Looking for the latest race results? - We got you covered right here!
Berzin said:I have a few questions. I'm asking because I need some details that are buried in the Contador threads, but I can't wade through them all
luckyboy said:Just readin Whittle's book Bad Blood (written 07), and it says..
"by the end of 06, no less than five of LA's teammates - Andreu, Hamilton, Heras, Landis and one other anonymous former US Postal rider - had either tested positive or admitted to doping"
This'll probably be pretty obvious, does anyone know who this is?
Also, how come we always hear of Italy's Olympic committee (CONI) handing out bans, rather than their cycling federation (FCI)? In Spain we always hear of RFEC, but never their Olympic committee (COE).
Apparently these were blood, urine and hair samples, and HGH and EPO were detected. In 1998. Am I missing something? Is there any reason why hair samples are not used for anti-doping tests?November 28, 1998: The results of the analysis of the samples taken from the nine Festina riders are known and are subsequently released and revealed evidence of Human Growth Hormone, amphetamines, steroids, corticoids and Erythropoietin (EPO). In eight of the nine riders test positive for synthetic EPO. The results of the ninth rider (Christophe Moreau) were indeterminate but Moreau had already admitted use of EPO. Traces of amphetamines were found in the samples of Moreau, Pascal Hervé, Laurent Brochard and Didier Rous.
Berzin said:I have a few questions. I'm asking because I need some details that are buried in the Contador threads, but I can't wade through them all-
1) What were the levels of plasticizers found in Contadors' blood?
2) Who broke this story? Was it the German journalist who also revealed the positive clenbutarol test?
3) Was this the same journalist who got an initial flat denial about the positive test for clenbutarol from Pat McQuaid?
4) Which lab did the testing that produced the clenbutarol positive?
3) Who is officially in charge of sanctioning Contador? Is it the UCI, WADA or the Spanish Cycling Federation?
luckyboy said:Just readin Whittle's book Bad Blood (written 07), and it says..
"by the end of 06, no less than five of LA's teammates - Andreu, Hamilton, Heras, Landis and one other anonymous former US Postal rider - had either tested positive or admitted to doping"
This'll probably be pretty obvious, does anyone know who this is?
Also, how come we always hear of Italy's Olympic committee (CONI) handing out bans, rather than their cycling federation (FCI)? In Spain we always hear of RFEC, but never their Olympic committee (COE).
This assumes no one can beat the test....right now there's a method that, depending on the plasticizer traces found in urine tests, allows, "at a minimum, to suspect whether someone did a blood transfusion with a high probability, if not to be completely sure. And the other way around, for all those individuals with a negative test result, it allows us to say they surely have not doped with a transfusion", he added.
This assumes no other kinds of bags can exist, even though many people have posted here about not-so-new blood bags that leave no plasticizer traces."the bags in which the blood is stored must have a plasticizer to keep the red blood cells stable, so that they remain active when they're reinfused into the body", which means "they reinfuse the blood plus the plasticizers from the bag."
At most, if there were no plasticizer-free bags, this would mean the riders would have to alter their transfusion schedules. No more easy rest day transfusions. Big deal.He specified that the organism eliminates these plasticizers "in a day or two, but for that time they show up in the urine in very significant amounts"
Frosty said:What happened to the Giro 2008 retests for CERA?I read that there were a number of suspect samples (6 riders?) but did anything ever come of them?
Italian investigators suspect six or seven riders who competed in the 2008 Giro d’Italia of having used the third generation form of EPO, CERA, in the race, and are awaiting further confirmation.
According to the Gazzetta dello Sport, the Padua public prosecutor Benedetto Roberti had ordered 82 samples to be analysed at the Italian Olympic Committee's “Acqua Acetosa” anti-doping laboratory. These samples were seized by Italian police earlier this year, and follow on from several positive tests for CERA taken after the race.
But Travis Tygart, the chief executive of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, said authorities must not be afraid of "bringing down our heroes" if they have cheated and wants Spain's Contador dossier fully reviewed by international bodies.
"Clearly what has been reported was a flip-flop -- there was a one-year agreement [ban] and then there were statements from the prime minister ... and then there is a zero sanction," Tygart said when attending an anti-doping conference in London this week. "I don't know what the right outcome is, I haven't seen the evidence, but from a perception standpoint, something is not right there.
Regardless of the outcome, there is a process in place now at this level that should give all of us comfort that WADA -- the independent agency -- is ultimately overseeing the decision."
He added: "If they don't review the case you will be hearing from me again."
Blood transfusion
Painted out
How to disguise red blood cells so that their blood group is invisible
Mar 17th 2011 | from the print edition
Any colour as long as it’s red
THERE are 29 possible combinations of human blood groups, and for a patient to be given a safe transfusion the right one needs to be available.[...]
theswordsman said:Since the thread is up, I'll post a quick rant about Travis Tygart's AP interview, repeated around the world with various titles including the term "flip-flop"..
And the seven time Tour de France champion???
As he said, he obviously hasn't seen the evidence, or read anything beyond the headlines. There was never a one year agreement. The Competition Committee sent Contador a preliminary proposal that was never meant to be public. He was then to have ten quiet days to submit additional defense documents or arguments. That didn't happen because someone leaked it to the press, and Contador was informed by a journalist before he even received the letter. There was no cause and affect from the tweet by Zapatera, who had actually taken the time to read Contador's documents before coming to the conclusion.
So there's a hierarchy, with the UCI accountable to WADA, and if they don't do the right thing, Mr. Tygart steps up to do something or other in a case that, thankfully, is none of his business?
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=6234223
Mr. Tygart, the RFEC Final Resolution is available in English. It's an awful lot of pages to have evolved from a simple message of 140 characters or less. Oh yeah, there were also numerous studies and opinions by experts who actually put in the time and effort.
http://www.albertocontadornotebook.info/ResolutionContador.pdf
Apparently these were blood, urine and hair samples, and HGH and EPO were detected. In 1998. Am I missing something? Is there any reason why hair samples are not used for anti-doping tests?
Take into account these were police tests, not UCI or FFC tests. I guess this has something to do with what many people have said, namely that the real problem with antidoping tests is the high rate of false negatives due to the thresholds used, not so much with the tests themselves. The police will have nothing of it, so when they get to test riders they nail them left and right.July 23, 1998: Nine riders and three officials from Festina are taken into police custody. (...) Festina riders (Richard Virenque, Pascal Hervé, Didier Rous, Alex Zülle, Armin Meier and Laurent Dufaux) are questioned in Lyon and held in police custody. Police announce that they will also question the Rabobank and Casino teams.[17] The nine Festina riders were escorted to a hospital and obligated to undergo extensive tests and sample giving such as blood, hair and urine samples.[18]
(...)
November 28, 1998: The results of the analysis of the samples taken from the nine Festina riders are known and are subsequently released and revealed evidence of Human Growth Hormone, amphetamines, steroids, corticoids and Erythropoietin (EPO).
luckyboy said:Also, how come we always hear of Italy's Olympic committee (CONI) handing out bans, rather than their cycling federation (FCI)? In Spain we always hear of RFEC, but never their Olympic committee (COE).
luckyboy said:This idea about trying to blacklist riders coming back from bans by not allowing them to earn any points doesn't sound too great. Why not just extend bans or give out bans for life seeing as this'll pretty much force riders out. On the other hand, points aren't everything, and teams will be able to get the riders cheaper and still get the sponsor exposure with victories etc..
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-looks-for-new-rules-to-discourage-doping
Radders said:If you look at how residues of pesticides, or doping products are detected, unfortunately its not an exact science and also relies on the skill of the chemist doing the analysis to interpret the results. Residue detection is usually done by gas or liquid chromatography, or mass spectrometry. Essentially what this means is that the sample is split out into a spectrum of peaks, with certain peaks corresponding to the presence of certain elements, depending on the height of the peaks gives an indication of the level of the chemical in the sample. If the peak is not quite right, or slightly in the wrong place, it is then open to interpretation and can either lead to a false positive, or a false negative.
Also, depending on what you want your residue testing to show, you can target the timing of testing through the season to either avoid having any positive results, or to have plenty of positive results. i.e if I want to show that a grower is producing clean residue results for fungicides, I would do all my testing when I know that the crop is not at risk from disease and these chemicals would not be used, or I would do a multi-residue test that shows 150 or so products tested for but no positives, but doesn’t actually test for the compound I know the grower has used, so great from a PR, customer appeasement perspective, but failing to target the actual issue. Does this sound familiar to anyone when thinking about drug testing!!
however, any residues detected below the LOD are ignored, as that is the agreed minimum level of accuracy. Therefore many residues which are present are ignored because they are below agreed standards. This is very similar to the Contador / Clenbuterol situation where most labs wouldn’t have picked up the residue and this would never have hit the press!!
In terms of costs, I dont know whether doping labs charge a lot more, because the sport will bear the costs, however from a standard residue testing point of view, costs would be as follows:
Single multi-screen residue test (around 150 compounds) £200
If testing for a specific compound not covered in a multi screen test, you would be looking at between £50-£100.
Merckx index said:You would have had fun during the Landis trial and appeal, when a lot of questions were raised about the identity and intensity of certain peaks.
Merckx index said:Are you saying that this actually goes on in the pesticide-testing industry? Scary if true. At least dopers are only trying to help themselves, granted that they hurt the prospects of competitors, but pesticide "doping" has the potential to do far more harm.
Merckx index said:I assume the agreed standards are set so that lower levels are considered safe for the consumer. But then again, when considered long-term effects, there may not be such a thing as a safe level. The analogy to the threshold question is very interesting.
Merckx index said:This is interesting information. You might also comment on th amounts needed to test for so many different substances.