Big Doopie
BANNED
blackcat said:glow time is only valid from 2001.
when was the hematocrit health rule? 99?
Respectfully' you are missing the point. Once epo changed everything riders started to choose targets. They didn't want to have to be setting alarms every night to check that their blood hadn't turned to tar throughout the entire season.
Then when first the hematocrit max came in and then the epo test, those only solidified this new behavior of cyclists. In 89 Fignon rode an entire season, winning Milan San remo, the giro, second at the TDF and in the finals of the WC. In 1990 an overweight Lemond was able to ride himself into shape (not "exhausting himself") by stringing together the tour de trump, the giro and the TDF.
Epo and then blood doping is the direct reason we saw a change in riders race scheduling habits, a lightening of the load, and disappearance weeks before a stated goal.