We don't know what's his hematacrit level is. In any case, from what the medics who know about this stuff have told me, in their opinions, these riders should be between 39-43% with the intensity and volume of effort they put out. So if he's at 49% or 49.5%, as he was and his entire team (everyone on it) before, then he's blood doping.
The 50% limit has always been too high and only was really a health consideration. Pantani did most of his mountain dashes at 49-49.8%, and even when caught at the 99 Giro as only at a "descrete" 50.2%!
Then there are autologous blood transfussions and the new products. There are always new products. Cycling reporter Eugenio Bevilacqua and avid rider for
la Repubblica, one of Italy's major newspapers, who I ride with ocasionally, has mentioned rumors of a new type of EPO being used which has yet to be identified. Cera was used over the last 3 years, till they figured out how to detect it, before that Nesp (which I don't even know if they can detect). In other words, there is always something new and the products have usually always been circa 3 years ahead of the tests. The market demand keeps the supplies innovative and fresh. Otherwise everybody would have just given up at testosterone 25 years ago. You'd have to ask AC and LA for better updates, though.
As I mentioned before, Lance's ride didn't surprise me in the least yeasterday, as he was being regularly passed by Sastre, et al, at the Giro. By the way, way to go Sastre! That's the best continued response to Lance's arrogant remarks about him last year, for which the former gave an apology, though should have never uttered.
Normally you don't make a super jump between the Giro and Tour, you either are able to maintain excellent condition, like Indurain in 93-94, or else it goes down the sh!ter like Menchov this year. Unless you are Lemond or Ullrich who came into the Giro fat whales and went out hammered but with their motors turned on finally. Lance did not start the Giro in those riders' grossly out of weight and consequently fitness conditions. He was more or less, to use the same comparison, begining the Giro in Sastre's position (but coming back from injury). But he was not in the same boat Ullrich used to captain at the Giro for sure. Consequently, as yesterday's ride also demonstrated, he (also like Sastre) was not going to make a huge leap in condition after the Giro at the Tour. In fact we are seeing an only slightly better version of Lance in the mountains than we did in the last Giro mountain stages, whereas Sastre has remained the same, I think, or maybe has slightly less good form. It's just that in his case the competition is better at the Tour. And there wasn't this Contador at the Giro either as a barometer. If Lance would have ridden after the Giro like Contador yeaterday, then I'd have even bought a top secret US miltary doping regime behind the Texan's effort. That he falls within the "normal" parameters, means he's on the normal regiment of the usual stuff. But there's no way he's clean, at just 1:35 off
that performance by AC yeasterday.
His major problem is his age, having been away for 3 years (this is even more important at his age) and that the arms race for him, against riders ten years younger, is no longer possible to win. If it weren't for the team time trial and that cheeky move with Columbia, he'd be struggling to be in the top ten right now, which is also a more accurate indication of the actual worth of his performance in this Tour.
I find it so interesting to listen to humbled Lance's comments after yesterday's stage, compared to the arrogant one he made last year about the quality of the Tour. This demonstrates, but he himself also said so, that he thought this comeback back in January was "gonna be easy", before reality set in and thus immediately realized shortly thereafter his original asessment was wrong. A classic case of a guy's over-inflated ego allowing him to attempt a pass longer than his legs can make. Lance is simply overmatched. And I gaurantee had he known then what he does now, he never would have made this ego stroking come-back. He simply didn't like to be a king without a throne. So he simply thought he could claim whatever one was up for grabs, without considering his own age seriously, nor respecting the younger talents. What a wànker.
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