Dopage du Jour

2 years for Hernandez

2008-10-09T21:40:00.003Z

Miami racer gets a nice rest: Hernandez, 42, tested positive for exogenous testosterone, an anabolic agent, which is prohibited under the USADA Protocol and the rules of the UCI. His suspension took effect September 15, 2008, the date of his acceptance. Hernandez was disqualified from all competitive results achieved on and subsequent to March 2, 2008, the date his urine sample was collected at the Vuelta Independencia National, including forfeiture of any medals, points and prizes.

I guess when you are 42 you need every helper you can find - even if it's unlikely to make much (or any) difference. Then again the 22 year olds need to take some "assistance" just to get noticed. And everyone in between is under the hammer just to stay competitive. This is what you call a culture of doping. I wonder what other pro sports do to keep doping under control... something? Or nothing?

Sastre, Scleck, Cancellara and O'Grady speculation

2008-10-08T21:33:00.005Z

No positives, nothing but guesswork and rumour. So it's just idle gossip, isn't it? But here we go: It was reported originally in Le Soir, and now German and Danish media are reporting that Tour podium finisher Carlos Sastre is a doping suspect. Sastre and three other CSC riders are suspected of doping in this year's Tour de France. CSC has not heard anything officially, according to their press officer. The Danish news site TV2 Sporten is reporting that the other CSC riders under suspicion are Frank Schleck, Fabian Cancellara and Stuart O'Grady.

Schleck is already under suspicion over the funds transferred to Dr Fuentes, and Cancellara (like Sastre) falls into the "didn't ride the World's" theory. Cancellara has been consistently great, although at times he has done some amazing things (like climb with the climbers or attack and bridge impossible gaps). Not sure why O'Grady's there but you never know.

Perhaps you aren't a good rider if there's no idle speculation, after all.

Who's next? Schleck, now Sastre speculation?

2008-10-08T20:52:00.003Z

The suspense is killing me. There are more tests underway on those 2008 Tour samples and the only thing we know for sure is that they have already caught Ricco (twice more), Schumacher and Piepoli. What we are guessing is that there are more positives to come, and that they are likely to be riders who were in the results. We can also speculate that their behaviours will betray them. They will have become nervous and will limit their exposure by actions such as avoiding the World Championships. We can also guess that they are riders who display uncanny ability, perhaps an ability that comes and goes and is inconsistent. They will also be smart, with a lot to lose.

High on that list must be Sastre, winner of Le Tour. Now he seems a decent guy, and he was on the best team, so it didn't seem impossible that he should win. He's been consistently "up there" on GC. But never so close before. He was also supported by Frank Schleck, now tainted by a transfer of funds to Dr Fuentes. If Sastre is caught it'll be a major blow to Le Tour, but good news (in a sense) for Cadel Evans, Bernhard Kohl and Denis Menchov. It may also may help explain why CSC stopped funding Riis's team. But that's just idle gossip.

It may be that Frank Schleck is the one, given the as yet unexplained transfer of funds. Smoke and fire, y'know.

Alas, we only have this statement so far: Tour de France director, Christian Prudhomme, expects more positives to come from the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) blood testing. The Frenchman thinks there will be one or two more riders, according to Reuters.

We shall see.

Piepoli and Schumacher - positive is so negative

2008-10-06T21:53:00.002Z

According to unconfirmed reports, Leonardo Piepoli - who had seemingly admitted and then denied doping - has tested positive at the 2008 TdF to CERA. No surprise there, really. More surprising, perhaps - although many would have found it easy to believe at the time, when he seemed to be riding out of his skin - is Stefan Schumacher, positive in the same way. Funny how those unbelievable results turn out to be so - umm, unbelievable?

The German who rides for Holczer's soon to be defunct Gerolsteiner team won both of the time trials in this year's Tour, taking the yellow jersey after his win on stage four and holding it for two days before crashing during the sprint into Super Besse on stage six. His second win came on stage 20 where he beat world champion Fabian Cancellara.

I trust we can rely on at least some of our 'unbelievable' riders. Those that are consistently amazing, like Cancellara for example, draw less suspicion for their performances. Let's hope that trust is repaid. (Alternatively, if it's not working anyway - let's just ditch this 'detection and punishment' model completely and be fair to everyone.)

Armstrong states his case

2008-10-05T02:18:00.003Z

And he's certainly entitled to defend himself. He hasn't been found to have taken performance enhancing drugs, although there was one incident for which he had a valid medical certificate (that was the case, yes?). And he's right, during his amazing, astounding and incredible 7-year streak not one of his able domestiques was caught out in a drug test.

OTOH many of these teammates - admittedly not all - have fallen foul, some quite spectacularly, since. And there is reasonable wonder at the 1999 "questions" raised, and wonder again surrounding how almost all of his competitive contemporaries have variously been shown to have been "enhanced", yet remained unable to beat The Boss. We just have to trust the man, as he is sticking to his guns.

"The last time I checked I won the tour seven straight years and was never once found to be guilty of doping despite seven years of intense scrutiny," said Armstrong in response through his spokesperson Mark Higgins. "Not to mention that my team of 25 riders over those seven years was also never found to be positive. We won clean and fair. Also, according to industry standards, TV ratings, worldwide media impressions, spectators along the route, and global sponsorships were at an all time high. Where's the embarrassment in that?"

Vino to come back? Oh pleeeeease no

2008-10-05T02:11:00.002Z

Well, he was a very popular rider for his attacking style, and he certainly would wish to come back and end things on a better note... but... surely not? Blood doper one day, retired the next. A potential 2-year ban left in limbo... just one year served. And he's how old? 35? Well if Armstrong can do it...

Alexander Vinokourov is planning to return to the peloton in 2009. "I think I have my place at Astana," he said in an interview with the Belgian TV show Sportweekend, to be broadcast Sunday evening. The Kazakh rider this summer finished a one-year suspension for blood doping, after testing positive at the Tour de France 2007.

Or can he?

Do I smell smoke?

2008-10-01T05:46:00.002Z

The speculation just keeps growing. It's been bubbling away since Le Tour ended... then died a bit as we got on with life. However the Schleck family saga has played a part in re-igniting interest. You know, the father's car was inspected, then months later son Frank is implicated (without proof, as yet) in Operation Puerto. And now we all wonder, who are these masked men? And will they be unmasked in 2 weeks or so?

Anti-doping expert Dr. Rasmus Damsgaard, who runs an independent testing system for the Team CSC-Saxo Bank and Astana teams, noted in July that he felt the EPO use in the peloton had not been adequately dealt with. After examining the data from several tests which had been declared negative by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) laboratories, he said the agency was "sitting on a mountain of EPO positives".

Duarte: Short-lived glory?

2008-09-28T01:39:00.003Z

Who's to blame here? A positive test, disputed by the rider, left in abeyance - and simply not followed up. So the rider keeps racing, no-one tells the UCI and all is well and good. Until someone wakes up and realises that the U23 RR champ has a doping charge hanging around his head. Oh dear.

The new Under 23 road world champion, Fabio Duarte, may not be able to celebrate as much as he'd like after his win Friday in Varese, Italy. Like fellow Colombian Santiago Botero, Duarte tested positive for testosterone. The result came during the Clasica de Girardot prior to the Tour of Colombia in July of 2007. Duarte has been adamant that his values were naturally at that level, and the Colombian federation said it would prove so before July of 2008. However, nothing appears to have been done. Furthermore, the UCI said it knew nothing of Duarte's case until Friday.

If he's innocent it's all a bit unfair, isn't it? In any event it's sloppy and lazy all round.

CSC implicated, police involved, investigation underway

2008-09-27T02:00:00.002Z

Well it sounds weak, but there's some evidence, if the reports are true... The newspaper further stated that research shows that Schleck is the one identified with the name "Amigo di Birillo". Birillo has been identified as Ivan Basso, Schleck's friend and former teammate, who confessed his involvement with the Spanish doctor last year.

So there's Riis, Frank Schleck and Basso, all caught up in a web. Should be fun seeing this one proved, or not.

French confirm - and retest

2008-09-18T06:11:00.002Z

French authorities have confirmed those other Tour de France results, and promised to retest a few samples that have remaining question marks: Bordry estimated that the additional testing would take no more than 10 or 15 days, which means results could be available as soon as before or during the World Championships in Italy. Several riders tested positive during the 2008 Tour de France including Riccardo Ricco (for EPO-CERA), Manuel Beltran (for EPO) and Dmitriy Fofonov (for the stimulant heptaminol). Ricco's teammate Leonardo Piepoli also confessed to his team manager to using the same banned substance as Ricco. Moises Dueñas Nevado secured his place on the doper's list Wednesday after his "B" sample came back positive for EPO, confirming "A" sample results. He had previously confessed to using the banned substance.

Don't you just love the suspense? And the timing!

Frigo, EPO, his wife, her car

2008-09-16T22:39:00.002Z

Not a new story, more the court report: Albertville court gave former Italian cyclist Dario Frigo and his wife, Susanna, each a six-month suspended prison sentence Monday on charges related to the 2005 Tour de France anti-doping sting, according to The Associated Press. The French court also imposed a €8757 fine on the couple. In July, the prosecutor asked for a one-year sentence. French police found ten doses of EPO (Erythropoietin) in Susanna Frigo's car before the start of stage 11 in Courchevel. Police arrested the couple for carrying prohibited substances.

We can't see all of the evidence here, however they were caught with proscribed substances, and yes that's illegal.

2 years or 3, EPO or no?

2008-09-10T23:40:00.002Z

More Danish EPO post-Olympic news: Danish mountain biker Peter Riis Andersen received a two year suspension from the doping committee of the Sports Confederation of Denmark after testing positive for EPO prior to the Olympic Games. His suspension runs from July 22, 2008 and covers all training and competition activities within the framework of the Sports Confederation of Denmark.

And comebacks from from various alleged, declared or just retired riders:Lance returns: do we care? Well it will kick up some dust, sure. Lance Armstrong's comeback is in the grand US tradition of retiring at the top yet seeking another "final" blaze of glory. Indeed it can't be easy to step out of the limelight and start a "normal" life, if cancer-survivor LA's life could ever be called normal. So a comeback - a well-planned, targeted one at that - could give LA another shot at proving whatever it is he's trying to prove. His innocence, perhaps?

The Olympic message: cheat

2008-08-21T00:45:00.002Z

Well, maybe, maybe not. For every one caught in testing, how many are missed? We are led to believe that a "catch" is a sign that "the system works". However if we don't know who is getting away with it how can we claim success? All we can say for sure is that those who are caught face humiliation and varying degrees of punishment, depending upon the severity, any past infringements and the sport concerned. Fair? Maybe, maybe not?

Ukraine's Olympic heptathlon silver medallist Liudmyla Blonska has failed a drugs test, the IOC confirmed. The 30-year-old's A sample tested positive for a banned substance, but the IOC source said they were still awaiting the results of the B sample.Blonska's is the fifth drugs case of the Beijing Games. Spanish cyclist Maria Isabel Moreno tested positive for EPO, North Korean shooting medallist Kim-Jong-Su (betablockers), Vietnamese gymnast Do Thi Ngan Thuong (diuretic) while Greece's rarely seen 2004 Olympic 400 metres hurdles champion Fani Halkia, tested positive for steroids at a training camp.

Panic stations, I've been tested!

2008-08-12T04:59:00.003Z

Well this would be a difficult situation. You are selected for the Olympics and just don't want to let go of the dream. You have taken some EPO and know you'll get caught if the vampires actually test you, but you just haven't been tested lately - if at all. You expect attention will be on the favourites, not on little ol' you anyway. And then you get called to testing. Sometimes a doper just doesn't turn up, and gets in trouble anyway. And sometimes they get away with it. And sometimes they don't.

Moreno, better known as Maribel Moreno, had been entered for the women's road race and individual time trial and tested positive for the endurance-boosting EPO drug. IOC spokesperson Giselle Davies said Moreno was tested on July 31 and left the city on the same evening. The IOC officially took control of drugs testing on July 27.

Maribel appears to have panicked and broke down in tears after the testing - but before the result. I guess we can understand why. But do we blame her, or her supplier? Or the system?

I'm not saying he's innocent, but...

2008-08-06T23:44:00.004Z

Then again I am saying something like 'we can't be so certain about these things'. Read it and weep: In the case of Landis, who had no previous record of doping violations, the chances that the positive result could result from anything except cheating - a lab error, an abnormally high natural occurrence of testosterone - were dismissed as not credible. The problem, Mr Berry said, is that for the actual process used by doping labs there is no body of scientific data to show just how rare "false positives" or "false negatives" really are, and that such data is essential for interpreting lab results.

Introducing probabilities into drug testing is interesting and debatable, but I accept the basic premise - that a false positive (or negative) is always possible. Look at Ricco's statement that he took CERA and should have been caught multiple times, but wasn't. Hence we run multiple tests and develop (now, at least) a longitudinal profile of an athlete. So any 'aberrant' values will appear over time and can be tracked without jumping to conclusions over one single test on one sole sample. Even better (or complementary) is the idea for certain pre-identified markers to be identified or inserted into drugs as "tags" that can be easily identified.

So will Landis take this as more evidence for his side of the case, or has he simply agreed to disagree and move on? If he is innocent, what of the human cost here? Are we doing the right thing with these so-called drug "cheats" or are we making what could be unemotional technical points highly emotive and "charged" with guilt, suspicion and pain - and thus feeding the media monster instead of protecting the athletes?

Giro hero Sella caught out

2008-08-05T21:47:00.003Z

It doesn't take too much to get noticed by the wrong people. Win a few stages, especially in a dramatic way and you can make a real name for yourself. And get 'targeted' by the drug cops.

Winner of three stages and the climber's competition of the Giro d'Italia, Italian Emanuele Sella, has been found positive in an out-of-competition doping control issued by the International Cycling Union (UCI) on July 23, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport. The 27 year-old from Vicenza was found to have used the same third generation EPO – CERA (Continuous Erythropoietin Receptor Activator) – that Riccardo Riccò admitted to using in the Tour de France.

Ricco, now Sella. It's certainly a good advert for CERA. It works.

A fine Colombian catch

2008-08-03T22:42:00.002Z

Quite a few names, little detail: The Colombian Cycling Federation announced Friday that six riders had returned positive doping controls during the Vuelta a Colombia in May. The federation did not specify the substances which caused the adverse analytical findings for Rafael Montiel, Juan Guillermo Castro, Camilo Gomez, Carlos Ospina Hernandez, Hernan Buenahora and Giovanni Barriga.

Who do you believe?

2008-08-01T00:55:00.003Z

Young rising star with much to gain, brilliant climber and self-confessed Pantani fan: Ricco tests positive, yet denies all. Gets sacked, backtracks and admits to EPO use. Denies doping before Le Tour but let's re-check his Giro blood samples just in case...
Piepoli, climber with long and distinguished career: what could he achieve by doping? To extend his career? A last-ditch superannuation payment? He's Ricco's roommate and is reported to have confessed, is sacked by team to show that it means business, but denies all. From CN: "The 36-year-old Piepoli, who had not tested positive but, as the room-mate of Ricco during the Tour, was sacked by his team for violating the code of ethics "denied everything" after being questioned by CONI"
Gusev, another rider facing retirement after a good career is caught out by internal team tests and dismissed. He refutes this "guilt" and threatens a lawsuit, raising speculation that the team (Astana) timed this sacking with Le Tour to get in the 'good books' with ASO - as proof they are cracking down on cheats and punishing them. But doesn't Gusev's sacking actually taint Astana, "proving" that cheats lurk within? Why would they bring this to light during Le Tour?
Bossoni and Carini test positive in June at the Italian national championships: "Two Italian cyclists tested positive for EPO in June, the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) announced Thursday. The first, Giovanni Carini (Pagnoncelli NGC Perrel), tested positive after winning the Elite without contract category at the Italian National Championships in Boltiere. The second, Paolo Bossoni (Lampre) the following day after the elite men's road race"
Sacked Euskaltel rider Pena has been cleared: "Aketza Pena was declared not guilty of doping by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Thursday, according to a statement by the rider reported in Marca. The Spaniard tested positive for nandrolone at the 2007 Giro del Trentino, and was suspended from his Euskaltel-Euskadi. He had received a two-year suspension by the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) in August, 2007. His contract with Euskaltel-Euskadi was not renewed and he abandoned his cycling career". Ouch.
Does anyone believe any of this? Whole teams (like Astana) are denied access to Le Tour because of past "activites", despite new management. Athletes are sacked without a positive test, and others test positive and are sacked yet later are cleared. Is it all a publicity-driven shambles? Are we jumping to too many conclusions, too quickly?

Ricco admits to EPO and suggests test failure

2008-07-31T08:01:00.002Z

At least he's honest - eventually. Riccò has withdrawn his request to have a counter-analysis done on the B-sample, but said that the testing procedure needed some work. "Of the 10 controls taken, only two were positive. In theory all the tests should have been positive, therefore the method needs to be checked," he said.

I guess the tests need a bit of work, then? On this basis maybe a few other riders, other than those lucky enough to not get tested, slipped the net. (Bearing in mind the biological passports will help, but only if no-exceptions longitudinal analysis is done.)

On frogs and fatigue: stimulating reading at the end of Le Tour

2008-07-27T22:24:00.002Z

Great work by Sastre to win overall, and for Steegmans to take it into Paris. Now onto the more stimulating side of the sport - can't get a natural high? Try this: Kazakh rider Dmitriy Fofonov was fired from his team and detained by French police for questioning after it was announced that he tested positive for a banned stimulant, heptaminol. The French Anti-doping Agency president Pierre Bordry said that the now former Crédit Agricole rider had tested positive for "very heavy dose" of the drug.

Being Kazakh has nothing to do with it and we should dismiss that as a coincidence. But why heptaminol? Heptaminol chlorhydrate is a common cardiac stimulant and vasodilator, widely used for the treatment of orthostatic hypotension - or low blood pressure if you like. A 'usual' dose may be 500-1500 mg or so, orally. Whilst it is structurally similar to methamphetamine, it's a different thing. So why take it? Presumably it will give you a lift and keep you going, and may help 'open the lungs' a little. This is certainly an interesting result, if you are a frog: Heptaminol stopped or delayed the progressive decline in tension which characterizes the phenomenon of fatigue in frog isolated twitch muscle fibre. Presumably Fofonov, if actually guilty as charged, acts like a frog in this case.

Ex-rider ex-Astana ex-Disco

2008-07-26T06:48:00.002Z

Another one bites the dust. Gusev gets cut from Astana because of "irregular blood values".

"Vladimir Gusev has been officially notified that he no longer represents Team Astana," Bruyneel said. "Our Kazakh sponsors have also been made aware of this decision and are fully supportive." Gusev, 26, the now former team-mate of 2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, came over to the Discovery Channel team from Team CSC in 2006. He followed Bruyneel from that team to Astana this year. A four-time Russian time trial champion, Gusev was considered to be a Classics specialist, finishing fifth in the 2007 Tour of Flanders. But he stunned the cycling world by taking a mountain stage win and the climber's jersey at the Tour de Suisse that year.

Add him to the growing list of ex-Discovery riders with similar blood problems. Not that it's a causal relationship, mind. Just a correlation.

Vaughters avoids saying what we can all assume

2008-07-21T01:25:00.002Z

Judge for yourself. Read this article and imagine what possibilities emerge.

Vaughters and the wasp (I remember this well):Vaughters was distraught. “But that’s ridiculous . . . I can’t see! I can’t ride my bike! How will I finish the race?” “I’m sorry Jonathan,” the doctor replied. “I can give you the injection but you will have to abandon the race. There are no exemptions for allergies. We have to do this by the book.”

Vaughters struggles on with the swelling but meets another rider: As he made his way to the start line, aching with disappointment, he crossed the path of a chap he describes as “a famous rider”. Most of the other racers had greeted him with sympathy that morning but this particular rider didn’t do sympathy. No, his speciality was contempt. “Poor Jonathan and his stupid little team,” he spat. “What the f*** are you like? If you were on my team this would have been taken care of, but now you are not going to finish the Tour de France because of a wasp sting.”

Vaughters is asked if he saw doping at US Postal: “No, of course, and I wouldn’t expect that. I guess I would just say that my time at US Postal Service was . . . I kind of almost have to leave that as a ‘No comment’. And you can take that however you would like.”

And I'll leave the rest to you.

Hearsay and rumour

2008-07-20T01:42:00.003Z

It's just talk, but there was talk about Ricco too, before he fell off the doping cliff. Via CN, El Pais reported that Italian Leonardo Piepoli, the winner of stage 10, confessed to his directeur sportif Joxean Fernandez Matxin to using EPO. After his team-mate Riccardo Riccò was taken away by police after testing positive for EPO, Piepoli reportedly said to Matxin, "I have done the same as Riccardo." No positive doping control has been announced yet for Piepoli, but the team's manager, Mauro Gianetti, pulled the entire squad out of the race. Riccò was indicted on the same charges as Duenas in a court in Foix, but denied using EPO.

No, not Piepoli, please!

Slight irony in that blood-doper, Tour star and denier Tyler Hamilton's continuing comeback is reported on in the same page of CN: Rock Racing's Tyler Hamilton looks set to take the overall victory in the Tour of Qinghai Lake in China tomorrow after he successfully defended his lead in the second to last stage through the high Mountains on the Tibetan Plateau.

Moreau and corticosteroids?

2008-07-17T13:20:00.003Z

Speculation is rife about riders who have abandoned without obvious injury. Moreau comes to mind: French newspaper Le Monde has cast doubts over the former Tour de France stage winner. Confirming that Moreau's blood values did not present any anomalies prior to the Grande Boucle, the paper however alleged that Moreau was sent a letter from the French federation doctor after Paris-Nice this spring. In the letter, the rider was notified of his too low blood cortisol values and asked to stop competing for a while. Along with hematocrit, haemoglobin and reticulocytes, cortisol is part of the French "suivi longitudinal" anti-doping controls, a system similar to the UCI's blood passport, but that has been in place since 1999. Low cortisol in the blood is said to be directly related to the intake of corticoids, which block the natural production of cortisol. According to Le Monde, Moreau is the only French rider who was notified with a "counter-indication to the practice of cycling" in this way.

Yes, prolonged use of glucocorticosteroids will suppress natural cortisol levels, but what is the benefit? These drugs will definitely increase your anxiety and bring anger to the surface more readily, which may help you in a sprint... or not. I wouldn't want to be riding beside an angry or anxious sprinter myself ;-)

Alternatively a rider may seek to use these drugs to reduce muscle mass (they are catabolic, not anabolic steroids). Typically you get thinner skin, and lose both muscle and bone minerals. You may therefore get lighter, but they also cause you to retain water... so the benefit is hard to pin down.

3 down, 7 to go?

2008-07-17T13:13:00.002Z

If there were 10 riders in Le Tour with 'abnormal values', do we have a case of 3 down, 7 to go?

French newspaper L'Equipe reported that Beltran was one of 10 riders found by the AFLD to have abnormal blood values in the days prior to the Tour. On July 3 and 4, the AFLD performed blood tests on riders "to allow for subsequent targeted doping tests during the Tour de France", the agency announced Friday.

Or have some of these riders already abandoned, for whatever reason?