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Basso blood shortage?

So, in general, how much does the targeted/limited amount of racing per season strategy instigated by he whom this thread is not about is due to autologous blood doping and limits on how much blood anyone can store for usage during races?

Any guesses on how much this might have to do with Basso's decision to skip the Giro this year... needs that time to continue building blood in storage for the Tour rather than burning through it for the Giro?
 
I suspect it has more to do with Basso trying to ride Giro-Tour in the past and it not working. He's won the Giro twice, nothing more to prove there, wants to win the Tour.

And if he rides the Giro with the intention of preparing for the Tour, he'll probably get swayed into competing for it by the tifosi, plus having the #1 on his back.

Menchov and Contador both won the Giro then didn't defend because they wanted to focus on the Tour. The Giro route this year is hard - makes sense not to do it if you're serious about the Tour.
 
Ninety5rpm said:
So, in general, how much does the target/limited amount of racing per season strategy instigated by he whom this thread is not about is due to autologous blood doping and limits on how much blood anyone can store for usage during races?

Any guesses on how much does this might have to do with Basso's choice to skip the Giro this year... needs that time to continue building blood in storage for the Tour rather than burning through it for the Giro?

hrotha said:
Wow, Ninety5, you always come up with the wackiest theories.

Call it whacky or whatever, but it is an interesting thought... and cleverly put with regard to the unmentionable one.
 
on3m@n@rmy said:
Call it whacky or whatever, but it is an interesting thought... and cleverly put with regard to the unmentionable one.
Well, the thing is the current trend of targetted peaks began long before blood transfusions were used, and you-know-who didn't start the trend but merely took it one (or several) steps further. On the other hand, apparently right now less blood is transfused, compared to previous years. In 2006 Basso crushed the Giro and was thinking of doing the same with the Tour - he would have needed more blood back then than to do the same in 2010. Also, there's the possibility to withdraw blood during the winter (hence why Dekker was caught for EPO in a December test, also Thomas Frei said he did EPO in March for the first time in three months) and basically there's no limit to that.
 
hrotha said:
Well, the thing is the current trend of targetted peaks began long before blood transfusions were used, and you-know-who didn't start the trend but merely took it one (or several) steps further. On the other hand, apparently right now less blood is transfused, compared to previous years. In 2006 Basso crushed the Giro and was thinking of doing the same with the Tour - he would have needed more blood back then than to do the same in 2010. Also, there's the possibility to withdraw blood during the winter (hence why Dekker was caught for EPO in a December test, also Thomas Frei said he did EPO in March for the first time in three months) and basically there's no limit to that.
Less blood is transfused now as compared to previous years? Why? I thought it went out of fashion in the 90s due to EPO, but then came back to in the 00s because of the EPO detection tests. Is less blood needed now because it's boosted?
 
Ninety5rpm said:
Less blood is transfused now as compared to previous years? Why? I thought it went out of fashion in the 90s due to EPO, but then came back to in the 00s because of the EPO detection tests. Is less blood needed now because it's boosted?
No, transfusions were never in fashion until the development of the EPO test or thereabouts. They were occasionally used before (like in the 1984 Olympics), but they don't appear to have been common at all. As for the volume of blood used, it's decreased to avoid setting off the biological passport alarm bells.
 
hrotha said:
No, transfusions were never in fashion until the development of the EPO test or thereabouts. They were occasionally used before (like in the 1984 Olympics), but they don't appear to have been common at all. As for the volume of blood used, it's decreased to avoid setting off the biological passport alarm bells.
I don't think is less volume. Maybe more frequency of transfusions with smaller volumes.
 
Jul 2, 2009
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Libertine Seguros said:
I suspect it has more to do with Basso trying to ride Giro-Tour in the past and it not working. He's won the Giro twice, nothing more to prove there, wants to win the Tour.

Exactly. The Giro route is mental. The winner of the Tour won't be anyone who's ridden the Giro to win to the finish. Not even Contador will be able to do it (I think deep down he knows he won't be at the Tour).
 
Jul 25, 2009
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Isn't oxygen vector optimization only part of peaking for a race? What about the other factors like muscle conditioning?

I'm guessing that the time window when riders need to rest their muscles and immune systems after the Giro, overlaps with the time window when riders should be training hardest if they want to be their best in the tour.
 
Ninety5rpm said:
Any guesses on how much this might have to do with Basso's decision to skip the Giro this year... needs that time to continue building blood in storage for the Tour rather than burning through it for the Giro?

Well, very few GC riders seem to be able to compete at their best in both. I'd say this has a lot to do with having only 5 weeks off between the GTs more than anything. As people have become specialised started focusing solely on the Tour it makes it even harder.

Contador is doing the Giro this year out of desperation, getting whatever he can in before the day of judgement.

Quite simply, it seems to be that the best preparation for the Tour isn't riding the Giro hard. This is probably a combination of doping and normal reasons. The Biopassport would make it even harder.
 
Ferminal said:
...
Quite simply, it seems to be that the best preparation for the Tour isn't riding the Giro hard. This is probably a combination of doping and normal reasons. The Biopassport would make it even harder.
+1. Very, very difficult. Even more than in past decades because you have some doped riders targeting each one of them. You'll have to peak for both of them with dope. With the biopassport that would make it very difficult to accomplish.
 
Dec 21, 2010
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Cynical thread is Cynical.

We've known since the back end of last year that he would target the Tour, and in all likelihood miss the Giro.

I'm sorry, but this thread is utterly pointless.
 
Has Basso ever admitted to doping or only preparing to use blood transfusion for the G-T double in '06? If the latter, then last year would have proved he was incapable of that double. It also, in that case, may have enabled him to find more peace in the wake of his moment of weakness in '06, in that it wasn't as if he could have done it without.
 
phanatic said:
Has Basso ever admitted to doping or only preparing to use blood transfusion for the G-T double in '06? If the latter, then last year would have proved he was incapable of that double. It also, in that case, may have enabled him to find more peace in the wake of his moment of weakness in '06, in that it wasn't as if he could have done it without.

Initially admitted only to the attempt but latterly I've seen him alluding to 'poor choices'. Make that what you will.
 
May 23, 2011
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It is interesting to hear what riders think about other riders. Check out this quote from Evans:

Basso had a mediocre Dauphine campaign as he recovered from injury, but when asked if the Italian was a threat Evans said: “Absolutely, looking back at the Giro last year Basso seemed quite ordinary until the first rest day but after that he was really quite incredible.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/07/news/evans-primed-but-wary-of-contador-threat_181093

Hmmmm. I wonder what happened on that rest day.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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Evans should be looking at his chin. It is like someone took some genes from a double humped camelbak bidon, spliced them, and stuck em up his man - D - double d.


Sino sponsored battle of the mandibles. Who will win the Chin cup, my man Urijah or beefcake Cuddles?

faber.jpg

art-svCADELEVANS-420x0.jpg
 
May 12, 2010
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Damiano Machiavelli said:
It is interesting to hear what riders think about other riders. Check out this quote from Evans:



http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/07/news/evans-primed-but-wary-of-contador-threat_181093

Hmmmm. I wonder what happened on that rest day.

Sounds like complete r*bbish from Evans. He was quite ordinary until the rest day? There were three flat days in the Netherlands until the first rest day. How can you judge how good a climber is performing until then? If you look at his results, Basso was actually doing really good those first 3 days, finishing 37th in a short explosive prologue, and finishing in the first echelon in the next two days. Despite being quite ordinary according to Evans, Basso still won time on him.

Maybe he is talking about the second rest day, but Basso's best performance was undoubtedly just before the second rest day (Zoncolan). If anyone had a jump in performance just after the second rest day, it was Evans, who only gained time in the mountains on Basso in the Krohnplatz ITT.
 
May 6, 2009
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Not content with conquering the twittersphere with tales of his sleeping and breakfasting habits, Ivan Basso continued his push for social media dominance on the eve of the Tour by launching the "Ride with Ivan Basso" smart phone app, available at
http://www.mapeisport.it/ivanbasso/mobile/.

The app will allow users to pore over Basso's blood values and training tables from the Mapei Centre, as well as view his pictures and even sample some of his ipod playlist. Very helpfully, there's also a link to purchase his newly published autobiography, Climbing Against the Wind.


http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-de-france-news-shorts-2
 
May 26, 2009
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Lanark said:
Basso was actually doing really good those first 3 days, finishing 37th in a short explosive prologue, and finishing in the first echelon in the next two days.

Sounds like the very definition of 'ordinary' for a rider at Basso's level.
 

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