumacher, tell us, what is the truth? From Bild, via CN:
Stefan Schumacher may have finished third in the World Championships, but he has had nothing but problems since then. First it was announced that he had "irregular blood values" in two out-of-competition tests before the Worlds. Now he has been involved in a situation involving drunk driving, leaving the scene of an accident, and possibly drug consumption.

Schumacher's denial: Team Gerolsteiner's Stefan Schumacher admits to having made a mistake, with his drunk-driving accident over the weekend, and is willing to accept the consequences. But that is all that he is admitting to, and has now gone on the offensive to fight rumours that he was using doping products to prepare for the World Championships, where he placed third. After the Worlds, it was reported that two unannounced out-of competition tests conducted the week before the race showed irregular blood values, which he said were due to diarrhoea. Since then there has been public speculation that the irregularities were due to doping, which Schumacher, the UCI and the German federation have all denied.

It's not over for Petacchi

Just when it looked as though the asthmatic sprinter had put the case behind him, back it comes, coughing and spluttering... via CyclingNews.com:
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) officials are expected to meet with their counterparts at the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) and Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after the world doping body joined the call for Alessandro Petacchi (Team Milram) to be banned and the Italian Cycling Federation's decision overturned, following the rider's non-negative during the Giro d'Italia. The three organisations will meet to discuss the case, with CONI considering combining both WADA and CONI's submission "considering the substantial uniformity" of their positions, a statement on CONI's website reported.

Dope of the day: Ascani outed, Pinotti benefits

It's the new way to win. You come 2nd, wait a bit and bingo! You don't get the glory on the day but what the heck, it's still on your palmares. From CN: Ascani faces suspension for EPO Italian cyclist Luca Ascani could face a two-year suspension after he tested positive for EPO at the Italian National Championships. The Italian Olympic Committee announced Friday that the 'B' sample has confirmed the initial positive result and his exact sanction will be decided at a hearing which has yet to be scheduled. Ascani tested positive after winning the time trial and was suspended on August 2. His title was handed down to second placed Marco Pinotti.