Alpe d'Huez said:Great posts Krebs, one small correction though. Rasmussen failed to show for four tests. You said "4yrs in a row". Just don't want others to get confused.
Some things to consider. First, it isn't natural in any way to re-infuse your own blood, other than to combat illness (such as cancer recovery). It does however give you a solid advantage for aerobic endurance. Thus, it is cheating.
Next, no one ever has gained a huge advantage by using sticky bottles to help climb hills. There are a few cases where people squawked about it. In the 1986 Tour, Sean Kelly almost got into a fist fight with Erik Vanderarden because while Sean had climbed all the mountains that year (a tough year too), Erik had rode up the hills on long stretches with both the help of car handles, and pushes from fans. But they were competing for the Maillot Vert. Not the overall victory. If Erik had done that in an attempt to win the Maillot Jaune, I'm sure quite a few riders would have joined in on the fist fight.
In the 2006 Tour, during Floyd Landis breakaway he used something like 85 water bottles, pouring most over his head. Several of those were sticky bottles. But most were not. The issue only came up through some speculation in the press. None of his rivals, and no serious fans thought Floyd had used that to an advantage. Did Floyd cheat? Not by using sticky bottles. He did cheat by doping. But he was also in the majority there, as it's highly likely many others were doping too. But there's also a rub. Just who was doping how much? One might say that Floyd was getting superior doping to that of his rivals, and thus cheated more. Just as Bjarne Riis probably doped more than Indurain, Rominger, Zulle, etc. during the 1996 Tour.
Again, great thread. I'm learning a lot here.
YOURE learning? you gotta be kidding. your like a legend her aren't you?
your comments re superior doping are starting to get my brain juices flowing along the lines of what i was thinking when i posted- in regards to cheating_more.
very interesting when you think it through.
perhaps you have to know (even remotely) some cyclists to understand the nature of doping and "drugs" and their attitudes to them to really know?
i mean the grey lines are gray no?
is (a rehydration) drip doping? it isn't your saline
what about a painkilling needle in the knee?
or the poms and their new bikes each 3 years
better rehab, physio?