Slower time means cleaner tour?? - Discovery News

GreyhoundCycle
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Slower time means cleaner tour?? - Discovery News

Postby GreyhoundCycle » Sun Jul 01, 2012 4:53 pm

An interesting article from Discovery News.
http://news.discovery.com/adventure/tou ... 20629.html

In summery - Slower uphill riding times, red blood cell counts and more crashes in the peloton all point to a cleaner Tour de France

What do you guys think? It amazes me that EPO/other forms of doping can contribute up to 10% of additional performance, both physically and mentally.

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Re: Slower time means cleaner tour?? - Discovery News

Postby ozstriker » Sun Jul 01, 2012 9:19 pm

Honestly i think they are all if not 90% of them are guilty of some sort of performance enhancing whether it be now or a few years ago, but i think if you dont do it you wont be competitive.

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Slower time means cleaner tour?? - Discovery News

Postby RonK » Sun Jul 01, 2012 9:59 pm

Yes, I agree. Last year you could see the exhaustion on Andy Schleck's face, he virtually collapsed at the finish line. The year before he was giving tv interviews within moments of a brutal hilltop finish.
No drugs = no superhuman performances = slower times on the mountain stages and GC.
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Re: Slower time means cleaner tour?? - Discovery News

Postby GreyhoundCycle » Sun Jul 01, 2012 10:31 pm

I wonder what humans can achieve with unlimited doping... we could well be inside 9sec for 100m sprint running and perhaps hit 60km/h average speed in yesterday's prologue :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

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Re: Slower time means cleaner tour?? - Discovery News

Postby Chuck » Mon Jul 02, 2012 12:42 am

Good read, I also agree. Interesting point about micro dosing too, a possible scenario in the Contador case.
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Re: Slower time means cleaner tour?? - Discovery News

Postby Mulger bill » Mon Jul 02, 2012 1:31 pm

Chuck wrote:Good read, I also agree. Interesting point about micro dosing too, a possible scenario in the Contador case.
You mean Bertie ate a very small steak? :mrgreen:
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Re: Slower time means cleaner tour?? - Discovery News

Postby greyhoundtom » Mon Jul 02, 2012 3:21 pm

While the system of setting a biological passport for every rider as soon as they start competing in ICU events does certainly assist in assessing if riders are taking substances to boost oxygen availability at various times, it would certainly not work if a rider established that profile while micro dosing on those types of substances, and maintained this same regime throughout their racing career.

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Re: Slower time means cleaner tour?? - Discovery News

Postby il padrone » Mon Jul 02, 2012 3:46 pm

How does altitude training sit in all of this? I mean, it boosts red blood cell count and oxygen uptake, but as I understand it, it's legal so how do the testers distinguish this?
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Slower time means cleaner tour?? - Discovery News

Postby RonK » Mon Jul 02, 2012 6:02 pm

There is a rule of course. According to the UCI, a riders haemocrit level may not exceed 50%. It is these levels the blood passport is intended to monitor, not just for high levels but for variations that may indicate manipulation by EPO.
Presumably such levels cannot be achieved simply by altitude training.
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Re: Slower time means cleaner tour?? - Discovery News

Postby greyhoundtom » Mon Jul 02, 2012 7:08 pm

Why worry about using EPO when ITPP in the bidon at the right time is going to do a better job.

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Re: Slower time means cleaner tour?? - Discovery News

Postby RICHARDH » Mon Jul 02, 2012 7:16 pm

il padrone wrote:How does altitude training sit in all of this? I mean, it boosts red blood cell count and oxygen uptake, but as I understand it, it's legal so how do the testers distinguish this?
Because there are limits to what the body can do naturally, basically what the Biological passport is all about
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Re: Slower time means cleaner tour?? - Discovery News

Postby AUbicycles » Wed Jul 04, 2012 12:15 am

A pro rider today should be better prepared and can perform better, though the playing field has accordingly changed.

What if the peloton knows that they can ride a more comfortable pace as part of race tactics knowing that only towards the end do they have to lift the pace? Just an idea.
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