airstream said:I don't quite get one elementary thing. Do probes show main blood values or not? Lance laid out his blood values after the 2009 Tour being absolutely confident in his impunity. Armstrong's hc went up by 2-3 points straight before Mont Ventoux. Obvious blood doping. Why can't uci implement such an easier procedure to catch dopers? Or??? Then they should have kicked half peloton away from the race?
It's mainly a matter of mathematics, Bayesian statistics (and probabilities) to be exact. Key point (from a legal point of view) is the 'acceptable' probability of a false-positive.
The passport works with all kinds of parameters (Ht, Hb, retics, etc.) and calculations. Main goal is to find constellations that are not normal. One very important one is the OFF-hr score, a ratio of hemoglobin to reticulocytes (the calculation is Hb in g/l - 60 (square root of the reticulocyte percentage)) through which you could identify both the withdrawal and re-infusion of blood (or RBC).
≥ 116,7: 1/100 false positive
≥ 125,6: 1/1000 ""
≥ 133,2: 1/10000 ""
A limit of 99.9 percent, which is 1:1000 false positive, is considered to be legally acceptable. Some 'private passports' (Mapei Center, Damsgaard, Garmin), however, work with tighter limits.