Recent content by ColonelKidneyBeans

I don't believe UAE has a team wide (as in involving nearly every rider) doping program. Soler didn't have a huge jump in performance there. But i do absolutely think they are doing something fishy with multiple riders, 20 july 2022 was really eye opening on that.

Neither of us know if he's bringing anything valuable, but we both know that his expertise lies only in doping, that's quite right.

It's not like there isn't any precedent to those kinds of shenanigans, we already had "as our main tour de France contender you should meet with this spanish ob-gyn and his senile assistant, he'll sort it out for you" Anyway the notion that a rider being caught working with a notorious banned...

I would not be so fast to say that it has nothing to do with UAE, if there's something approaching a team wide doping program at UAE, there are probably different "tiers" to it, and Soler seems to be in the "Call this guy, tell him you're coming on my behalf, he'll take good care of you at a...

True that, but even if i don't think that Soler is the penguin that slides the furthest, surely nobody is dumb enough to be in the presence of a banned soigneur with drugs? Is there any reason to hang with Marti besides drugs or information about prohibited methods? For legit training/testing...

What isn't basic and necessary for training (or even to do a lactate test) is a banned soigneur. The problem isn't what was or wasn't in the car, the problem is Marti.

There were quite a bit of hearsay about how he was a corticoid abuser during his teenage years, but nothing definitive as far as i remember. Considering his entourage at the time though...

I think you're a bit naive, yes but all credit to you for that instead of being cynical. As for hard proof, there is none for today, but it was done in the past (See the GDR or Armstrong). To say they would be offering PED to win Algarve is kind of a understatement, it's about the biggest races...

I'm a little late, but i don't get your argument here, the people peddling doping products to "grown ups" already have "flexible" ethics, what makes you think they would stop at teenagers?

Funny how the different systems works, here the doctor would ask you "are you comfortable injecting the product yourself?" if he thinks you're capable of it, and show you how it's done if the answer is "yes", if it's "no" he would write a prescription for a nurse to come to your home when...

I'm unfamiliar with US healtcare, in the country i live and work the various brands of EPO and its derivative are mostly available in prefilled syringe/autopen for ambulatory purpose (with the smallest dosage being 500 UI), vials are seldom seen outside of the hospital. Everything is covered by...

I think doing the 2021 tour would have been a mistake, throwing a very crash prone rider at the most hectic race of the calendar as his first GT would not have ended well. The Giro was obviously a bad choice though, he wasn't ready at all.

Diy blood doping is doable if you can get your hands on the stuff, EPO in a prefilled pen isn't exactly hard to use and you could even go with oral medication at the amateur level, i doubt they routinely test for HIF inhibitors there. Blood bags, well that's another story as you pointed out...

Rondel is a promising rider, he had some good results last year and rode a smart race, he's no pogacar but to call him "not decent opposition" isn't fair to him.

Light cold and they'd rather he rests than riding races in close succession it seems.