Sergio Henao

[sniper]

Not taking into account the no needles policy, the suggestion was that it had to do with banking blood, building up stock and taking the blood in a suitable carrying vessel across the Atlantic into his home country (i.e. his body). No he might be gullible but me thinks that any rider should be pretty aware that blood doping is definite no-no.

i had missed that part of the discussion. my bad.

 

[sniper]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=fwiw&l=1

googling aint easy when seated in a city bus with crap wifi.

 

[Catwhoorg]

agreed, that wouldn't make sense.
but lets see:
i guess there's still a chance (perhaps small) that he's manipulating his blood through other means (e,g, pills / liquid), without him knowing it.
well, he knows he's taking stuff obviously, but may not be knowing what it's for.
to be sure, blood manipulation can be done orally these days, can't it? (dynepo is taken orally for instance, iirc).

Dynepo was a subcutaneous injection.

It is no longer available from the manufacturer and its license has been withdrawn.


2. Chemical, pharmaceutical and biological aspects
Dynepo is a ready to use aqueous solution for injection, available in glass vials or in glass pre-filled syringes with fixed needles

From the original license documents

Certain amounts are still available (such as link) but you will note that is still an amount/volume, for injection purposes.

EPO is a peptide, that would be broken down by the stomach and rendered inert.

Oral red blood cell stimulation is a huge focus area for drugs companies, for legitimate treatments (anemia caused by chemo the big area) If they haven't got past very early Clinical trials, I really doubt anyone in cycling is taking them

 

[sniper]

tanx for clarifying.

...Oral red blood cell stimulation is a huge focus area for drugs companies, for legitimate treatments (anemia caused by chemo the big area) If they haven't got past very early Clinical trials, I really doubt anyone in cycling is taking them

interesting.

from wikipedia:

several compounds have been identified that can be taken orally to stimulate endogenous EPO production. Most of the compounds stabilize the hypoxia-inducible transcription factors which activate the EPO gene. The compounds include oxo-glutarate competitors, but also simple ions such as cobalt(II) chloride.

reference on the topic:
W. Jelkmann: The disparate roles of cobalt in erythropoiesis, and doping relevance. Open Journal of Hematology, 2012, 3-6.
http://rossscience.org/ojhmt/2075-907X-3-6.php


and there's xenon again (also from wikipedia):

Inhalation of a xenon/oxygen mixture activates production of the transcription factor HIF-1-alpha, which leads to increased production of erythropoietin and improved performance. It has been used for this purpose in Russia since at least 2004.

recent publication on the topic:
"Breathe it in". The Economist. 8 February 2014.
http://www.economist.com/news/scien...-gas-improves-athletes-performance-breathe-it

 

[Catwhoorg]

I had a slight error.

At least one compound has moved to a phase III clinical trial.

Thats out of early stages of trials.

Note that is the manufacturers press release, so it obviously is accentuating the positives of this.

(edit)
I ought to specify for those not familiar, that Phase III is the final phase before launch.
Phase IV clinical trials are monitoring after the product launches in the marketplace.

 

[King Boonen]

ok, get it. fair objection.
my rather unspectacular but hitherto largely ignored point remains: regardless of how (but let's assume orally), he might be taking stuff on doc's recommendation, not knowing it's illegit.
anyway, sky's recent fall out has me reconsidering the possibility of some team-wide program, something i was previously more inclined to dismiss.

Well, my main point was he can't be both ignorant of being doped and using needles, in that case it's one or the other as he knows full well they are banned. I suppose he could be willfully ignorant by not asking, but that comes under the presumption that he would know it was dope so prefers not to ask.

As others have said, I don't believe there are oral compounds in circulation that increase EPO production or result in blood doping in any other way. They would still be banned though. If there is, of that he could be ignorant.


Team wide is certainly possible, team controlled is, I think, still very unlikely.

EPO is a peptide, that would be broken down by the stomach and rendered inert.

Small point really but it's a glycoprotein and fails the usual peptide test by about 120 amino acids.

Seems pedantic but I wouldn't want someone to try and derail your valid post by being ridiculously picking over it. Although the Doc is no longer here...

 

[King Boonen]

I had a slight error.

At least one compound has moved to a phase III clinical trial.

Thats out of early stages of trials.

Note that is the manufacturers press release, so it obviously is accentuating the positives of this.

(edit)
I ought to specify for those not familiar, that Phase III is the final phase before launch.
Phase IV clinical trials are monitoring after the product launches in the marketplace.

I'm struggling to find the paper, but the press release and abstract imply it only corrects anemia and is therefore an unlikely candidate for blood doping, it sounds similar to something else that was discussed last year, but I can't remember the name of it...

There really isn't enough info in the abstract though, I'll keep looking for the paper.

 

[King Boonen]

I'm struggling to find the paper, but the press release and abstract imply it only corrects anemia and is therefore an unlikely candidate for blood doping, it sounds similar to something else that was discussed last year, but I can't remember the name of it...

It was Gas6.

 

[Catwhoorg]

Small point really but it's a glycoprotein and fails the usual peptide test by about 120 amino acids.

Seems pedantic but I wouldn't want someone to try and derail your valid post by being ridiculously picking over it. Although the Doc is no longer here...

Thanks. Always happy to be corrected when I make an error of fact.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Who says he started in 2014 all of sudden?

ohterwise he would not show such abnormalities all of a sudden and teh other way around would also be explained if for the first time he was tested in the winter when they have no prior data.

 

[Escarabajo]

My gut feeling tells me that they are going to let this one go. It would be too risky to condemn someone basically when you have a new system working in Colombia. At the same time they don't have enough data to analyze all the riders that train and live in altitude in Colombia. There are probably countless papers, but what the UCI needs is the hard data from their Pro-Tour riders.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/does-colombias-anti-doping-stand-up-to-scrutiny

Good comment by GOSPINA in the comments section. It will probably benefit us if the teams and federations get involve more aggressively in the antidoping fight.

 

[neineinei]

From Carsten Lundby, Paul Robach & Bengt Saltin: The evolving science of detection of ‘blood doping’:

Thus, altitude training cannot be ‘offered’ as an alternative to blood doping to athletes. Of greater concern, however, is that altitude exposure seems misused by some athletes as a masking procedure since sports federations such as the International Cycling Union (ICU) exclude the analytical results of blood samples obtained for the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) (see later) in conjugation to altitude exposure, and, hence, it cannot be ruled that some athletes may go to altitude with the specific aim to dope knowing that potential blood samples will not be used.

From Skys cryptic statement:

“In our latest monthly review, our experts had questions about Sergio’s out-of-competition control tests at altitude - tests introduced this winter by the anti-doping authorities. We need to understand these readings better.

Might it not only be that there hasn't been any ABP OOC testing (of Sky riders at altitude) in Colombia before, but that UCI hasn't been doing any OOC ABP testing at altitude (that was recorded in ADAMS) at all?

It seems still not clear who was doing the test, was it WADA? Henao seems to say it was a guy from WADA who called him and told him he was lost that morning.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

What the flippin' heck does

in conjugation to altitude exposure

It's "conjugation with", surely, but altitude!?

 

[Benotti69]

So if riders train on Tenerife at altitude "the International Cycling Union (ICU) exclude the analytical results of blood samples obtained for the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) (see later) in conjugation to altitude exposure", which basically says you can dope away as we cannot make an accurate assessment of the BP while athletes are supposedly at altitude?

Now we know why Tenerife is so popular.

 

[manafana]

Henao needs to be allowed a speedy process as I don't see this going any where however they should seek to use him as test case to make future cases much more conclusive.

 

[deviant]

So if riders train on Tenerife at altitude "the International Cycling Union (ICU) exclude the analytical results of blood samples obtained for the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) (see later) in conjugation to altitude exposure", which basically says you can dope away as we cannot make an accurate assessment of the BP while athletes are supposedly at altitude?

Now we know why Tenerife is so popular.

That's how I'm reading it too.

 

[Catwhoorg]

Henao needs to be allowed a speedy process as I don't see this going any where however they should seek to use him as test case to make future cases much more conclusive.

How can you have a speedy 2 (+) month study ?

He hasn't been charged with anything, he has no case to answer as yet, so a test case is out of the question.

 

[Netserk]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/androni-says-uci-has-forced-it-to-use-suspended-rider-reda

Why hasn't this happened to Henao? If it's not enough to suspend him, why doesn't UCI force Sky to let him race?

 

[Dear Wiggo]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/androni-says-uci-has-forced-it-to-use-suspended-rider-reda

Why hasn't this happened to Henao? If it's not enough to suspend him, why doesn't UCI force Sky to let him race?

Cookson showing Sky some love? Too soon to force them?

 

[Catwhoorg]

That was a unique case (and I still don't understand why it happened)

The UCI has always previously agreed that riders with open disciplinary proceedings should be sidelined.

Now of course that's not the case here, there is no proceedings open. But you simply cannot have Henao doing an altitude study at home, and have him racing in Europe.

 

[Netserk]

But is that fair to Henao? Officially he hasn't done anything wrong, yet he is punished. I think the riders should have some rights to protect them from cases like this one. Either he is officially suspended because of doping violation, or he should be out racing.

 

[hrotha]

But is that fair to Henao? Officially he hasn't done anything wrong, yet he is punished. I think the riders should have some rights to protect them from cases like this one. Either he is officially suspended because of doping violation, or he should be out racing.

Fairly standard procedure for people under investigation to be provisionally suspended. They can pay compensation later.

 

[Netserk]

Fairly standard procedure for people under investigation to be provisionally suspended. They can pay compensation later.

And that is completely fair. If it was because he was officially suspended, but he is not. No case is being opened. He is in limbo atm, and I don't like it.

 

[hrotha]

And that is completely fair. If it was because he was officially suspended, but he is not. No case is being opened. He is in limbo atm, and I don't like it.

Under investigation by his employer. Same thing.

 

[Catwhoorg]

He is being paid and his employer has asked him to take part in a particular non-race event (the study).

If he is cleared by this study, then I expect Sky will pay him some sort of compensation/bonus due to missed races.

If he isn't cleared and a case eventually gets opened, then he has gotten paid for longer than most riders who raise a flag.