LeMond III

[sniper]

So, to keep all this on topic:

Lemond: “When I went to the United States Olympic Training Center at Colorado Springs, I got my first taste of systematic training. Eddie Borysewicz, the national coaching director of the United States Cycling Federation, had brought the first scientific training approach to this country from his native Poland, and the improvements he achieved in the American racing program were impressive.” (source: "Greg Lemond’s Complete Book of Cycling")

QS: You and the rest of the junior team put yourselves on the map with a third in the team time trial and your ninth in the road race, which you talked about. How do you explain the improvement in American placings in international competition? Do you think it as just having a larger pool of riders from which to draw, because the junior pool was so huge?

Lemond: I think so. That was a major factor. I think the biggest reason for improvement was the Olympic Training Center and Eddy B. He defected from the Olympics and put some structure [on the program]. He didn't focus on the seniors. He focused on the juniors. He really put all of his efforts on the team time trial and teaching riders about intervals, how to train and about quality over quantity. He was a believer in very hard intervals in February, which, at the time, you just did long, slow miles.
...
And his training is relevant today. He was the one who put the structure into the training and motivated the riders and motivated the National Federation to send teams to Europe to race. So, it started in '78, '79, '80.
http://bikeraceinfo.com/oralhistory/lemond.html

Lemond: My first VO2 Max test was up in Squaw Valley on a treadmill and I had a 79 VO2 Max non-specific sport. http://bikeraceinfo.com/oralhistory/lemond.html

HAGERMAN: In the late 1970s Ed Burke and I studied both Eric Heiden and Greg Lemond at the US Olympic Training Center at Squaw Valley. They performed so well on all of our tests, both aerobic and anaerobic... https://books.google.pl/books?id=AkgQAQAAMAAJ&q=hagerman+heiden+lemond+squaw+valley&dq=hagerman+heiden+lemond+squaw+valley&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiH7dyQ7MPMAhUECSwKHQ5SCsYQ6AEILzAA

 

[djpbaltimore]

Re: Re:

According to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, these are the causes of Mitochondrial Myopathy.

What causes mitochondrial myopathies?
Mitochondrial myopathies are caused by mutations, or changes, in genes — the cells' blueprint for making proteins. They are inheritable, although they can occur with no family history, and they often affect members of the same family in different ways. For more, see Causes/Inheritance.

https://www.mda.org/disease/mitochondrial-myopathies

Since we can take it as pretty much a given that the MDA knows whereof it speaks, then, it follows that the extract I quoted is hogwash, at least insofar as it concerns itself with mitochondrial myopathies. Would that be right?

Personally, I wouldn't use the term hogwash. But their hypothesis does not fit the canonical definition of mitochondrial myopathy. But medicine does not always fit into nice little boxes and their hypothesis would be plausible if you look at the case as an acquired myopathy. I don't know what research Blutto's wife does, but my last grant examined the role of mitochondrial bioenergetics on how the innate immune system responds to infection. Metals like Lead are going to cause problems with the mitochondrial electron transport chain because of all the redox reactions involved and all the proteins that use metal ions as co-factors. In addition to the ER, Calcium is also stored in the matrix of the mitochondria (attracted to the partial negative charge found there). If the transport chain is disrupted, this charge dissipates and the calcium will accumulate in the cytosol, leading to a host of cell alterations because Calcium is a huge modulator of signal transduction pathways. To the best of my knowledge, Lead effects many things in the body, including most of what Dr. Horn mentioned in that blurb. I have not read their work, but if it is cited well, I think that their hypothesis is worthy of examination. Of course, the obvious question is what evidence did they actually have that the lead from the pellets leached into his system at toxic levels. If that is not plausible, than the rest of the argument is moot IMO.

 

[DamianoMachiavelli]

Re:

Lemond: My first VO2 Max test was up in Squaw Valley on a treadmill and I had a 79 VO2 Max non-specific sport. http://bikeraceinfo.com/oralhistory/lemond.html

LOL. Mr. I-Knew-Amstrong-Could-Not-Win-The-Tour-Because-His-Vo2Max-Was-Not-Good-Enough had a lower VO2 than Armstrong.

 

[Maxiton]

Re: Re:

Personally, I wouldn't use the term hogwash. But their hypothesis does not fit the canonical definition of mitochondrial myopathy. But medicine does not always fit into nice little boxes and their hypothesis would be plausible if you look at the case as an acquired myopathy. I don't know what research Blutto's wife does, but my last grant examined the role of mitochondrial bioenergetics on how the innate immune system responds to infection. Metals like Lead are going to cause problems with the mitochondrial electron transport chain because of all the redox reactions involved and all the proteins that use metal ions as co-factors. In addition to the ER, Calcium is also stored in the matrix of the mitochondria (attracted to the partial negative charge found there). If the transport chain is disrupted, this charge dissipates and the calcium will accumulate in the cytosol, leading to a host of cell alterations because Calcium is a huge modulator of signal transduction pathways. To the best of my knowledge, Lead effects many things in the body, including most of what Dr. Horn mentioned in that blurb. I have not read their work, but if it is cited well, I think that their hypothesis is worthy of examination. Of course, the obvious question is what evidence did they actually have that the lead from the pellets leached into his system at toxic levels. If that is not plausible, than the rest of the argument is moot IMO.

Thanks. So, in other words, possible, maybe plausible, but too many unknowns to say.

 

[Maxiton]

Re: Re:

LOL. Mr. I-Knew-Amstrong-Could-Not-Win-The-Tour-Because-His-Vo2Max-Was-Not-Good-Enough had a lower VO2 than Armstrong.

This was dealt with up thread. Apparently the VO2-max is lower here than the one usually quoted because the test was not sport-specific.

 

[djpbaltimore]

Agreed, Maxiton. That is a fair assessment.

 

[sniper]

Re: Re:

Lemond: My first VO2 Max test was up in Squaw Valley on a treadmill and I had a 79 VO2 Max non-specific sport. http://bikeraceinfo.com/oralhistory/lemond.html

LOL. Mr. I-Knew-Amstrong-Could-Not-Win-The-Tour-Because-His-Vo2Max-Was-Not-Good-Enough had a lower VO2 than Armstrong.

I had noticed that piece of data before, but since i know too little about VO2max I never commented on it.

Also, as far as I understood, vo2 max is positively influenced by PEDs and blood doping, so even if Lemond at some point had a higher vo2 max than Lance, it could simply mean he doped harder than Lance, am i right?

QS: Why were you so sure Armstrong was doping, and willing to say that when no one else dared?

Lemond: There’s been a lot of smoke and mirrors in cycling the last 20 years, a lot of junk science. And my problem is that I know the science. I knew that Armstrong’s aerobic capacity — your VO2 max, your engine — was below that of the average pro. To explain how he could consistently win, people would say that Lance was more mechanically efficient than everyone else because of his new training secrets. I found this insulting to other athletes. Are you telling me that Lance made up a 10% to 20% aerobic deficit on mechanical efficiency in a sport that has been around for a hundred years? The human body doesn’t change. Suddenly he discovers this new revolutionary technique? Come on! There are no secrets!

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-greg-lemond-20150221-column.html
He 'knows' the science, yet allegedly didn't do a single blood test until two years after the shooting, didn't know about EPO until 1993, and didn't know doping was rampant in the 80s.
It's all a bit too much.

 

[sniper]

Re: Re:

..

Thanks. So, in other words, possible, maybe plausible, but too many unknowns to say.

Do we have a precedent?
If not, how do we know if it's possible, let alone plausible?

Those two words, possible and plausible, I would reserve them for where they really apply: the well-studied case of steroid-induced myopathy.

 

[DamianoMachiavelli]

Re: Re:

LOL. Mr. I-Knew-Amstrong-Could-Not-Win-The-Tour-Because-His-Vo2Max-Was-Not-Good-Enough had a lower VO2 than Armstrong.

This was dealt with up thread. Apparently the VO2-max is lower here than the one usually quoted because the test was not sport-specific.

But do you have the equivalent figure for Armstrong? LeMond has made much of Armstrong's VO2Max but that was taken when he was heavy. Dr. Ferrari was very critical about much Armstrong weighed when he started working with him. A VO2Max of 84 at 80kg touches 90 when weight is reduced to 75kg. It does not take much weight reduction to put LA solidly in the range of other Tour winners. And, of course, LeMond has always ignored the other components of the performance equation, namely efficiency and threshold. Armstrong, with a known high efficiency, may have had better functional performance than LeMond, despite LeMond having a higher VO2Max.

 

[sniper]

...Of course, the obvious question is what evidence did they actually have that the lead from the pellets leached into his system at toxic levels. If that is not plausible, than the rest of the argument is moot IMO.

As for the amount of lead pellets left in his body, there are different accounts. The number seems to have increased as time passed by.

News report after the incident:

Beal said LeMond was hit in the lower back and flank and sustained the wounds from a far range. There were about 10-30 pellets in his body.
http://articles.latimes.com/1987-04-21/sports/sp-133_1_stable-condition

1989:

28-year-old Greg LeMond, whose body is all those things plus approximately 30 small lead pellets.

From Lemond's 2014 "The Science of Fitness":

Despite the surgeon's best efforts, more than three dozens lead pellets remained embedded in my upper torso

 

[djpbaltimore]

Re: Re:

..

Thanks. So, in other words, possible, maybe plausible, but too many unknowns to say.

Do we have a precedent?
If not, how do we know if it's possible, let alone plausible?

Those two words, possible and plausible, I would reserve them for where they really apply: the well-studied case of steroid-induced myopathy.

Yes.

http://jeffreydachmd.com/2015/07/reversible-myopathy-from-lead-toxicity/

 

[sniper]

Re: Re:

...

Yes.

http://jeffreydachmd.com/2015/07/reversible-myopathy-from-lead-toxicity/

But this is a marathon runner, so like Lemond he could have used drugs.
And this is hardly science:

Jim ordered a home test kit and did a provoked urine challenge for heavy metals showing elevated lead, confirming the diagnosis of lead toxicity and lead myopathy.

Do we have a precendent of a case of alleged lead-induced myopathy that couldn't, by chance, also have been caused by drug-abuse?

 

[djpbaltimore]

Re: Re:

...

Yes.

http://jeffreydachmd.com/2015/07/reversible-myopathy-from-lead-toxicity/

But this is a marathon runner, so like Lemond he could have used drugs.
And this is hardly science:

Jim ordered a home test kit and did a provoked urine challenge for heavy metals showing elevated lead, confirming the diagnosis of lead toxicity and lead myopathy.

Do we have a precendent of a case of alleged lead-induced myopathy that couldn't, by chance, also have been caused by drug-abuse?

LOL. The guy was a factory worker, not a professional athlete. Unless we lock everybody up and monitor their whole entire life like the Truman Show, we cannot be 100% SURE that they never used drugs at some point. Using self diagnosis kits at home is not medically intelligent, but the underlying science for chelation therapy in certain medical instances is scientifically sound. It won't cure autism as some people do think, and it has been lured into the realm of pseudo-science by some modern day snake oil salesmen. But it will work for heavy metal poisoning.

Chelation therapy is the preferred medical treatment for reducing the toxic effects of metals. Chelating agents are capable of binding to toxic metal ions to form complex structures which are easily excreted from the body removing them from intracellular or extracellular spaces.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2922724/

 

[sniper]

The part i cited is terribly poor science.
The fact that there were elevated lead levels in his urine can never "confirm" the diagnosis of lead toxicity and lead myopathy.
It can merely provide evidence to that extent.
Meanwhile, as far as I can tell, other possible causes such as drug abuse (not unusual in an amateur marathon runner) have not been discarded.

 

[djpbaltimore]

Re:

The part i cited is terribly poor science.
The fact that there were elevated lead levels in his urine can never "confirm" the diagnosis of lead toxicity and lead myopathy.
It can merely provide evidence to that extent.
Meanwhile, as far as I can tell, other possible causes such as drug abuse (not unusual in an amateur marathon runner) have not been discarded.

Lead induced myopathy is a real thing whether you want to believe it or not. Whether you think LeMond ever suffered from this type of thing is worthy of discussion.

According to the 'null hypothesis', drug abuse in amateur runners (especially factory workers) should not be considered the default position. Watch a local race and see how many marathoners look like they take steroids. 95%+ of the people who participate are weekend warriors in my estimation.

EDIT: "Proximal muscle weakness in severe lead poisoning from retained bullet fragments". I think it is possible, but as Maxiton pointed out, that is a far cry from saying anything conclusively.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/15563650.2015.1046182

EDIT2: Another interesting one. Man suffers lead poisoning 5 years after he was shot.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20110837

 

[Merckx index]

Regarding the disconnect between Lemond’s 79 V02max at Squaw Valley and his later reported 90+, see my post and the following one by VERITAS in the Lemond II thread:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=30808&p=1779044&hilit=Lemond#p1779044

Regarding estimating LA’s power output based on Coyle’s study, see the discussion in the Armstrong thread Part III, when the pre-Coyle data in Colorado Springs obtained in the early 90s became available:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=19751&p=1601515&hilit=cloudfront#p1601515

I estimated his FTP based on those data as 5.25 watts/kg, corresponding to about 45 minutes up ADH, contrasting with his record of less than 38 minutes. Andy C. later said something about the way the LT was measured, insisted it would be higher, but even allowing for that, his FTP would be < 6.0.

There is another approach you might be interested in, though, Sniper. A few years ago, Race Radio was pushing the theory that Ullrich was one of the highest EPO responders of all time. He basically viewed Ulle as a decent rider who became dominant because of an unusually large effect of EPO. I didn’t buy his theory of why that would be the case, but one of the lines of evidence he employed was stories by teammates, who claimed that Jan was a less impressive rider during training, when of course you would expect he would not be taking EPO. I don’t know if any anecdotal evidence of that kind is available for Lemond, but it might be interesting to look for it.

 

[blutto]

Re: Re:

According to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, these are the causes of Mitochondrial Myopathy.

What causes mitochondrial myopathies?
Mitochondrial myopathies are caused by mutations, or changes, in genes — the cells' blueprint for making proteins. They are inheritable, although they can occur with no family history, and they often affect members of the same family in different ways. For more, see Causes/Inheritance.

https://www.mda.org/disease/mitochondrial-myopathies

Since we can take it as pretty much a given that the MDA knows whereof it speaks, then, it follows that the extract I quoted is hogwash, at least insofar as it concerns itself with mitochondrial myopathies. Would that be right?

Personally, I wouldn't use the term hogwash. But their hypothesis does not fit the canonical definition of mitochondrial myopathy. But medicine does not always fit into nice little boxes and their hypothesis would be plausible if you look at the case as an acquired myopathy. I don't know what research Blutto's wife does, but my last grant examined the role of mitochondrial bioenergetics on how the innate immune system responds to infection. Metals like Lead are going to cause problems with the mitochondrial electron transport chain because of all the redox reactions involved and all the proteins that use metal ions as co-factors. In addition to the ER, Calcium is also stored in the matrix of the mitochondria (attracted to the partial negative charge found there). If the transport chain is disrupted, this charge dissipates and the calcium will accumulate in the cytosol, leading to a host of cell alterations because Calcium is a huge modulator of signal transduction pathways. To the best of my knowledge, Lead effects many things in the body, including most of what Dr. Horn mentioned in that blurb. I have not read their work, but if it is cited well, I think that their hypothesis is worthy of examination. Of course, the obvious question is what evidence did they actually have that the lead from the pellets leached into his system at toxic levels. If that is not plausible, than the rest of the argument is moot IMO.

....in regards my wife's work...she is at present a program director after having worked on studies in various fields for about 25 years....the comments were aimed at what was presented which has a whole piles of maybes mays and could bes, not the stuff of conviction, reads like building a case for plausible but not positive...and as I said this could have been a terrible excerpt that was not a fair representation of the ideas ( which , as I also stated, may in the book from which it was drawn be a better more convincing presentation of the ideas, ie with proper citations and references etc )...though one would think that when presenting something new putting your best foot forward would be the ideal avenue to pursue...what was presented was hardly ideal....

...and btw the bolded part of a major part of the critique issued here in-house....and agree totally....plausible proof vs plausible deniability ?...

Cheers

 

[sniper]

@djpbaltimore, thanks for expanding, appreciate it, and points taken.
and yes, very worthy of discussion.

 

[harryh]

Re: Re:

...
if lemond could have envisaged that someone would be would be pouring over his every word looking for inconsistencies he would be a very rich man sitting atop and tech empire in silicon valley rather than an ex pro cyclist...

I'm not necessarily looking for inconsistencies. They present themselves abundantly as one tries to read up on his illnesses/infections/allergies/anemia/etc.

You seem to be applying a 'froome' standard of questioning on him when we know that the badzilla was specifically made up to explain a dramatic change...that is why the inconsistencies are important with Froome.

Rather a 'Froome' standard of questioning than no questioning at all.
And yes, I think there are some interesting parallels between them, the abrupt transformation being one.

Big difference is that Froome didn't have what Lemond had at age 15: a (very) ambitious father who himself was a cyclist and a Mexican cycling coach who was also a fixer ("soigneur" in cycling jargon). Neither did Froome have what Lemond had between age 15 and age 18: structural guidance from one of world's best-(most-well-)funded Olympic Training Centres, one where PED-experimentation was explicitly encouraged, which included mentoring from people like Eddie B, Carl Leusenkamp, Ed Burke and Fredrick Hagerman, all of whom have been involved with (blood) doping one way or another.
That's state of the art guidance.
Froome meanwhile had to make do with the guy on his right (David Kinjah):

(that is, until he met that nice lady on the left)

Good post. Keep this in mind when someone refers to "(in)consistent career development"

 

[sniper]

Re:

Regarding the disconnect between Lemond’s 79 V02max at Squaw Valley and his later reported 90+, see my post and the following one by VERITAS in the Lemond II thread:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=30808&p=1779044&hilit=Lemond#p1779044

Regarding estimating LA’s power output based on Coyle’s study, see the discussion in the Armstrong thread Part III, when the pre-Coyle data in Colorado Springs obtained in the early 90s became available:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=19751&p=1601515&hilit=cloudfront#p1601515

I estimated his FTP based on those data as 5.25 watts/kg, corresponding to about 45 minutes up ADH, contrasting with his record of less than 38 minutes. Andy C. later said something about the way the LT was measured, insisted it would be higher, but even allowing for that, his FTP would be < 6.0.

There is another approach you might be interested in, though, Sniper. A few years ago, Race Radio was pushing the theory that Ullrich was one of the highest EPO responders of all time. He basically viewed Ulle as a decent rider who became dominant because of an unusually large effect of EPO. I didn’t buy his theory of why that would be the case, but one of the lines of evidence he employed was stories by teammates, who claimed that Jan was a less impressive rider during training, when of course you would expect he would not be taking EPO. I don’t know if any anecdotal evidence of that kind is available for Lemond, but it might be interesting to look for it.

cheers.
The first part of your post I assume is directed at DamianoMachiavelli. It's certainly above my paygrade.

The second part, it's an interesting point.
I tried raising a similar point earlier:

When you read through some interviews with training buddies of Greg's, one gets the impression he never trained very hard. For instance, iirc, there is one interview with Johan Lammerts, who says Greg liked taking (long) breaks in between training rides to do other stuff in between, drinking coffee, taking a swimm, even jumping on a roller coaster once..you get the idea. There is also plenty of anecdotal stuff (including from Lemond himself) that Greg was ridiculed by some of his teammates because of his eating habits. He used to eat a lot, and not very healthy.
Meanwhile, the story of his comeback in 1989 was 'sold' as a story of (very) hard training and dedication.
And so the anecdotal reality suggests that this was a rather embellished story.
Maybe others have more to say about this.
That said, I'm not sure if this line of discussion will take us anywhere, as it's all anecdotal.

As for his Vo2max, I asked earlier: if Greg's was higher than Lance's, couldn't one explanation be that he simply doped more than Lance? From what I understood, doping has a positive effect on one's vo2max. (Hence e.g. Jeroen Swart recently admitting that the physiological testing done on Froome doesn't prove anything wrt doping or being clean.)

 

[sniper]

Re: Re:

...
Good post. Keep this in mind when someone refers to "(in)consistent career development"

Lemond age 15-ish, at what I think is the Olympic Training Center in Squaw Valley (on the left, his and his father's trainer, Otto Jacome; on the right, his father Bob):

Froome age 15-ish, at what I think are the Kenyan Highlands (on the left, David Kinjah):

 

[blutto]

Re: Re:

LOL. Mr. I-Knew-Amstrong-Could-Not-Win-The-Tour-Because-His-Vo2Max-Was-Not-Good-Enough had a lower VO2 than Armstrong.

This was dealt with up thread. Apparently the VO2-max is lower here than the one usually quoted because the test was not sport-specific.

....yeah but that was a massive jump, just massive....now what is strange is that LeMond would been part of a group of athletes in somewhat similar circumstances, read doing a test that was not sport specific, and he should have stood out like a sore thumb....just as the later sports specific test that supposedly yielded the best tests scores ever made him stand out like a sore thumb...

....would be nice to see some verification of those greatest number ever test scores...like where were they done, like the name of the lab...all we hear about is the number....

Cheers

 

[sniper]

^
The 79 number was recorded at the OTC in Squaw Valley, 1977.
I assume it was part of the junior training camp for Olympic hopefuls organized by Mike Fraysse and Eddie B. in that same year, which is where Greg allegedly stood out compared to the rest.
After that camp,

Borysewicz took on LeMond as a special project, keeping in contact after the summer, sending him training plans and updating them as he learned more about LeMond’s unique physiology. (source: Wheelmen)

One year later, Lemond joined Eddie and the US national team at the OTC in Colorado Springs where he would stay and train until 1980.

As for his 92 vo2max measurement, I seem to remember it post-dates the shooting, but I have to check.

 

[blutto]

Re: Re:

According to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, these are the causes of Mitochondrial Myopathy.

What causes mitochondrial myopathies?
Mitochondrial myopathies are caused by mutations, or changes, in genes — the cells' blueprint for making proteins. They are inheritable, although they can occur with no family history, and they often affect members of the same family in different ways. For more, see Causes/Inheritance.

https://www.mda.org/disease/mitochondrial-myopathies

Since we can take it as pretty much a given that the MDA knows whereof it speaks, then, it follows that the extract I quoted is hogwash, at least insofar as it concerns itself with mitochondrial myopathies. Would that be right?

Personally, I wouldn't use the term hogwash. But their hypothesis does not fit the canonical definition of mitochondrial myopathy. But medicine does not always fit into nice little boxes and their hypothesis would be plausible if you look at the case as an acquired myopathy. I don't know what research Blutto's wife does, but my last grant examined the role of mitochondrial bioenergetics on how the innate immune system responds to infection. Metals like Lead are going to cause problems with the mitochondrial electron transport chain because of all the redox reactions involved and all the proteins that use metal ions as co-factors. In addition to the ER, Calcium is also stored in the matrix of the mitochondria (attracted to the partial negative charge found there). If the transport chain is disrupted, this charge dissipates and the calcium will accumulate in the cytosol, leading to a host of cell alterations because Calcium is a huge modulator of signal transduction pathways. To the best of my knowledge, Lead effects many things in the body, including most of what Dr. Horn mentioned in that blurb. I have not read their work, but if it is cited well, I think that their hypothesis is worthy of examination. Of course, the obvious question is what evidence did they actually have that the lead from the pellets leached into his system at toxic levels. If that is not plausible, than the rest of the argument is moot IMO.

....in regards my wife's work...she is at present a program director after having worked on studies in various fields for about 25 years....the comments were aimed at what was presented which has a whole piles of maybes mays and could bes, not the stuff of conviction, reads like building a case for plausible but not positive...and as I said this could have been a terrible excerpt that was not a fair representation of the ideas ( which , as I also stated, may in the book from which it was drawn be a better more convincing presentation of the ideas, ie with proper citations and references etc )...though one would think that when presenting something new putting your best foot forward would be the ideal avenue to pursue...what was presented was hardly ideal....

...and btw the bolded part of a major part of the critique issued here in-house....and agree totally....plausible proof vs plausible deniability ?...

....and then there the following which was introduced up-thread that seems to be more than relevant...and if correct not dancing on plausible or possible but pretty darn conclusive....

A person with a genuine mitochondrial myopathy could not finish even one day of such a race and would not be selected to compete in this fantastic sporting event, which involves the 200 best cyclists in the world.


Cheers

 

[sniper]

Re: Re:

...
....and then there the following which was introduced up-thread that seems to be more than relevant...and if correct not dancing on plausible or possible but pretty darn conclusive....

A person with a genuine mitochondrial myopathy could not finish even one day of such a race and would not be selected to compete in this fantastic sporting event, which involves the 200 best cyclists in the world.


Cheers

The previously mentioned glass worker suffering from lead-induced myopathy was previously a marathon runner but "now has difficulty walking." http://jeffreydachmd.com/2015/07/reversible-myopathy-from-lead-toxicity