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Clean Colombians? (Arkea investigation page 27)

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What reasoning would a pro cyclist have to take a saline IV in the middle of the Tour de France aside from hiding that they've taken a blood transfusion lol?


He's just getting that info/spin straight from Quintana's people, I imagine. Not insanely biased like some but he's certainly biased towards Colombians and some other South Americans like Carapaz.
Perhaps fruitless to speculate, but it was reported that Nairo Had a reaction to the briar patch he crashed into. So perhaps hives, other severe inflammatory response—for which one treatment (For anyone not just racers) would be corticosteroids. Which he could get a TUE for but would have to sit 8 days, right? But that doesn’t seem like the kind of things police would do a raid to find?
 
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The UCI is doing a stupendous job of ensuring cycling is fair and clean. All doping is eradicated. The winner is absolutely not suspicious. But finish bottles, people getting mad at bike disassembly, and wound care are big issues. And don't even get me started about the mother trucking world champ and national champ stripes on the sleeves!
You forgot the sock length rule.
 
What does this rule say?
That a doctor in one of the most dangerous sport in the world isn't allowed to carry needles for emergencies? I truly doubt it.
Needles can save life. Not everything is about doping.

Well, Dowsett - and, I assume, the entire Novo Nordisk Team - has to have TUEs for their rather important medication.
I suppose if it was an emergency thing - like a rider losing so much blood he had to have new injected - they could probably get a "after-the-fact" TUE.
 
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Well, Dowsett - and, I assume, the entire Novo Nordisk Team - has to have TUEs for their rather important medication.
I suppose if it was an emergency thing - like a rider losing so much blood he had to have new injected - they could probably get a "after-the-fact" TUE.
I would simply like to read the rule before assuming things.
I don't reckon rulemakers at UCI are so dense they wouldn't consider the need for needles in a team doctor's tool kit. Or for blood bandages. Of for a number of other medical devices that can be linked to doping but are of general use in healthcare.

I always thought these NO THINGS policies are about the use of said devices, not the carriage/availability of them.
 
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So, they found one saline bag of 100 ml and needles...

Saline bags are often used to clean superficial wounds, and the needles must be carried if needed due to urgent situations, so...

What is this all about?? Is the same thing with Remco situation, it's a bad joke!!

I guess there has to be a question why the heck you would carry bags of Saline for cleaning wounds, when everyone knows it is illegal substance in case used for aid dehydration (and mask blood doping). I suspect there are hundreds of other medicines to clean up wounds that does not associate to doping methods?
 
UCI's 2011 no needles policy doesn't ban a team Dr from possessing and using needles on riders, it simply prohibits any injection that is not medically justified. Mostly to prevent IV Recup which was routine in stage racing.
The context of what type of needles may have been in the Drs bag is everything. Clearly an IV type needle and associated equipment is quite a way into no needles policy compared to needle used for a permitted local injection of adrenalin or corticosteroids.
 
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I would simply like to read the rule before assuming things.
I don't reckon rulemakers at UCI are so dense they wouldn't consider the need for needles in a team doctor's tool kit. Or for blood bandages. Of for a number of other medical devices that can be linked to doping but are of general use in healthcare.

I always thought these NO THINGS policies are about the use of said devices, not the carriage/availability of them.


Descriptions of the rule, if not the text itself, are not that difficult to find.

Cycling News May 2011 said:
The UCI Regulations only allow injections when they are “medically justified based on latest recognized scientific knowledge and evidence based medicine.” And when there is no alternative treatment available.

Except when received during hospital treatment or clinical examination the injection must be reported immediately and in writing to the UCI doctor by the team doctor. In case of a local injection of glucocorticosteroids, which are subject to the Anti-Doping Rules and on the Prohibited List, the rider must rest and is prevented from competing for 48 hours.


A first offence of the new rule can result in a suspension from eight days to six months and/or a fine. A second offence within two years could lead to a suspension of at least six months or lifetime suspension and a fine of up to $200,000. If a violation occurs at a race, the whole team of the licence holder involved may be excluded from the race. Just the possession of objects used or fit for an injection is presumed to constitute evidence of a violation of the regulations.
 
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Reports from France of a doctor swap right before the tour started adds a new layer of intrigue.

Arkea clearly trying to distance themselves but whether that's small team panicked for survival or clear knowledge of wrongdoing is hard to gauge for now I guess.
 
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Descriptions of the rule, if not the text itself, are not that difficult to find.

the possession of objects used for an injection is presumed to constitute evidence of a violation part of the description is likely to be the relevant issue. How it applies also not the kind of thing that can be worked out from a description of a rule rather than from careful examination of the wording of the rule itself. The existence of circumstances where injections are allowed indicates that there will be provisos, presumptiom implies rebuttable, etc.

If all they found were syringes and a small quantity of saline in the possession of a doctor I suspect that getting anyone on a doping violation will be a messy, prolonged and technical process. If they can do it at all. It in the absence of informed legal opinion based on the precise text of the rules, that’s just a guess.
 
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Bernal bonks on Sunday. Wednesday Quintana loses 25 minutes on Col de la Loze after a police raid. In the meantime Uran loses a certain podium spot in Paris based on previous performances. Lopez wins on Loze, but all of a sudden loses all kind of shape at Planche de Belles Filles!


Maybe there's a bigger picture to this?

Keep in mind that Uran is the main-networker of the Colombian cycling community and would be the one expected to get some some hints (From Bernal / Ineos as a former rider?) regarding them being targeted. Hints Quintana and his entourage obviously didn't get. Then, Lopez went Monsieur proper after the Quintana raid became a known across the peloton?

In that case Quintana might be the scapegoat of Colombian cycling as Bernal is too much of a jewel to kill him, while Uran & Lopez outside of the cycling circle are kinda nobody's (despite Uran having 3 gt podium). So Quintana is the big fish to threw under the bus...
 
The raid was after they lost all that time. 2 days after. In fact after stage 17. So the theory goes down the drain. I was thinking the same but there is more to it than what we are seeing. It is hard to believe that a hotel employee just saw something and went to the police just like that. Is that is true why would specifically went after just the three Colombians unless they knew something.

But to your point Quintana had already arrived with the Gruppetto when that happened. The rest of your story is just pure fantasy or good tips for a bad Netflix series.
 
the question from the bottles, its like there are 1000 answers to that.

In stage 13 he was fined 200CHF for waste disposal outside the waste areas. After that stage the fine went up to 500CHF for a few stages. There were 29 littering fines, so this was strictly enforced by the jury. With that in mind handing bottles back isn't much of an indicator anymore, but hey, what does the police know.
 
Bernal bonks on Sunday. Wednesday Quintana loses 25 minutes on Col de la Loze after a police raid. In the meantime Uran loses a certain podium spot in Paris based on previous performances. Lopez wins on Loze, but all of a sudden loses all kind of shape at Planche de Belles Filles!


Maybe there's a bigger picture to this?
Maybe there is but i doubt that this is it. You could form all sorts of theories like that. I mean, Bernal dropped out of Dauphiné for a reason.
 
In stage 13 he was fined 200CHF for waste disposal outside the waste areas. After that stage the fine went up to 500CHF for a few stages. There were 29 littering fines, so this was strictly enforced by the jury. With that in mind handing bottles back isn't much of an indicator anymore, but hey, what does the police know.

Yeah, definitely seem a bit counter-intuitive to me to on the one hand - understandably - demand that riders don't just throw their bottles everywhere, but on the other hand consider it suspicious if riders return bottles to their team car. What are riders supposed to do with those bottles? Magically make them disappea into thin air?

As for the finding bloody bandages part; I'd say it's more suspicious to not find at least a few bloody bandages in relation to a bike team at a race, especially a GT. Because that would mean that the team in question would have found some way to enhance the riders, causing their skin to become super tough!
 

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