Big Doopie said:
i think the "allergy" excuse is less about getting a TUE and more an excuse/explanation for the jump in form that will happen at tour time compared to when he appeared subpar at the crit international and blamed allergies.
"allergies" is used to explain why he is not very dominant at that time -- due to a lack of blood supplementation. it is similar to armstrong's excuses at gila and now he pops up in much better "form" suddenly in time for the wind up for the tour. remember ullrich being dropped after 50 K in the ardennes only to win the giro time trial or ride people off his wheel in the mountains of the tour de suisse. this "preparation" and "peaking" (as they call it) is basically when they start stuffing their arteries with extras.
think about it. how does armstrong go from 8th over a minute down on an under 23 rider (at gila for chrissakes!) to now being one of the top riders at luxembourg with practically no racing, an injury and travel to Europe (let alone a scandal!)...? this is ferrari's first step. there will be another jump for the tour de suisse and then the tour...when armstrong podiums or makes top 5 at the tour it makes the sport utterly ridiculous.
What you are referencing is part of why some riders can go from sub-par to winning. Although, there are many other reasons.
The concept of using races for training often means riders will do a large volume of training, arrive at a race with a high level of fatigue, race through it and even ride before/after a stage for extra work, THEN rest to build for a peak at the targeted event. Sure, all of this happens concurrently with previous blood draws, EPO use to build back the volume, HGH/T to recover quicker and then later re-infusion of the drawn/store blood.
So, those who can't understand this remain baffled at how a youngster can put the wood to top riders, and then suddenly the top riders go win a larger event against better competition.